0b444cdb19
The documentation was quite inconsistent when spelling 'git cmd' if it
only refers to the program, not to some specific invocation syntax:
both 'git-cmd' and 'git cmd' spellings exist.
The current trend goes towards dashless forms, and there is precedent
in 647ac70 (git-svn.txt: stop using dash-form of commands.,
2009-07-07) to actively eliminate the dashed variants.
Replace 'git-cmd' with 'git cmd' throughout, except where git-shell,
git-cvsserver, git-upload-pack, git-receive-pack, and
git-upload-archive are concerned, because those really live in the
$PATH.
63 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
63 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
git-symbolic-ref(1)
|
|
===================
|
|
|
|
NAME
|
|
----
|
|
git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs
|
|
|
|
SYNOPSIS
|
|
--------
|
|
'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [-m <reason>] <name> [<ref>]
|
|
|
|
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 <name>
|
|
argument to see which branch your working tree is on.
|
|
|
|
Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to
|
|
point at the given branch <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
|
|
-------
|
|
|
|
-q::
|
|
--quiet::
|
|
Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a
|
|
symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with
|
|
non-zero status silently.
|
|
|
|
-m::
|
|
Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. 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`.
|
|
This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by
|
|
default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks,
|
|
or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit
|
|
cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as
|
|
advertised (horrors). Therefore symbolic links are now deprecated
|
|
and symbolic refs 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.
|
|
|
|
Author
|
|
------
|
|
Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
|
|
|
|
GIT
|
|
---
|
|
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
|