git-describe.html

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   8 <title>git-describe(1)</title>
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 342
 343 @media print {
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 347 #toc {
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 422  *
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 451
 452
 453 /*
 454  * html5 specific
 455  *
 456  * */
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 458 table.tableblock {
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 534 @media print {
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 537
 538
 539 </style>
 540 <script type="text/javascript">
 541 /*<![CDATA[*/
 542 var asciidoc = {  // Namespace.
 543
 544 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 545 // Table Of Contents generator
 546 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 547
 548 /* Author: Mihai Bazon, September 2002
 549  * http://students.infoiasi.ro/~mishoo
 550  *
 551  * Table Of Content generator
 552  * Version: 0.4
 553  *
 554  * Feel free to use this script under the terms of the GNU General Public
 555  * License, as long as you do not remove or alter this notice.
 556  */
 557
 558  /* modified by Troy D. Hanson, September 2006. License: GPL */
 559  /* modified by Stuart Rackham, 2006, 2009. License: GPL */
 560
 561 // toclevels = 1..4.
 562 toc: function (toclevels) {
 563
 564   function getText(el) {
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 571     }
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 573   }
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 578     this.toclevel = toclevel;
 579   }
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 583     var re = new RegExp('[hH]([1-'+(toclevels+1)+'])');
 584     // Function that scans the DOM tree for header elements (the DOM2
 585     // nodeIterator API would be a better technique but not supported by all
 586     // browsers).
 587     var iterate = function (el) {
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 592             result[result.length] = new TocEntry(i, getText(i), mo[1]-1);
 593           }
 594           iterate(i);
 595         }
 596       }
 597     }
 598     iterate(el);
 599     return result;
 600   }
 601
 602   var toc = document.getElementById("toc");
 603   if (!toc) {
 604     return;
 605   }
 606
 607   // Delete existing TOC entries in case we're reloading the TOC.
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 609   var i;
 610   for (i = 0; i < toc.childNodes.length; i++) {
 611     var entry = toc.childNodes[i];
 612     if (entry.nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'div'
 613      && entry.getAttribute("class")
 614      && entry.getAttribute("class").match(/^toclevel/))
 615       tocEntriesToRemove.push(entry);
 616   }
 617   for (i = 0; i < tocEntriesToRemove.length; i++) {
 618     toc.removeChild(tocEntriesToRemove[i]);
 619   }
 620
 621   // Rebuild TOC entries.
 622   var entries = tocEntries(document.getElementById("content"), toclevels);
 623   for (var i = 0; i < entries.length; ++i) {
 624     var entry = entries[i];
 625     if (entry.element.id == "")
 626       entry.element.id = "_toc_" + i;
 627     var a = document.createElement("a");
 628     a.href = "#" + entry.element.id;
 629     a.appendChild(document.createTextNode(entry.text));
 630     var div = document.createElement("div");
 631     div.appendChild(a);
 632     div.className = "toclevel" + entry.toclevel;
 633     toc.appendChild(div);
 634   }
 635   if (entries.length == 0)
 636     toc.parentNode.removeChild(toc);
 637 },
 638
 639
 640 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 641 // Footnotes generator
 642 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 643
 644 /* Based on footnote generation code from:
 645  * http://www.brandspankingnew.net/archive/2005/07/format_footnote.html
 646  */
 647
 648 footnotes: function () {
 649   // Delete existing footnote entries in case we're reloading the footnodes.
 650   var i;
 651   var noteholder = document.getElementById("footnotes");
 652   if (!noteholder) {
 653     return;
 654   }
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 657     var entry = noteholder.childNodes[i];
 658     if (entry.nodeName.toLowerCase() == 'div' && entry.getAttribute("class") == "footnote")
 659       entriesToRemove.push(entry);
 660   }
 661   for (i = 0; i < entriesToRemove.length; i++) {
 662     noteholder.removeChild(entriesToRemove[i]);
 663   }
 664
 665   // Rebuild footnote entries.
 666   var cont = document.getElementById("content");
 667   var spans = cont.getElementsByTagName("span");
 668   var refs = {};
 669   var n = 0;
 670   for (i=0; i<spans.length; i++) {
 671     if (spans[i].className == "footnote") {
 672       n++;
 673       var note = spans[i].getAttribute("data-note");
 674       if (!note) {
 675         // Use [\s\S] in place of . so multi-line matches work.
 676         // Because JavaScript has no s (dotall) regex flag.
 677         note = spans[i].innerHTML.match(/\s*\[([\s\S]*)]\s*/)[1];
 678         spans[i].innerHTML =
 679           "[<a id='_footnoteref_" + n + "' href='#_footnote_" + n +
 680           "' title='View footnote' class='footnote'>" + n + "</a>]";
 681         spans[i].setAttribute("data-note", note);
 682       }
 683       noteholder.innerHTML +=
 684         "<div class='footnote' id='_footnote_" + n + "'>" +
 685         "<a href='#_footnoteref_" + n + "' title='Return to text'>" +
 686         n + "</a>. " + note + "</div>";
 687       var id =spans[i].getAttribute("id");
 688       if (id != null) refs["#"+id] = n;
 689     }
 690   }
 691   if (n == 0)
 692     noteholder.parentNode.removeChild(noteholder);
 693   else {
 694     // Process footnoterefs.
 695     for (i=0; i<spans.length; i++) {
 696       if (spans[i].className == "footnoteref") {
 697         var href = spans[i].getElementsByTagName("a")[0].getAttribute("href");
 698         href = href.match(/#.*/)[0];  // Because IE return full URL.
 699         n = refs[href];
 700         spans[i].innerHTML =
 701           "[<a href='#_footnote_" + n +
 702           "' title='View footnote' class='footnote'>" + n + "</a>]";
 703       }
 704     }
 705   }
 706 },
 707
 708 install: function(toclevels) {
 709   var timerId;
 710
 711   function reinstall() {
 712     asciidoc.footnotes();
 713     if (toclevels) {
 714       asciidoc.toc(toclevels);
 715     }
 716   }
 717
 718   function reinstallAndRemoveTimer() {
 719     clearInterval(timerId);
 720     reinstall();
 721   }
 722
 723   timerId = setInterval(reinstall, 500);
 724   if (document.addEventListener)
 725     document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", reinstallAndRemoveTimer, false);
 726   else
 727     window.onload = reinstallAndRemoveTimer;
 728 }
 729
 730 }
 731 asciidoc.install();
 732 /*]]>*/
 733 </script>
 734 </head>
 735 <body class="manpage">
 736 <div id="header">
 737 <h1>
 738 git-describe(1) Manual Page
 739 </h1>
 740 <h2>NAME</h2>
 741 <div class="sectionbody">
 742 <p>git-describe -
 743    Give an object a human readable name based on an available ref
 744 </p>
 745 </div>
 746 </div>
 747 <div id="content">
 748 <div class="sect1">
 749 <h2 id="_synopsis">SYNOPSIS</h2>
 750 <div class="sectionbody">
 751 <div class="verseblock">
 752 <pre class="content"><em>git describe</em> [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=&lt;n&gt;] [&lt;commit-ish&gt;&#8230;]
 753 <em>git describe</em> [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=&lt;n&gt;] --dirty[=&lt;mark&gt;]
 754 <em>git describe</em> &lt;blob&gt;</pre>
 755 <div class="attribution">
 756 </div></div>
 757 </div>
 758 </div>
 759 <div class="sect1">
 760 <h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
 761 <div class="sectionbody">
 762 <div class="paragraph"><p>The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
 763 commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
 764 shown.  Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
 765 additional commits on top of the tagged object and the
 766 abbreviated object name of the most recent commit. The result
 767 is a "human-readable" object name which can also be used to
 768 identify the commit to other git commands.</p></div>
 769 <div class="paragraph"><p>By default (without --all or --tags) <code>git describe</code> only shows
 770 annotated tags.  For more information about creating annotated tags
 771 see the -a and -s options to <a href="git-tag.html">git-tag(1)</a>.</p></div>
 772 <div class="paragraph"><p>If the given object refers to a blob, it will be described
 773 as <code>&lt;commit-ish&gt;:&lt;path&gt;</code>, such that the blob can be found
 774 at <code>&lt;path&gt;</code> in the <code>&lt;commit-ish&gt;</code>, which itself describes the
 775 first commit in which this blob occurs in a reverse revision walk
 776 from HEAD.</p></div>
 777 </div>
 778 </div>
 779 <div class="sect1">
 780 <h2 id="_options">OPTIONS</h2>
 781 <div class="sectionbody">
 782 <div class="dlist"><dl>
 783 <dt class="hdlist1">
 784 &lt;commit-ish&gt;&#8230;
 785 </dt>
 786 <dd>
 787 <p>
 788         Commit-ish object names to describe.  Defaults to HEAD if omitted.
 789 </p>
 790 </dd>
 791 <dt class="hdlist1">
 792 --dirty[=&lt;mark&gt;]
 793 </dt>
 794 <dt class="hdlist1">
 795 --broken[=&lt;mark&gt;]
 796 </dt>
 797 <dd>
 798 <p>
 799         Describe the state of the working tree.  When the working
 800         tree matches HEAD, the output is the same as "git describe
 801         HEAD".  If the working tree has local modification "-dirty"
 802         is appended to it.  If a repository is corrupt and Git
 803         cannot determine if there is local modification, Git will
 804         error out, unless &#8216;--broken&#8217; is given, which appends
 805         the suffix "-broken" instead.
 806 </p>
 807 </dd>
 808 <dt class="hdlist1">
 809 --all
 810 </dt>
 811 <dd>
 812 <p>
 813         Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref
 814         found in <code>refs/</code> namespace.  This option enables matching
 815         any known branch, remote-tracking branch, or lightweight tag.
 816 </p>
 817 </dd>
 818 <dt class="hdlist1">
 819 --tags
 820 </dt>
 821 <dd>
 822 <p>
 823         Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag
 824         found in <code>refs/tags</code> namespace.  This option enables matching
 825         a lightweight (non-annotated) tag.
 826 </p>
 827 </dd>
 828 <dt class="hdlist1">
 829 --contains
 830 </dt>
 831 <dd>
 832 <p>
 833         Instead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find
 834         the tag that comes after the commit, and thus contains it.
 835         Automatically implies --tags.
 836 </p>
 837 </dd>
 838 <dt class="hdlist1">
 839 --abbrev=&lt;n&gt;
 840 </dt>
 841 <dd>
 842 <p>
 843         Instead of using the default number of hexadecimal digits (which
 844         will vary according to the number of objects in the repository with
 845         a default of 7) of the abbreviated object name, use &lt;n&gt; digits, or
 846         as many digits as needed to form a unique object name. An &lt;n&gt; of 0
 847         will suppress long format, only showing the closest tag.
 848 </p>
 849 </dd>
 850 <dt class="hdlist1">
 851 --candidates=&lt;n&gt;
 852 </dt>
 853 <dd>
 854 <p>
 855         Instead of considering only the 10 most recent tags as
 856         candidates to describe the input commit-ish consider
 857         up to &lt;n&gt; candidates.  Increasing &lt;n&gt; above 10 will take
 858         slightly longer but may produce a more accurate result.
 859         An &lt;n&gt; of 0 will cause only exact matches to be output.
 860 </p>
 861 </dd>
 862 <dt class="hdlist1">
 863 --exact-match
 864 </dt>
 865 <dd>
 866 <p>
 867         Only output exact matches (a tag directly references the
 868         supplied commit).  This is a synonym for --candidates=0.
 869 </p>
 870 </dd>
 871 <dt class="hdlist1">
 872 --debug
 873 </dt>
 874 <dd>
 875 <p>
 876         Verbosely display information about the searching strategy
 877         being employed to standard error.  The tag name will still
 878         be printed to standard out.
 879 </p>
 880 </dd>
 881 <dt class="hdlist1">
 882 --long
 883 </dt>
 884 <dd>
 885 <p>
 886         Always output the long format (the tag, the number of commits
 887         and the abbreviated commit name) even when it matches a tag.
 888         This is useful when you want to see parts of the commit object name
 889         in "describe" output, even when the commit in question happens to be
 890         a tagged version.  Instead of just emitting the tag name, it will
 891         describe such a commit as v1.2-0-gdeadbee (0th commit since tag v1.2
 892         that points at object deadbee&#8230;.).
 893 </p>
 894 </dd>
 895 <dt class="hdlist1">
 896 --match &lt;pattern&gt;
 897 </dt>
 898 <dd>
 899 <p>
 900         Only consider tags matching the given <code>glob(7)</code> pattern,
 901         excluding the "refs/tags/" prefix. If used with <code>--all</code>, it also
 902         considers local branches and remote-tracking references matching the
 903         pattern, excluding respectively "refs/heads/" and "refs/remotes/"
 904         prefix; references of other types are never considered. If given
 905         multiple times, a list of patterns will be accumulated, and tags
 906         matching any of the patterns will be considered.  Use <code>--no-match</code> to
 907         clear and reset the list of patterns.
 908 </p>
 909 </dd>
 910 <dt class="hdlist1">
 911 --exclude &lt;pattern&gt;
 912 </dt>
 913 <dd>
 914 <p>
 915         Do not consider tags matching the given <code>glob(7)</code> pattern, excluding
 916         the "refs/tags/" prefix. If used with <code>--all</code>, it also does not consider
 917         local branches and remote-tracking references matching the pattern,
 918         excluding respectively "refs/heads/" and "refs/remotes/" prefix;
 919         references of other types are never considered. If given multiple times,
 920         a list of patterns will be accumulated and tags matching any of the
 921         patterns will be excluded. When combined with --match a tag will be
 922         considered when it matches at least one --match pattern and does not
 923         match any of the --exclude patterns. Use <code>--no-exclude</code> to clear and
 924         reset the list of patterns.
 925 </p>
 926 </dd>
 927 <dt class="hdlist1">
 928 --always
 929 </dt>
 930 <dd>
 931 <p>
 932         Show uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback.
 933 </p>
 934 </dd>
 935 <dt class="hdlist1">
 936 --first-parent
 937 </dt>
 938 <dd>
 939 <p>
 940         Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge commit.
 941         This is useful when you wish to not match tags on branches merged
 942         in the history of the target commit.
 943 </p>
 944 </dd>
 945 </dl></div>
 946 </div>
 947 </div>
 948 <div class="sect1">
 949 <h2 id="_examples">EXAMPLES</h2>
 950 <div class="sectionbody">
 951 <div class="paragraph"><p>With something like git.git current tree, I get:</p></div>
 952 <div class="literalblock">
 953 <div class="content">
 954 <pre><code>[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent
 955 v1.0.4-14-g2414721</code></pre>
 956 </div></div>
 957 <div class="paragraph"><p>i.e. the current head of my "parent" branch is based on v1.0.4,
 958 but since it has a few commits on top of that,
 959 describe has added the number of additional commits ("14") and
 960 an abbreviated object name for the commit itself ("2414721")
 961 at the end.</p></div>
 962 <div class="paragraph"><p>The number of additional commits is the number
 963 of commits which would be displayed by "git log v1.0.4..parent".
 964 The hash suffix is "-g" + an unambiguous abbreviation for the tip commit
 965 of parent (which was <code>2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6</code>). The
 966 length of the abbreviation scales as the repository grows, using the
 967 approximate number of objects in the repository and a bit of math
 968 around the birthday paradox, and defaults to a minimum of 7.
 969 The "g" prefix stands for "git" and is used to allow describing the version of
 970 a software depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful
 971 in an environment where people may use different SCMs.</p></div>
 972 <div class="paragraph"><p>Doing a <em>git describe</em> on a tag-name will just show the tag name:</p></div>
 973 <div class="literalblock">
 974 <div class="content">
 975 <pre><code>[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4
 976 v1.0.4</code></pre>
 977 </div></div>
 978 <div class="paragraph"><p>With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so
 979 the output shows the reference path as well:</p></div>
 980 <div class="literalblock">
 981 <div class="content">
 982 <pre><code>[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2
 983 tags/v1.0.0-21-g975b</code></pre>
 984 </div></div>
 985 <div class="literalblock">
 986 <div class="content">
 987 <pre><code>[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 HEAD^
 988 heads/lt/describe-7-g975b</code></pre>
 989 </div></div>
 990 <div class="paragraph"><p>With --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the
 991 closest tagname without any suffix:</p></div>
 992 <div class="literalblock">
 993 <div class="content">
 994 <pre><code>[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2
 995 tags/v1.0.0</code></pre>
 996 </div></div>
 997 <div class="paragraph"><p>Note that the suffix you get if you type these commands today may be
 998 longer than what Linus saw above when he ran these commands, as your
 999 Git repository may have new commits whose object names begin with
1000 975b that did not exist back then, and "-g975b" suffix alone may not
1001 be sufficient to disambiguate these commits.</p></div>
1002 </div>
1003 </div>
1004 <div class="sect1">
1005 <h2 id="_search_strategy">SEARCH STRATEGY</h2>
1006 <div class="sectionbody">
1007 <div class="paragraph"><p>For each commit-ish supplied, <em>git describe</em> will first look for
1008 a tag which tags exactly that commit.  Annotated tags will always
1009 be preferred over lightweight tags, and tags with newer dates will
1010 always be preferred over tags with older dates.  If an exact match
1011 is found, its name will be output and searching will stop.</p></div>
1012 <div class="paragraph"><p>If an exact match was not found, <em>git describe</em> will walk back
1013 through the commit history to locate an ancestor commit which
1014 has been tagged.  The ancestor&#8217;s tag will be output along with an
1015 abbreviation of the input commit-ish&#8217;s SHA-1. If <code>--first-parent</code> was
1016 specified then the walk will only consider the first parent of each
1017 commit.</p></div>
1018 <div class="paragraph"><p>If multiple tags were found during the walk then the tag which
1019 has the fewest commits different from the input commit-ish will be
1020 selected and output.  Here fewest commits different is defined as
1021 the number of commits which would be shown by <code>git log tag..input</code>
1022 will be the smallest number of commits possible.</p></div>
1023 </div>
1024 </div>
1025 <div class="sect1">
1026 <h2 id="_bugs">BUGS</h2>
1027 <div class="sectionbody">
1028 <div class="paragraph"><p>Tree objects as well as tag objects not pointing at commits, cannot be described.
1029 When describing blobs, the lightweight tags pointing at blobs are ignored,
1030 but the blob is still described as &lt;commit-ish&gt;:&lt;path&gt; despite the lightweight
1031 tag being favorable.</p></div>
1032 </div>
1033 </div>
1034 <div class="sect1">
1035 <h2 id="_git">GIT</h2>
1036 <div class="sectionbody">
1037 <div class="paragraph"><p>Part of the <a href="git.html">git(1)</a> suite</p></div>
1038 </div>
1039 </div>
1040 </div>
1041 <div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
1042 <div id="footer">
1043 <div id="footer-text">
1044 Last updated
1045  2023-06-23 13:24:09 PDT
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