abb9ae95f4
Update documentation to warn users not to create noise in then Linux history by creating pointless "Auto-update from upstream" merge commits. Signed-off-by: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
297 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
297 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 12:17:41 -0700
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From: tony.luck@intel.com
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Subject: Some tutorial text (was git/cogito workshop/bof at linuxconf au?)
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Abstract: In this article, Tony Luck discusses how he uses GIT
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as a Linux subsystem maintainer.
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Here's something that I've been putting together on how I'm using
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GIT as a Linux subsystem maintainer.
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-Tony
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Last updated w.r.t. GIT 1.1
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Linux subsystem maintenance using GIT
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-------------------------------------
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My requirements here are to be able to create two public trees:
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1) A "test" tree into which patches are initially placed so that they
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can get some exposure when integrated with other ongoing development.
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This tree is available to Andrew for pulling into -mm whenever he wants.
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2) A "release" tree into which tested patches are moved for final
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sanity checking, and as a vehicle to send them upstream to Linus
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(by sending him a "please pull" request.)
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Note that the period of time that each patch spends in the "test" tree
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is dependent on the complexity of the change. Since GIT does not support
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cherry picking, it is not practical to simply apply all patches to the
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test tree and then pull to the release tree as that would leave trivial
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patches blocked in the test tree waiting for complex changes to accumulate
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enough test time to graduate.
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Back in the BitKeeper days I achieved this by creating small forests of
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temporary trees, one tree for each logical grouping of patches, and then
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pulling changes from these trees first to the test tree, and then to the
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release tree. At first I replicated this in GIT, but then I realised
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that I could so this far more efficiently using branches inside a single
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GIT repository.
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So here is the step-by-step guide how this all works for me.
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First create your work tree by cloning Linus's public tree:
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$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git work
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Change directory into the cloned tree you just created
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$ cd work
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Set up a remotes file so that you can fetch the latest from Linus' master
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branch into a local branch named "linus":
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$ cat > .git/remotes/linus
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URL: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git
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Pull: master:linus
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^D
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and create the linus branch:
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$ git branch linus
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The "linus" branch will be used to track the upstream kernel. To update it,
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you simply run:
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$ git fetch linus
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you can do this frequently (and it should be safe to do so with pending
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work in your tree, but perhaps not if you are in mid-merge).
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If you need to keep track of other public trees, you can add remote branches
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for them too:
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$ git branch another
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$ cat > .git/remotes/another
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URL: ... insert URL here ...
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Pull: name-of-branch-in-this-remote-tree:another
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^D
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and run:
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$ git fetch another
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Now create the branches in which you are going to work, these start
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out at the current tip of the linus branch.
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$ git branch test linus
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$ git branch release linus
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These can be easily kept up to date by merging from the "linus" branch:
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$ git checkout test && git merge "Auto-update from upstream" test linus
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$ git checkout release && git merge "Auto-update from upstream" release linus
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Important note! If you have any local changes in these branches, then
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this merge will create a commit object in the history (with no local
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changes git will simply do a "Fast forward" merge). Many people dislike
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the "noise" that this creates in the Linux history, so you should avoid
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doing this capriciously in the "release" branch, as these noisy commits
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will become part of the permanent history when you ask Linus to pull
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from the release branch.
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Set up so that you can push upstream to your public tree (you need to
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log-in to the remote system and create an empty tree there before the
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first push).
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$ cat > .git/remotes/mytree
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URL: master.kernel.org:/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/aegl/linux-2.6.git
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Push: release
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Push: test
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^D
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and the push both the test and release trees using:
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$ git push mytree
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or push just one of the test and release branches using:
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$ git push mytree test
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or
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$ git push mytree release
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Now to apply some patches from the community. Think of a short
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snappy name for a branch to hold this patch (or related group of
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patches), and create a new branch from the current tip of the
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linus branch:
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$ git checkout -b speed-up-spinlocks linus
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Now you apply the patch(es), run some tests, and commit the change(s). If
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the patch is a multi-part series, then you should apply each as a separate
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commit to this branch.
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$ ... patch ... test ... commit [ ... patch ... test ... commit ]*
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When you are happy with the state of this change, you can pull it into the
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"test" branch in preparation to make it public:
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$ git checkout test && git merge "Pull speed-up-spinlock changes" test speed-up-spinlocks
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It is unlikely that you would have any conflicts here ... but you might if you
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spent a while on this step and had also pulled new versions from upstream.
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Some time later when enough time has passed and testing done, you can pull the
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same branch into the "release" tree ready to go upstream. This is where you
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see the value of keeping each patch (or patch series) in its own branch. It
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means that the patches can be moved into the "release" tree in any order.
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$ git checkout release && git merge "Pull speed-up-spinlock changes" release speed-up-spinlocks
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After a while, you will have a number of branches, and despite the
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well chosen names you picked for each of them, you may forget what
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they are for, or what status they are in. To get a reminder of what
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changes are in a specific branch, use:
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$ git-whatchanged branchname ^linus | git-shortlog
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To see whether it has already been merged into the test or release branches
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use:
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$ git-rev-list branchname ^test
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or
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$ git-rev-list branchname ^release
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[If this branch has not yet been merged you will see a set of SHA1 values
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for the commits, if it has been merged, then there will be no output]
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Once a patch completes the great cycle (moving from test to release, then
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pulled by Linus, and finally coming back into your local "linus" branch)
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the branch for this change is no longer needed. You detect this when the
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output from:
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$ git-rev-list branchname ^linus
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is empty. At this point the branch can be deleted:
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$ git branch -d branchname
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Some changes are so trivial that it is not necessary to create a separate
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branch and then merge into each of the test and release branches. For
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these changes, just apply directly to the "release" branch, and then
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merge that into the "test" branch.
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To create diffstat and shortlog summaries of changes to include in a "please
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pull" request to Linus you can use:
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$ git-whatchanged -p release ^linus | diffstat -p1
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and
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$ git-whatchanged release ^linus | git-shortlog
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Here are some of the scripts that I use to simplify all this even further.
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==== update script ====
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# Update a branch in my GIT tree. If the branch to be updated
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# is "linus", then pull from kernel.org. Otherwise merge local
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# linus branch into test|release branch
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case "$1" in
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test|release)
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git checkout $1 && git merge "Auto-update from upstream" $1 linus
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;;
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linus)
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before=$(cat .git/refs/heads/linus)
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git fetch linus
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after=$(cat .git/refs/heads/linus)
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if [ $before != $after ]
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then
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git-whatchanged $after ^$before | git-shortlog
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fi
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;;
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*)
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echo "Usage: $0 linus|test|release" 1>&2
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exit 1
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;;
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esac
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==== merge script ====
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# Merge a branch into either the test or release branch
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pname=$0
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usage()
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{
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echo "Usage: $pname branch test|release" 1>&2
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exit 1
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}
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if [ ! -f .git/refs/heads/"$1" ]
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then
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echo "Can't see branch <$1>" 1>&2
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usage
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fi
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case "$2" in
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test|release)
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if [ $(git-rev-list $1 ^$2 | wc -c) -eq 0 ]
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then
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echo $1 already merged into $2 1>&2
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exit 1
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fi
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git checkout $2 && git merge "Pull $1 into $2 branch" $2 $1
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;;
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*)
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usage
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;;
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esac
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==== status script ====
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# report on status of my ia64 GIT tree
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gb=$(tput setab 2)
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rb=$(tput setab 1)
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restore=$(tput setab 9)
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if [ `git-rev-list release ^test | wc -c` -gt 0 ]
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then
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echo $rb Warning: commits in release that are not in test $restore
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git-whatchanged release ^test
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fi
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for branch in `ls .git/refs/heads`
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do
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if [ $branch = linus -o $branch = test -o $branch = release ]
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then
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continue
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fi
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echo -n $gb ======= $branch ====== $restore " "
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status=
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for ref in test release linus
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do
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if [ `git-rev-list $branch ^$ref | wc -c` -gt 0 ]
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then
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status=$status${ref:0:1}
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fi
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done
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case $status in
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trl)
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echo $rb Need to pull into test $restore
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;;
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rl)
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echo "In test"
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;;
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l)
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echo "Waiting for linus"
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;;
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"")
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echo $rb All done $restore
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;;
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*)
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echo $rb "<$status>" $restore
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;;
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esac
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git-whatchanged $branch ^linus | git-shortlog
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done
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