mirror of https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
85 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
# Important Git terms
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When you install Git, it adds a manual entry for `gitglossary`. You can view
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this glossary by running `man gitglossary`. Below we've included the git terms
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you'll encounter most often along with their definitions from *gitglossary*.
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## branch
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A "branch" is an active line of development. The most recent commit
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on a branch is referred to as the tip of that branch. The tip of
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the branch is referenced by a branch head, which moves forward as
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additional development is done on the branch. A single Git
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repository can track an arbitrary number of branches, but your
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working tree is associated with just one of them (the "current" or
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"checked out" branch), and HEAD points to that branch.
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## cache
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Obsolete for: index
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## checkout
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The action of updating all or part of the working tree with a tree
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object or blob from the object database, and updating the index and
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HEAD if the whole working tree has been pointed at a new branch.
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## commit
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As a noun: A single point in the Git history; the entire history of
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a project is represented as a set of interrelated commits. The word
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"commit" is often used by Git in the same places other revision
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control systems use the words "revision" or "version". Also used as
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a short hand for commit object.
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As a verb: The action of storing a new snapshot of the project's
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state in the Git history, by creating a new commit representing the
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current state of the index and advancing HEAD to point at the new
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## fast-forward
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A fast-forward is a special type of merge where you have a revision
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and you are "merging" another branch's changes that happen to be a
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descendant of what you have. In such these cases, you do not make a
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new mergecommit but instead just update to their revision. This will
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happen frequently on a remote-tracking branch of a remote
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repository.
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## fetch
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Fetching a branch means to get the branch's head ref from a remote
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repository, to find out which objects are missing from the local
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object database, and to get them, too. See also git-fetch(1).
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## hash
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In Git's context, synonym for object name.
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## head
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A named reference to the commit at the tip of a branch. Heads are
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stored in a file in $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/ directory, except when
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using packed refs. (See git-pack-refs(1).)
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## HEAD
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The current branch. In more detail: Your working tree is normally
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derived from the state of the tree referred to by HEAD. HEAD is a
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reference to one of the heads in your repository, except when using
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a detached HEAD, in which case it directly references an arbitrary
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commit.
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## index
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A collection of files with stat information, whose contents are
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stored as objects. The index is a stored version of your working
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tree. Truth be told, it can also contain a second, and even a third
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version of a working tree, which are used when merging.
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## pull
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Pulling a branch means to fetch it and merge it. See also git-
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pull(1).
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## push
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Pushing a branch means to get the branch's head ref from a remote
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repository, find out if it is a direct ancestor to the branch's
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local head ref, and in that case, putting all objects, which are
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reachable from the local head ref, and which are missing from the
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remote repository, into the remote object database, and updating
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the remote head ref. If the remote head is not an ancestor to the
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local head, the push fails.
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## rebase
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To reapply a series of changes from a branch to a different base,
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and reset the head of that branch to the result.
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