--- /dev/null
+GIT repository layout
+=====================
+v0.99.5, Sep 2005
+
+You may find these things in your git repository (`.git`
+directory for a repository associated with your working tree, or
+`'project'.git` directory for a public 'naked' repository).
+
+objects::
+ Object store associated with this repository. Usually
+ an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
+ that are referred to by an object found in it are also
+ found in it), but there are couple of ways to violate
+ it.
++
+. You could populate the repository by running a commit walker
+without `-a` option. Depending on which options are given, you
+could have only commit objects without associated blobs and
+trees this way, for example. A repository with this kind of
+incomplete object store is not suitable to be published to the
+outside world but sometimes useful for private repository.
+. You can be using `objects/info/alternates` mechanism, or
+`$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanism to 'borrow'
+objects from other object stores. A repository with this kind
+of incompete object store is not suitable to be published for
+use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
+`objects/info/alternates` points at the right object stores
+it borrows from.
+
+objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
+ Traditionally, each object is stored in its own file.
+ They are split into 256 subdirectories using the first
+ two letters from its object name to keep the number of
+ directory entries `objects` directory itself needs to
+ hold. Objects found here are often called 'unpacked'
+ objects.
+
+objects/pack::
+ Packs (files that store many object in compressed form,
+ along with index files to allow them to be randomly
+ accessed) are found in this directory.
+
+objects/info::
+ Additional information about the object store is
+ recorded in this directory.
+
+objects/info/packs::
+ This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
+ are available in this object store. Whenever a pack is
+ added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
+ to keep this file up-to-date if the repository is
+ published for dumb transports. `git repack` does this
+ by default.
+
+objects/info/alternates::
+ This file records absolute filesystem paths of alternate
+ object stores that this object store borrows objects
+ from, one pathname per line.
+
+refs::
+ References are stored in subdirectories of this
+ directory. The `git prune` command knows to keep
+ objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
+ its subdirectories.
+
+refs/heads/`name`::
+ records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
+
+refs/tags/`name`::
+ records any object name (not necessarily a commit
+ object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
+
+HEAD::
+ A symlink of the form `refs/heads/'name'` to point at
+ the current branch, if exists. It does not mean much if
+ the repository is not associated with any working tree
+ (i.e. 'naked' repository), but a valid git repository
+ *must* have such a symlink here. It is legal if the
+ named branch 'name' does not (yet) exist.
+
+branches::
+ A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
+ to specify URL to `git fetch`, `git pull` and `git push`
+ commands is to store a file in `branches/'name'` and
+ give 'name' to these commands in place of 'repository'
+ argument.
+
+hooks::
+ Hooks are customization scripts used by various git
+ commands. A handful of sample hooks are installed when
+ `git init-db` is run, but all of them are disabled by
+ default. To enable, they need to be made executable.
+
+index::
+ The current index file for the repository. It is
+ usually not found in a naked repository.
+
+info::
+ Additional information about the repository is recorded
+ in this directory.
+
+info/refs::
+ This file is to help dumb transports to discover what
+ refs are available in this repository. Whenever you
+ create/delete a new branch or a new tag, `git
+ update-server-info` should be run to keep this file
+ up-to-date if the repository is published for dumb
+ transports. The `git-receive-pack` command, which is
+ run on a remote repository when you `git push` into it,
+ runs `hooks/update` hook to help you achive this.
+
+info/grafts::
+ This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
+ pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
+ from how the commit was actually created. One record
+ per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
+ listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
+ by a space and terminated by a newline.
+
+info/rev-cache::
+ No higher-level tool currently takes advantage of this
+ file, but it is generated when `git update-server-info`
+ is run. It records the commit ancestry information of
+ the commits in this repository in a concise binary
+ format, and can be read with `git-show-rev-cache`.
+
+info/exclude::
+ This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
+ exclude pattern list. `git status` looks at it, but
+ otherwise it is not looked at by any of the core GIT
+ commands.
+
+remotes::
+ Stoers shorthands to be used to give URL and default
+ refnames to interact with remote repository to `git
+ fetch`, `git pull` and `git push` commands.
projects / git.git / commitdiff