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62 lines
1.9 KiB
62 lines
1.9 KiB
git-symbolic-ref(1) |
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=================== |
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NAME |
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---- |
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git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs |
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SYNOPSIS |
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-------- |
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'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [-m <reason>] <name> [<ref>] |
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DESCRIPTION |
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----------- |
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Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic |
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ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` |
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directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> |
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argument to see on which branch your working tree is on. |
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Give two arguments, create or update a symbolic ref <name> to |
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point at the given branch <ref>. |
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A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that |
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begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is |
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a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. |
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OPTIONS |
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------- |
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-q:: |
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--quiet:: |
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Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a |
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symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with |
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non-zero status silently. |
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-m:: |
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Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only |
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when creating or updating a symbolic ref. |
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NOTES |
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----- |
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In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at |
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`refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, |
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we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted |
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to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. |
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This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by |
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default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks, |
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or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit |
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cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as |
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advertised (horrors). Therefore symbolic links are now deprecated |
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and symbolic refs are used by default. |
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'git-symbolic-ref' will exit with status 0 if the contents of the |
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symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested |
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name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. |
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Author |
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------ |
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Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> |
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GIT |
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--- |
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Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
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