From 1b593e1ea4d2af0f6444d9a7788d5d99abd6fde5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Vincent Ambo Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2020 23:36:56 +0000 Subject: Squashed 'third_party/git/' content from commit cb71568594 git-subtree-dir: third_party/git git-subtree-split: cb715685942260375e1eb8153b0768a376e4ece7 --- Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt | 69 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 69 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt (limited to 'Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt') diff --git a/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..ef68ad2b7112 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt @@ -0,0 +1,69 @@ +git-symbolic-ref(1) +=================== + +NAME +---- +git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +[verse] +'git symbolic-ref' [-m ] +'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [--short] +'git symbolic-ref' --delete [-q] + +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 +argument to see which branch your working tree is on. + +Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref to +point at the given branch . + +Given `--delete` and an additional argument, deletes the given +symbolic ref. + +A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that +begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is +a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. + +OPTIONS +------- + +-d:: +--delete:: + Delete the symbolic ref . + +-q:: +--quiet:: + Do not issue an error message if the is not a + symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with + non-zero status silently. + +--short:: + When showing the value of as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the + value, e.g. from `refs/heads/master` to `master`. + +-m:: + Update the reflog for with . This is valid only + when creating or updating a symbolic ref. + +NOTES +----- +In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at +`refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, +we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted +to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. +But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now +deprecated and symbolic refs (as described above) are used by +default. + +'git symbolic-ref' will exit with status 0 if the contents of the +symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested +name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite -- cgit 1.4.1