git-remote-helpers

SYNOPSIS
       git remote-<transport> <remote>

DESCRIPTION
       These programs are normally not used directly by end users, but are
       invoked by various git programs that interact with remote repositories
       when the repository they would operate on will be accessed using
       transport code not linked into the main git binary. Various particular
       helper programs will behave as documented here.

COMMANDS
       Commands are given by the caller on the helper's standard input, one
       per line.

       capabilities
           Lists the capabilities of the helper, one per line, ending with a
           blank line. Each capability may be preceded with *. This marks them
           mandatory for git version using the remote helper to understand
           (unknown mandatory capability is fatal error).

       list
           Lists the refs, one per line, in the format "<value> <name> [<attr>
           ...]". The value may be a hex sha1 hash, "@<dest>" for a symref, or
           "?" to indicate that the helper could not get the value of the ref.
           A space-separated list of attributes follows the name; unrecognized
           attributes are ignored. After the complete list, outputs a blank
           line.

           If push is supported this may be called as list for-push to obtain
           the current refs prior to sending one or more push commands to the
           helper.

       option <name> <value>
           Set the transport helper option <name> to <value>. Outputs a single
           line containing one of ok (option successfully set), unsupported
           (option not recognized) or error <msg> (option <name> is supported
           but <value> is not correct for it). Options should be set before
           other commands, and may how those commands behave.

           Supported if the helper has the "option" capability.

       fetch <sha1> <name>
           Fetches the given object, writing the necessary objects to the
           database. Fetch commands are sent in a batch, one per line, and the
           batch is terminated with a blank line. Outputs a single blank line
           when all fetch commands in the same batch are complete. Only
           objects which were reported in the ref list with a sha1 may be
           fetched this way.

           Optionally may output a lock <file> line indicating a file under
           GIT_DIR/objects/pack which is keeping a pack until refs can be
           suitably updated.

           ref. The status report output is terminated by a blank line. The
           option field <why> may be quoted in a C style string if it contains
           an LF.

           Supported if the helper has the "push" capability.

       import <name>
           Produces a fast-import stream which imports the current value of
           the named ref. It may additionally import other refs as needed to
           construct the history efficiently. The script writes to a
           helper-specific private namespace. The value of the named ref
           should be written to a location in this namespace derived by
           applying the refspecs from the "refspec" capability to the name of
           the ref.

           Supported if the helper has the "import" capability.

       connect <service>
           Connects to given service. Standard input and standard output of
           helper are connected to specified service (git prefix is included
           in service name so e.g. fetching uses git-upload-pack as service)
           on remote side. Valid replies to this command are empty line
           (connection established), fallback (no smart transport support,
           fall back to dumb transports) and just exiting with error message
           printed (can't connect, don't bother trying to fall back). After
           line feed terminating the positive (empty) response, the output of
           service starts. After the connection ends, the remote helper exits.

           Supported if the helper has the "connect" capability.

       If a fatal error occurs, the program writes the error message to stderr
       and exits. The caller should expect that a suitable error message has
       been printed if the child closes the connection without completing a
       valid response for the current command.

       Additional commands may be supported, as may be determined from
       capabilities reported by the helper.

CAPABILITIES
       fetch
           This helper supports the fetch command.

       option
           This helper supports the option command.

       push
           This helper supports the push command.

       import
           This helper supports the import command.

       refspec spec
           When using the import command, expect the source ref to have been
           written to the destination ref. The earliest applicable refspec
           The caller wants to use the ref list to prepare push commands. A
           helper might chose to acquire the ref list by opening a different
           type of connection to the destination.

       unchanged
           This ref is unchanged since the last import or fetch, although the
           helper cannot necessarily determine what value that produced.

OPTIONS
       option verbosity <N>
           Change the level of messages displayed by the helper. When N is 0
           the end-user has asked the process to be quiet, and the helper
           should produce only error output. N of 1 is the default level of
           verbosity, higher values of N correspond to the number of -v flags
           passed on the command line.

       option progress {true|false}
           Enable (or disable) progress messages displayed by the transport
           helper during a command.

       option depth <depth>
           Deepen the history of a shallow repository.

       option followtags {true|false}
           If enabled the helper should automatically fetch annotated tag
           objects if the object the tag points at was transferred during the
           fetch command. If the tag is not fetched by the helper a second
           fetch command will usually be sent to ask for the tag specifically.
           Some helpers may be able to use this option to avoid a second
           network connection.

       option dry-run {true|false}: If true, pretend the operation completed
       successfully, but don't actually change any repository data. For most
       helpers this only applies to the push, if supported.

       option servpath <c-style-quoted-path>
           Set service path (--upload-pack, --receive-pack etc.) for next
           connect. Remote helper MAY support this option. Remote helper MUST
           NOT rely on this option being set before connect request occurs.

DOCUMENTATION
       Documentation by Daniel Barkalow and Ilari Liusvaara

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite



Git 1.7.0.4                       04/12/2010             GIT-REMOTE-HELPERS(1)