GIT-PUSH(1)GIT-PUSH(1)NAMEgit-push - Update remote refs along with associated objects
SYNOPSIS
git push [--all | --mirror | --tags] [-n | --dry-run] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>]
[--repo=<repository>] [-f | --force] [-v | --verbose] [-u | --set-upstream]
[<repository> [<refspec>...]]
DESCRIPTION
Updates remote refs using local refs, while sending objects necessary
to complete the given refs.
You can make interesting things happen to a repository every time you
push into it, by setting up hooks there. See documentation for
git-receive-pack(1).
OPTIONS
<repository>
The "remote" repository that is destination of a push operation.
This parameter can be either a URL (see the section GIT URLS
below) or the name of a remote (see the section REMOTES below).
<refspec>...
The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus {plus},
followed by the source ref <src>, followed by a colon :, fol-
lowed by the destination ref <dst>. It is used to specify with
what <src> object the <dst> ref in the remote repository is to
be updated.
The <src> is often the name of the branch you would want to
push, but it can be any arbitrary "SHA-1 expression", such as
master~4 or HEAD (see gitrevisions(7)).
The <dst> tells which ref on the remote side is updated with
this push. Arbitrary expressions cannot be used here, an actual
ref must be named. If :<dst> is omitted, the same ref as <src>
will be updated.
The object referenced by <src> is used to update the <dst> ref-
erence on the remote side, but by default this is only allowed
if the update can fast-forward <dst>. By having the optional
leading {plus}, you can tell git to update the <dst> ref even
when the update is not a fast-forward. This does not attempt to
merge <src> into <dst>. See EXAMPLES below for details.
tag <tag> means the same as refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>.
Pushing an empty <src> allows you to delete the <dst> ref from
the remote repository.
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The special refspec : (or {plus}: to allow non-fast-forward
updates) directs git to push "matching" branches: for every
branch that exists on the local side, the remote side is updated
if a branch of the same name already exists on the remote side.
This is the default operation mode if no explicit refspec is
found (that is neither on the command line nor in any Push line
of the corresponding remotes file---see below).
--all Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all refs
under refs/heads/ be pushed.
--mirror
Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all refs
under refs/ (which includes but is not limited to refs/heads/,
refs/remotes/, and refs/tags/) be mirrored to the remote reposi-
tory. Newly created local refs will be pushed to the remote end,
locally updated refs will be force updated on the remote end,
and deleted refs will be removed from the remote end. This is
the default if the configuration option remote.<remote>.mirror
is set.
-n, --dry-run
Do everything except actually send the updates.
--porcelain
Produce machine-readable output. The output status line for each
ref will be tab-separated and sent to stdout instead of stderr.
The full symbolic names of the refs will be given.
--delete
All listed refs are deleted from the remote repository. This is
the same as prefixing all refs with a colon.
--tags All refs under refs/tags are pushed, in addition to refspecs
explicitly listed on the command line.
--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>, --exec=<git-receive-pack>
Path to the git-receive-pack program on the remote end. Some-
times useful when pushing to a remote repository over ssh, and
you do not have the program in a directory on the default $PATH.
-f, --force
Usually, the command refuses to update a remote ref that is not
an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it. This flag
disables the check. This can cause the remote repository to lose
commits; use it with care.
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GIT-PUSH(1)GIT-PUSH(1)
--repo=<repository>
This option is only relevant if no <repository> argument is
passed in the invocation. In this case, git push derives the
remote name from the current branch: If it tracks a remote
branch, then that remote repository is pushed to. Otherwise, the
name "origin" is used. For this latter case, this option can be
used to override the name "origin". In other words, the differ-
ence between these two commands
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git push public #1
git push --repo=public #2
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is that #1 always pushes to "public" whereas #2 pushes to "pub-
lic" only if the current branch does not track a remote branch.
This is useful if you write an alias or script around git push.
-u, --set-upstream
For every branch that is up to date or successfully pushed, add
upstream (tracking) reference, used by argument-less git-pull(1)
and other commands. For more information, see
branch.<name>.merge in git-config(1).
--thin, --no-thin
These options are passed to git-send-pack(1). A thin transfer
significantly reduces the amount of sent data when the sender
and receiver share many of the same objects in common. The
default is --thin.
-q, --quiet
Suppress all output, including the listing of updated refs,
unless an error occurs. Progress is not reported to the standard
error stream.
-v, --verbose
Run verbosely.
--progress
Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by
default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q is speci-
fied. This flag forces progress status even if the standard
error stream is not directed to a terminal.
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GIT-PUSH(1)GIT-PUSH(1)GIT URLS
In general, URLs contain information about the transport protocol, the
address of the remote server, and the path to the repository. Depending
on the transport protocol, some of this information may be absent.
Git natively supports ssh, git, http, https, ftp, ftps, and rsync pro-
tocols. The following syntaxes may be used with them:
o ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
o git://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
o http[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
o ftp[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
o rsync://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/
An alternative scp-like syntax may also be used with the ssh protocol:
o [user@]host.xz:path/to/repo.git/
The ssh and git protocols additionally support ~username expansion:
o ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/
o git://host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/
o [user@]host.xz:/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/
For local repositories, also supported by git natively, the following
syntaxes may be used:
o /path/to/repo.git/
o file:///path/to/repo.git/: file:///path/to/repo.git/
These two syntaxes are mostly equivalent, except when cloning, when the
former implies --local option. See git-clone(1) for details.
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When git doesn’t know how to handle a certain transport protocol,
it attempts to use the remote-<transport> remote helper, if one exists.
To explicitly request a remote helper, the following syntax may be
used:
o <transport>::<address>
where <address> may be a path, a server and path, or an arbitrary
URL-like string recognized by the specific remote helper being invoked.
See git-remote-helpers(1) for details.
If there are a large number of similarly-named remote repositories and
you want to use a different format for them (such that the URLs you use
will be rewritten into URLs that work), you can create a configuration
section of the form:
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[url "<actual url base>"]
insteadOf = <other url base>
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For example, with this:
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[url "git://git.host.xz/"]
insteadOf = host.xz:/path/to/
insteadOf = work:
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a URL like "work:repo.git" or like "host.xz:/path/to/repo.git" will be
rewritten in any context that takes a URL to be
"git://git.host.xz/repo.git".
If you want to rewrite URLs for push only, you can create a configura-
tion section of the form:
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[url "<actual url base>"]
pushInsteadOf = <other url base>
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For example, with this:
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[url "ssh://example.org/"]
pushInsteadOf = git://example.org/
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a URL like "git://example.org/path/to/repo.git" will be rewritten to
"ssh://example.org/path/to/repo.git" for pushes, but pulls will still
use the original URL.
REMOTES
The name of one of the following can be used instead of a URL as
<repository> argument:
o a remote in the git configuration file: $GIT_DIR/config,
o a file in the $GIT_DIR/remotes directory, or
o a file in the $GIT_DIR/branches directory.
All of these also allow you to omit the refspec from the command line
because they each contain a refspec which git will use by default.
Named remote in configuration file
You can choose to provide the name of a remote which you had previously
configured using git-remote(1), git-config(1) or even by a manual edit
to the $GIT_DIR/config file. The URL of this remote will be used to
access the repository. The refspec of this remote will be used by
default when you do not provide a refspec on the command line. The
entry in the config file would appear like this:
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[remote "<name>"]
url = <url>
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pushurl = <pushurl>
push = <refspec>
fetch = <refspec>
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The <pushurl> is used for pushes only. It is optional and defaults to
<url>.
Named file in $GIT_DIR/remotes
You can choose to provide the name of a file in $GIT_DIR/remotes. The
URL in this file will be used to access the repository. The refspec in
this file will be used as default when you do not provide a refspec on
the command line. This file should have the following format:
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URL: one of the above URL format
Push: <refspec>
Pull: <refspec>
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Push: lines are used by git push and Pull: lines are used by git pull
and git fetch. Multiple Push: and Pull: lines may be specified for
additional branch mappings.
Named file in $GIT_DIR/branches
You can choose to provide the name of a file in $GIT_DIR/branches. The
URL in this file will be used to access the repository. This file
should have the following format:
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<url>#<head>
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<url> is required; #<head> is optional.
Depending on the operation, git will use one of the following refspecs,
if you don’t provide one on the command line. <branch> is the
name of this file in $GIT_DIR/branches and <head> defaults to master.
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git fetch uses:
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refs/heads/<head>:refs/heads/<branch>
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git push uses:
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HEAD:refs/heads/<head>
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OUTPUT
The output of "git push" depends on the transport method used; this
section describes the output when pushing over the git protocol (either
locally or via ssh).
The status of the push is output in tabular form, with each line repre-
senting the status of a single ref. Each line is of the form:
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<flag> <summary> <from> -> <to> (<reason>)
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If --porcelain is used, then each line of the output is of the form:
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<flag> \t <from>:<to> \t <summary> (<reason>)
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The status of up-to-date refs is shown only if --porcelain or --verbose
option is used.
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flag A single character indicating the status of the ref:
(space)
for a successfully pushed fast-forward;
{plus} for a successful forced update;
- for a successfully deleted ref;
* for a successfully pushed new ref;
! for a ref that was rejected or failed to push; and
= for a ref that was up to date and did not need pushing.
summary
For a successfully pushed ref, the summary shows the old and new
values of the ref in a form suitable for using as an argument to
git log (this is <old>..<new> in most cases, and <old>\...<new>
for forced non-fast-forward updates).
For a failed update, more details are given:
rejected
Git did not try to send the ref at all, typically because
it is not a fast-forward and you did not force the
update.
remote rejected
The remote end refused the update. Usually caused by a
hook on the remote side, or because the remote repository
has one of the following safety options in effect:
receive.denyCurrentBranch (for pushes to the checked out
branch), receive.denyNonFastForwards (for forced
non-fast-forward updates), receive.denyDeletes or
receive.denyDeleteCurrent. See git-config(1).
remote failure
The remote end did not report the successful update of
the ref, perhaps because of a temporary error on the
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remote side, a break in the network connection, or other
transient error.
from The name of the local ref being pushed, minus its refs/<type>/
prefix. In the case of deletion, the name of the local ref is
omitted.
to The name of the remote ref being updated, minus its refs/<type>/
prefix.
reason A human-readable explanation. In the case of successfully pushed
refs, no explanation is needed. For a failed ref, the reason for
failure is described.
NOTE ABOUT FAST-FORWARDS
When an update changes a branch (or more in general, a ref) that used
to point at commit A to point at another commit B, it is called a
fast-forward update if and only if B is a descendant of A.
In a fast-forward update from A to B, the set of commits that the orig-
inal commit A built on top of is a subset of the commits the new commit
B builds on top of. Hence, it does not lose any history.
In contrast, a non-fast-forward update will lose history. For example,
suppose you and somebody else started at the same commit X, and you
built a history leading to commit B while the other person built a his-
tory leading to commit A. The history looks like this:
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B
/
---X---A
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Further suppose that the other person already pushed changes leading to
A back to the original repository you two obtained the original commit
X.
The push done by the other person updated the branch that used to point
at commit X to point at commit A. It is a fast-forward.
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But if you try to push, you will attempt to update the branch (that now
points at A) with commit B. This does not fast-forward. If you did so,
the changes introduced by commit A will be lost, because everybody will
now start building on top of B.
The command by default does not allow an update that is not a fast-for-
ward to prevent such loss of history.
If you do not want to lose your work (history from X to B) nor the work
by the other person (history from X to A), you would need to first
fetch the history from the repository, create a history that contains
changes done by both parties, and push the result back.
You can perform "git pull", resolve potential conflicts, and "git push"
the result. A "git pull" will create a merge commit C between commits A
and B.
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B---C
/ /
---X---A
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Updating A with the resulting merge commit will fast-forward and your
push will be accepted.
Alternatively, you can rebase your change between X and B on top of A,
with "git pull --rebase", and push the result back. The rebase will
create a new commit D that builds the change between X and B on top of
A.
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B D
/ /
---X---A
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Again, updating A with this commit will fast-forward and your push will
be accepted.
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GIT-PUSH(1)GIT-PUSH(1)
There is another common situation where you may encounter non-fast-for-
ward rejection when you try to push, and it is possible even when you
are pushing into a repository nobody else pushes into. After you push
commit A yourself (in the first picture in this section), replace it
with "git commit --amend" to produce commit B, and you try to push it
out, because forgot that you have pushed A out already. In such a case,
and only if you are certain that nobody in the meantime fetched your
earlier commit A (and started building on top of it), you can run "git
push --force" to overwrite it. In other words, "git push --force" is a
method reserved for a case where you do mean to lose history.
EXAMPLES
git push
Works like git push <remote>, where <remote> is the current
branch’s remote (or origin, if no remote is configured for
the current branch).
git push origin
Without additional configuration, works like git push origin :.
The default behavior of this command when no <refspec> is given
can be configured by setting the push option of the remote.
For example, to default to pushing only the current branch to
origin use git config remote.origin.push HEAD. Any valid <ref-
spec> (like the ones in the examples below) can be configured as
the default for git push origin.
git push origin
Push "matching" branches to origin. See <refspec> in the
OPTIONS section above for a description of "matching"
branches.
git push origin master
Find a ref that matches master in the source repository (most
likely, it would find refs/heads/master), and update the same
ref (e.g. refs/heads/master) in origin repository with it. If
master did not exist remotely, it would be created.
git push origin HEAD
A handy way to push the current branch to the same name on the
remote.
git push origin master:satellite/master dev:satellite/dev
Use the source ref that matches master (e.g. refs/heads/master)
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to update the ref that matches satellite/master (most probably
refs/remotes/satellite/master) in the origin repository, then do
the same for dev and satellite/dev.
git push origin HEAD:master
Push the current branch to the remote ref matching master in the
origin repository. This form is convenient to push the current
branch without thinking about its local name.
git push origin master:refs/heads/experimental
Create the branch experimental in the origin repository by copy-
ing the current master branch. This form is only needed to cre-
ate a new branch or tag in the remote repository when the local
name and the remote name are different; otherwise, the ref name
on its own will work.
git push origin :experimental
Find a ref that matches experimental in the origin repository
(e.g. refs/heads/experimental), and delete it.
git push origin +dev:master
Update the origin repository’s master branch with the dev
branch, allowing non-fast-forward updates. This can leave unref-
erenced commits dangling in the origin repository. Consider the
following situation, where a fast-forward is not possible:
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o---o---o---A---B origin/master
\
X---Y---Z dev
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The above command would change the origin repository to
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A---B (unnamed branch)
/
o---o---o---X---Y---Z master
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Commits A and B would no longer belong to a branch with a sym-
bolic name, and so would be unreachable. As such, these commits
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would be removed by a git gc command on the origin repository.
AUTHOR
Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com: mailto:git-
ster@pobox.com>, later rewritten in C by Linus Torvalds <tor-
valds@osdl.org: mailto:torvalds@osdl.org>
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org:
mailto:git@vger.kernel.org>.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
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