Git

Links

Commands

Cloning

clone only a single branch/tag (Linux kernel example)

git clone --depth 1 --single-branch --branch v5.10.52 \
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.10.52

Status

show status (long): git status
show status (short): git status -s

Commit

cherry pick a commit to index: git cherry-pick -n -Xpatience <commit>
revert all commits, not pushed so far, up to <last_good_commit>, and keep all changes in worktree/index: git reset --soft <last_good_commit>
revert/delete all commits after <last_good_commit> up to HEAD: git reset --hard <last_good_commit>; if pushed in the past then do in addition: git push -f origin <branch>

Merge/Rebase

typical merge: git merge --no-commit master
rebase a feature branch: git checkout master;git pull;git checkout <branch>; git rebase master

Some notes regarding Rebase:

In most cases rebasing does not produce any problem (it is best practice).
Interactive rebase (option -i) provides better control sometimes.
A rebase changes all commit hashes (Git rewrites the commit history) - so do not rebase commits that you've pushed!
Also regard the Golden Rules from Bitbucket.

rebase a branch, w/o flatten it's merge commits: git rebase -p
interactive edit/re-arrange/squash the last 3 commits (example): git rebase -i HEAD~3

Branches

list remote branches: git branch -r
show information about origin: git remote show origin
create (and switch to) branch: git checkout -b <branchname>
create branch and take over all working tree changes: git stash branch <branchname>
push local branch to origin (create remote branch on demand): git push origin <branchname>
push also the tags (this is not automatic!): git push --tags
change remote tracking branch: git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/<any> <branchname>

print name of current branch: git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD; or with a Bash alias:

    git_branch_name()
    {
        local name="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
        echo "$name"
    }
 
    alias gbn=git_branch_name

print revision of branch base (gbb):¹⁾ git merge-base --fork-point master

Log

print summary of commits in branch: git log --first-parent --pretty=oneline $(gbb)~..HEAD; or: git show-branch --current --sha1-name
show changed files in branch (local): git diff --name-status $(gbb)~ HEAD --
show graphical history: git log --graph --oneline --all
list last operations: git reflog

Diff

create a (mbox) patchset, to be applied with git am:²⁾ git format-patch -s -M --stat --summary --cover-letter -o mboxdir origin/devel..
create a patch, to be applied with patch:³⁾ git diff [--cached] > patchfile
create a patch (using Diff, not Git), to be applied with patch: diff -Naur file1 file2 > patchfile (-N »treat absent files as empty, -r »recursive, -a »treat all files as text, -u »unified context)
Ediff with Emacs: git difftool --tool=ediff file

Prefer git format-patch / git am against git diff / git apply, because of it's better conflict resolution capabilities.

Patch

apply a (mbox) patchset, created with git format-patch: git am --reject mboxdir/mboxfile
send a (mbox) patchset as e-mail:⁴⁾ git send-email --no-signed-off-cc --to="user1 <user1@dummy.com>" --cc="user2 <user2@dummy.com>" mboxdir/mboxfile/
apply a patchfile with patch: patch -p1 < patchfile

Repo

show tracked remote repos: git remote -v
change origin URL: git config remote.origin.url ssh://<user>@<server>:<port>/<repo>

NOTES:

Proper working of some commands can be ensured only in conjunction with my Git configuration (see section Files below).
In particular i use Emacs for most development tasks, also in VC or Magit mode (see also the Git difftool script for Ediff).

Troubleshooting

Have I lost my changes after rebasing?⁵⁾
Especially on MinGW the following error message is very common (with transport protocol HTTPS): SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate. This problem can be solved by suppressing the issuer certificate validation with:
```
git config --global http.sslVerify false
```

This contradicts the idea of certificates and might be a security issue.

Files

/etc/gitconfig: system-wide Git configuration file
~/.gitignore: ignored files (see core.excludesfile in file ~/.gitconfig below)
~/.gitmessage.txt: commit template (see commit.template in file ~/.gitconfig below)

~/.gitconfig: users global Git configuration:

# -*- mode: conf -*-
#
# Copyright (C) 2018 Ralf Hoppe <ralf@dfcgen.de>
#
[user]
	name = Ralf Hoppe
	email = ralf.hoppe@ieee.org
 
[core]
	editor = emacs
	excludesfile = ~/.gitignore
 
[pager]
	branch = false
 
[color]
	diff = auto
	status = auto
	branch = auto
	interactive = auto
	status = auto
	diff = auto
 
[credential]
	helper = cache
 
[commit]
	template = ~/.gitmessage.txt
 
[log]
	abbrevCommit = true
 
[sendemail]
#	smtpserver = ???
	from = Ralf Hoppe <ralf.hoppe@ieee.org>
	envelopesender = ralf.hoppe@ieee.org
	suppressfrom = true # do not add From: address to the cc: list
	confirm = auto # confirm before sending on automatic adding of addresses
	thread = false # no threading by git-send-email (see git-format-patch)
[diff]
	tool = ediff
	guitool = ediff
 
[difftool]
	prompt = false # do not prompt before launch
 
[difftool.ediff]
	cmd = ediff.sh $LOCAL $REMOTE
 
[merge]
	tool = ediff
 
[mergetool]
	keepBackup = false
 
[mergetool.ediff]
	cmd = ediff.sh $LOCAL $REMOTE $MERGED $BASE
	keepBackup = false
	trustExitCode = true
[pull]
	rebase = merges
[push]
	# "git push" without any refspec will push the current branch out to
	# the same name at the remote repository only when it is set to track
	# the branch with the same name over there
	default = simple
 
[format]
	signoff = true # add Signed-off-by: line to the commit message
	thread = shallow # do threading in git-format-patch

¹⁾

After a rebase this command prints the rebase point, not the original fork point.

²⁾

Conforming to Linux kernel submit guideline.

³⁾

There is no need for option --no-prefix if applied with git apply.

⁴⁾

Send as shallowed thread according to configuration option format.thread in file ~/.gitconfig.

⁵⁾

If after a rebase (or twiddling with refs) it seems that all commits were lost then use git reflog show in conjunction with git reset.

rho62 Wiki

Table of Contents

Git

Links

Overview

Merge

Rebase

Submodules

Hooks