1git-p4(1) 2========= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>... 13'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...] 14'git p4 rebase' 15'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>] 16 17 18DESCRIPTION 19----------- 20This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories 21using git. 22 23Create a new git repository from an existing p4 repository using 24'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate 25new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command 26is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths. 27Submit git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command 28'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto 29the updated p4 remote branch. 30 31 32EXAMPLE 33------- 34* Create an alias for 'git p4', using the full path to the 'git-p4' 35 script if needed: 36+ 37------------ 38$ git config --global alias.p4 '!git-p4' 39------------ 40 41* Clone a repository: 42+ 43------------ 44$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project 45------------ 46 47* Do some work in the newly created git repository: 48+ 49------------ 50$ cd project 51$ vi foo.h 52$ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h" 53------------ 54 55* Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your 56 work on top: 57+ 58------------ 59$ git p4 rebase 60------------ 61 62* Submit your commits back to p4: 63+ 64------------ 65$ git p4 submit 66------------ 67 68 69COMMANDS 70-------- 71 72Clone 73~~~~~ 74Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory 75from an existing p4 repository: 76------------ 77$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project 78------------ 79This: 80 811. Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'. 82+ 832. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4 84depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'. 85+ 863. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out. 87 88To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on 89the depot path: 90------------ 91$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all 92------------ 93 94 95Sync 96~~~~ 97As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can 98be included in the git repository using: 99------------ 100$ git p4 sync 101------------ 102This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits. 103 104P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using 105'git p4 sync' too: 106------------ 107$ mkdir repo-git 108$ cd repo-git 109$ git init 110$ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot 111------------ 112This imports the specified depot into 113'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository. The 114'--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to 115be used for the p4 content. 116 117If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these 118will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since 119importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes 120from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment. 121 122 123Rebase 124~~~~~~ 125A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot 126and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository 127is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes 128sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move 129local commits on top of updated p4 changes. 130------------ 131$ git p4 rebase 132------------ 133 134 135Submit 136~~~~~~ 137Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository 138requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified 139using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration 140variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root 141will be created and populated if it does not already exist. 142 143To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in 144the 'p4/master' branch, use: 145------------ 146$ git p4 submit 147------------ 148 149To specify a branch other than the current one, use: 150------------ 151$ git p4 submit topicbranch 152------------ 153 154The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can 155be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option. 156 157The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The 158'--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified 159according to the author of the git commit. This option requires admin 160privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'. 161 162 163OPTIONS 164------- 165 166General options 167~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 168All commands except clone accept this option. 169 170--git-dir <dir>:: 171 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1]. 172 173Sync options 174~~~~~~~~~~~~ 175These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in 176subsequent 'sync' operations. 177 178--branch <branch>:: 179 Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with 180 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/' 181 will be prepended. The default branch is 'master'. If used 182 with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out. 183+ 184This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing 185git repository: 186---- 187 $ git init 188 $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2 189---- 190 191--detect-branches:: 192 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is 193 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION". 194 195--changesfile <file>:: 196 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per 197 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository 198 state and detects the changes it should import. 199 200--silent:: 201 Do not print any progress information. 202 203--verbose:: 204 Provide more progress information. 205 206--detect-labels:: 207 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add 208 them as tags in git. 209 210--import-local:: 211 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/', 212 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by 213 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead 214 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future 215 sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that 216 they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads. 217 218--max-changes <n>:: 219 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to 220 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision 221 specifier. 222 223--keep-path:: 224 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by 225 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this 226 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example, 227 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from 228 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the 229 git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'. 230 231--use-client-spec:: 232 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4. 233 The client spec is discovered using 'p4 client -o' which checks 234 the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable and returns a mapping of 235 depot files to workspace files. Note that a depot path is 236 still required, but files found in the path that match in 237 the client spec view will be laid out according to the client 238 spec. 239 240Clone options 241~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 242These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync' 243options described above. 244 245--destination <directory>:: 246 Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last 247 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new 248 directory. 249 250--bare:: 251 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1]. 252 253-/ <path>:: 254 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning. 255 256Submit options 257~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 258These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior. 259 260--verbose:: 261 Provide more progress information. 262 263--origin <commit>:: 264 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to 265 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable 266 from 'HEAD'. 267 268-M[<n>]:: 269 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be 270 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. 271 272--preserve-user:: 273 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option 274 requires p4 admin privileges. 275 276 277DEPOT PATH SYNTAX 278----------------- 279The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can 280be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional 281p4 revision specifier on the end: 282 283"//depot/my/project":: 284 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree. 285 286"//depot/my/project@all":: 287 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path. 288 289"//depot/my/project@1,6":: 290 Import only changes 1 through 6. 291 292"//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all":: 293 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single 294 repository. Only files below these directories are included. 295 There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2". 296 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more 297 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified 298 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the 299 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently 300 updated version of the file is the one that appears in git. 301 302See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers. 303 304 305BRANCH DETECTION 306---------------- 307P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead, 308p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention 309different logical branches are in different locations in the tree. 310The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between 311different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4' 312can use these mappings to determine branch relationships. 313 314If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as 315subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches' 316when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find 317subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git. 318 319For example, if the P4 repository structure is: 320---- 321//depot/main/... 322//depot/branch1/... 323---- 324 325And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like: 326---- 327//depot/main/... //depot/branch1/... 328---- 329 330Then this 'git p4 clone' command: 331---- 332git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all 333---- 334produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main, 335called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'. 336 337However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use 338them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch 339relationships automatically, a git configuration setting 340'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch 341relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a 342simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are 343the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the 344presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will 345occur with: 346---- 347git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1 348git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all 349---- 350 351 352PERFORMANCE 353----------- 354The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for 355each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression 356(linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files, 357but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance. 358 359 360CONFIGURATION VARIABLES 361----------------------- 362The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior. 363They all are in the 'git-p4' section. 364 365General variables 366~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 367git-p4.user:: 368 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'. 369 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead. 370 371git-p4.password:: 372 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 373 '-P <password>'. 374 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead. 375 376git-p4.port:: 377 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 378 '-p <port>'. 379 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead. 380 381git-p4.host:: 382 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 383 '-h <host>'. 384 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead. 385 386git-p4.client:: 387 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 388 '-c <client>'. This can also be used as a way to find 389 the client spec for the 'useClientSpec' option. 390 The environment variable 'P4CLIENT' can be used instead. 391 392Clone and sync variables 393~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 394git-p4.syncFromOrigin:: 395 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster 396 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes 397 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4', 398 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This 399 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior. 400 401git-p4.branchUser:: 402 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches 403 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are 404 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned 405 by the single user named in the variable. 406 407git-p4.branchList:: 408 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is 409 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated 410 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and 411 branchB were created from main: 412------------- 413git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA 414git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB 415------------- 416 417git-p4.useClientSpec:: 418 Specify that the p4 client spec to be used to identify p4 depot 419 paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the option 420 '--use-client-spec'. The variable 'git-p4.client' can be used 421 to specify the name of the client. 422 423Submit variables 424~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 425git-p4.detectRenames:: 426 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. 427 428git-p4.detectCopies:: 429 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. 430 431git-p4.detectCopiesHarder:: 432 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. 433 434git-p4.preserveUser:: 435 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author, 436 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'. 437 438git-p4.allowMissingP4Users:: 439 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it 440 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting 441 submits the change regardless. 442 443git-p4.skipSubmitEdit:: 444 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change 445 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing 446 step is skipped. 447 448git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck:: 449 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that 450 the description really was changed by looking at the file 451 modification time. This option disables that test. 452 453git-p4.allowSubmit:: 454 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4 455 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only 456 the named branches to be used as submit sources. 457 458git-p4.skipUserNameCheck:: 459 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4 460 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force 461 submission regardless. 462 463 464IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS 465---------------------- 466* Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import. 467* Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are 468 collected using 'p4 print'. 469* Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location 470 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to 471 this p4 client and submitted from there. 472* Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log 473 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This 474 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4 475 changes are new.