6 git-bundle - Move objects and refs by archive
12 'git bundle' create [-q | --quiet | --progress | --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]
13 [--version=<version>] <file> <git-rev-list-args>
14 'git bundle' verify [-q | --quiet] <file>
15 'git bundle' list-heads <file> [<refname>...]
16 'git bundle' unbundle <file> [<refname>...]
21 Some workflows require that one or more branches of development on one
22 machine be replicated on another machine, but the two machines cannot
23 be directly connected, and therefore the interactive Git protocols (git,
24 ssh, http) cannot be used.
26 The 'git bundle' command packages objects and references in an archive
27 at the originating machine, which can then be imported into another
28 repository using 'git fetch', 'git pull', or 'git clone',
29 after moving the archive by some means (e.g., by sneakernet).
32 direct connection between the repositories exists, the user must specify a
33 basis for the bundle that is held by the destination repository: the
34 bundle assumes that all objects in the basis are already in the
35 destination repository.
40 create [options] <file> <git-rev-list-args>::
41 Used to create a bundle named 'file'. This requires the
42 '<git-rev-list-args>' arguments to define the bundle contents.
43 'options' contains the options specific to the 'git bundle create'
47 Used to check that a bundle file is valid and will apply
48 cleanly to the current repository. This includes checks on the
49 bundle format itself as well as checking that the prerequisite
50 commits exist and are fully linked in the current repository.
51 'git bundle' prints a list of missing commits, if any, and exits
52 with a non-zero status.
55 Lists the references defined in the bundle. If followed by a
56 list of references, only references matching those given are
60 Passes the objects in the bundle to 'git index-pack'
61 for storage in the repository, then prints the names of all
62 defined references. If a list of references is given, only
63 references matching those in the list are printed. This command is
64 really plumbing, intended to be called only by 'git fetch'.
67 A list of arguments, acceptable to 'git rev-parse' and
68 'git rev-list' (and containing a named ref, see SPECIFYING REFERENCES
69 below), that specifies the specific objects and references
70 to transport. For example, `master~10..master` causes the
71 current master reference to be packaged along with all objects
72 added since its 10th ancestor commit. There is no explicit
73 limit to the number of references and objects that may be
78 A list of references used to limit the references reported as
79 available. This is principally of use to 'git fetch', which
80 expects to receive only those references asked for and not
81 necessarily everything in the pack (in this case, 'git bundle' acts
82 like 'git fetch-pack').
85 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
86 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
87 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if
88 the standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
91 When --stdout is specified then progress report is
92 displayed during the object count and compression phases
93 but inhibited during the write-out phase. The reason is
94 that in some cases the output stream is directly linked
95 to another command which may wish to display progress
96 status of its own as it processes incoming pack data.
97 This flag is like --progress except that it forces progress
98 report for the write-out phase as well even if --stdout is
101 --all-progress-implied::
102 This is used to imply --all-progress whenever progress display
103 is activated. Unlike --all-progress this flag doesn't actually
104 force any progress display by itself.
106 --version=<version>::
107 Specify the bundle version. Version 2 is the older format and can only be
108 used with SHA-1 repositories; the newer version 3 contains capabilities that
109 permit extensions. The default is the oldest supported format, based on the
110 hash algorithm in use.
114 This flag makes the command not to report its progress
115 on the standard error stream.
117 SPECIFYING REFERENCES
118 ---------------------
120 'git bundle' will only package references that are shown by
121 'git show-ref': this includes heads, tags, and remote heads. References
122 such as `master~1` cannot be packaged, but are perfectly suitable for
123 defining the basis. More than one reference may be packaged, and more
124 than one basis can be specified. The objects packaged are those not
125 contained in the union of the given bases. Each basis can be
126 specified explicitly (e.g. `^master~10`), or implicitly (e.g.
127 `master~10..master`, `--since=10.days.ago master`).
129 It is very important that the basis used be held by the destination.
130 It is okay to err on the side of caution, causing the bundle file
131 to contain objects already in the destination, as these are ignored
132 when unpacking at the destination.
134 `git clone` can use any bundle created without negative refspecs
135 (e.g., `new`, but not `old..new`).
136 If you want to match `git clone --mirror`, which would include your
137 refs such as `refs/remotes/*`, use `--all`.
138 If you want to provide the same set of refs that a clone directly
139 from the source repository would get, use `--branches --tags` for
140 the `<git-rev-list-args>`.
145 Assume you want to transfer the history from a repository R1 on machine A
146 to another repository R2 on machine B.
147 For whatever reason, direct connection between A and B is not allowed,
148 but we can move data from A to B via some mechanism (CD, email, etc.).
149 We want to update R2 with development made on the branch master in R1.
151 To bootstrap the process, you can first create a bundle that does not have
152 any basis. You can use a tag to remember up to what commit you last
153 processed, in order to make it easy to later update the other repository
154 with an incremental bundle:
158 machineA$ git bundle create file.bundle master
159 machineA$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
162 Then you transfer file.bundle to the target machine B. Because this
163 bundle does not require any existing object to be extracted, you can
164 create a new repository on machine B by cloning from it:
167 machineB$ git clone -b master /home/me/tmp/file.bundle R2
170 This will define a remote called "origin" in the resulting repository that
171 lets you fetch and pull from the bundle. The $GIT_DIR/config file in R2 will
172 have an entry like this:
174 ------------------------
176 url = /home/me/tmp/file.bundle
177 fetch = refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
178 ------------------------
180 To update the resulting mine.git repository, you can fetch or pull after
181 replacing the bundle stored at /home/me/tmp/file.bundle with incremental
184 After working some more in the original repository, you can create an
185 incremental bundle to update the other repository:
189 machineA$ git bundle create file.bundle lastR2bundle..master
190 machineA$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
193 You then transfer the bundle to the other machine to replace
194 /home/me/tmp/file.bundle, and pull from it.
201 If you know up to what commit the intended recipient repository should
202 have the necessary objects, you can use that knowledge to specify the
203 basis, giving a cut-off point to limit the revisions and objects that go
204 in the resulting bundle. The previous example used the lastR2bundle tag
205 for this purpose, but you can use any other options that you would give to
206 the linkgit:git-log[1] command. Here are more examples:
208 You can use a tag that is present in both:
211 $ git bundle create mybundle v1.0.0..master
214 You can use a basis based on time:
217 $ git bundle create mybundle --since=10.days master
220 You can use the number of commits:
223 $ git bundle create mybundle -10 master
226 You can run `git-bundle verify` to see if you can extract from a bundle
227 that was created with a basis:
230 $ git bundle verify mybundle
233 This will list what commits you must have in order to extract from the
234 bundle and will error out if you do not have them.
236 A bundle from a recipient repository's point of view is just like a
237 regular repository which it fetches or pulls from. You can, for example, map
238 references when fetching:
241 $ git fetch mybundle master:localRef
244 You can also see what references it offers:
247 $ git ls-remote mybundle
252 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite