You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
52 lines
1.8 KiB
52 lines
1.8 KiB
git-symbolic-ref(1) |
|
=================== |
|
|
|
NAME |
|
---- |
|
git-symbolic-ref - read and modify symbolic refs |
|
|
|
SYNOPSIS |
|
-------- |
|
'git-symbolic-ref' <name> [<ref>] |
|
|
|
DESCRIPTION |
|
----------- |
|
Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic |
|
ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` |
|
directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> |
|
argument to see on which branch your working tree is on. |
|
|
|
Give two arguments, create or update a symbolic ref <name> to |
|
point at the given branch <ref>. |
|
|
|
Traditionally, `.git/HEAD` is a symlink pointing at |
|
`refs/heads/master`. When we want to switch to another branch, |
|
we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we want |
|
to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. |
|
This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by |
|
default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks, |
|
or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit |
|
cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as |
|
advertised (horrors). |
|
|
|
A symbolic ref can be a regular file that stores a string that |
|
begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` *can* |
|
be a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. |
|
This can be used on a filesystem that does not support symbolic |
|
links. Instead of doing `readlink .git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref |
|
HEAD` can be used to find out which branch we are on. To point |
|
the HEAD to `newbranch`, instead of `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch |
|
.git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/newbranch` can be |
|
used. |
|
|
|
Currently, .git/HEAD uses a regular file symbolic ref on Cygwin, |
|
and everywhere else it is implemented as a symlink. This can be |
|
changed at compilation time. |
|
|
|
Author |
|
------ |
|
Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> |
|
|
|
GIT |
|
--- |
|
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
|
|
|