git-howto.texi 11.9 KB
Newer Older
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67
\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-

@settitle Using git to develop Libav

@titlepage
@center @titlefont{Using git to develop Libav}
@end titlepage

@top

@contents

@chapter Introduction

This document aims in giving some quick references on a set of useful git
commands. You should always use the extensive and detailed documentation
provided directly by git:

@example
git --help
man git
@end example

shows you the available subcommands,

@example
git <command> --help
man git-<command>
@end example

shows information about the subcommand <command>.

Additional information could be found on the
@url{http://gitref.org, Git Reference} website

For more information about the Git project, visit the

@url{http://git-scm.com/, Git website}

Consult these resources whenever you have problems, they are quite exhaustive.

What follows now is a basic introduction to Git and some Libav-specific
guidelines to ease the contribution to the project

@chapter Basics Usage

@section Get GIT

You can get git from @url{http://git-scm.com/}
Most distribution and operating system provide a package for it.


@section Cloning the source tree

@example
git clone git://git.libav.org/libav.git <target>
@end example

This will put the Libav sources into the directory @var{<target>}.

@example
git clone git@@git.libav.org:libav.git <target>
@end example

This will put the Libav sources into the directory @var{<target>} and let
you push back your changes to the remote repository.

68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75
Make sure that you do not have Windows line endings in your checkouts,
otherwise you may experience spurious compilation failures. One way to
achieve this is to run

@example
git config --global core.autocrlf false
@end example

76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260

@section Updating the source tree to the latest revision

@example
git pull (--rebase)
@end example

pulls in the latest changes from the tracked branch. The tracked branch
can be remote. By default the master branch tracks the branch master in
the remote origin.

@float IMPORTANT
Since merge commits are forbidden @command{--rebase} (see below) is recommended.
@end float

@section Rebasing your local branches

@example
git pull --rebase
@end example

fetches the changes from the main repository and replays your local commits
over it. This is required to keep all your local changes at the top of
Libav's master tree. The master tree will reject pushes with merge commits.


@section Adding/removing files/directories

@example
git add [-A] <filename/dirname>
git rm [-r] <filename/dirname>
@end example

GIT needs to get notified of all changes you make to your working
directory that makes files appear or disappear.
Line moves across files are automatically tracked.


@section Showing modifications

@example
git diff <filename(s)>
@end example

will show all local modifications in your working directory as unified diff.


@section Inspecting the changelog

@example
git log <filename(s)>
@end example

You may also use the graphical tools like gitview or gitk or the web
interface available at http://git.libav.org/

@section Checking source tree status

@example
git status
@end example

detects all the changes you made and lists what actions will be taken in case
of a commit (additions, modifications, deletions, etc.).


@section Committing

@example
git diff --check
@end example

to double check your changes before committing them to avoid trouble later
on. All experienced developers do this on each and every commit, no matter
how small.
Every one of them has been saved from looking like a fool by this many times.
It's very easy for stray debug output or cosmetic modifications to slip in,
please avoid problems through this extra level of scrutiny.

For cosmetics-only commits you should get (almost) empty output from

@example
git diff -w -b <filename(s)>
@end example

Also check the output of

@example
git status
@end example

to make sure you don't have untracked files or deletions.

@example
git add [-i|-p|-A] <filenames/dirnames>
@end example

Make sure you have told git your name and email address

@example
git config --global user.name "My Name"
git config --global user.email my@@email.invalid
@end example

Use @var{--global} to set the global configuration for all your git checkouts.

Git will select the changes to the files for commit. Optionally you can use
the interactive or the patch mode to select hunk by hunk what should be
added to the commit.


@example
git commit
@end example

Git will commit the selected changes to your current local branch.

You will be prompted for a log message in an editor, which is either
set in your personal configuration file through

@example
git config --global core.editor
@end example

or set by one of the following environment variables:
@var{GIT_EDITOR}, @var{VISUAL} or @var{EDITOR}.

Log messages should be concise but descriptive. Explain why you made a change,
what you did will be obvious from the changes themselves most of the time.
Saying just "bug fix" or "10l" is bad. Remember that people of varying skill
levels look at and educate themselves while reading through your code. Don't
include filenames in log messages, Git provides that information.

Possibly make the commit message have a terse, descriptive first line, an
empty line and then a full description. The first line will be used to name
the patch by git format-patch.

@section Preparing a patchset

@example
git format-patch <commit> [-o directory]
@end example

will generate a set of patches for each commit between @var{<commit>} and
current @var{HEAD}. E.g.

@example
git format-patch origin/master
@end example

will generate patches for all commits on current branch which are not
present in upstream.
A useful shortcut is also

@example
git format-patch -n
@end example

which will generate patches from last @var{n} commits.
By default the patches are created in the current directory.

@section Sending patches for review

@example
git send-email <commit list|directory>
@end example

will send the patches created by @command{git format-patch} or directly
generates them. All the email fields can be configured in the global/local
configuration or overridden by command line.
Note that this tool must often be installed separately (e.g. @var{git-email}
package on Debian-based distros).


@section Renaming/moving/copying files or contents of files

Git automatically tracks such changes, making those normal commits.

@example
mv/cp path/file otherpath/otherfile
git add [-A] .
git commit
@end example


261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286
@chapter Git configuration

In order to simplify a few workflows, it is advisable to configure both
your personal Git installation and your local Libav repository.

@section Personal Git installation

Add the following to your @file{~/.gitconfig} to help @command{git send-email}
and @command{git format-patch} detect renames:

@example
[diff]
        renames = copy
@end example

@section Repository configuration

In order to have @command{git send-email} automatically send patches
to the libav-devel mailing list, add the following stanza
to @file{/path/to/libav/repository/.git/config}:

@example
[sendemail]
        to = libav-devel@@libav.org
@end example

287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374
@chapter Libav specific

@section Reverting broken commits

@example
git reset <commit>
@end example

@command{git reset} will uncommit the changes till @var{<commit>} rewriting
the current branch history.

@example
git commit --amend
@end example

allows to amend the last commit details quickly.

@example
git rebase -i origin/master
@end example

will replay local commits over the main repository allowing to edit, merge
or remove some of them in the process.

@float NOTE
@command{git reset}, @command{git commit --amend} and @command{git rebase}
rewrite history, so you should use them ONLY on your local or topic branches.
The main repository will reject those changes.
@end float

@example
git revert <commit>
@end example

@command{git revert} will generate a revert commit. This will not make the
faulty commit disappear from the history.

@section Pushing changes to remote trees

@example
git push
@end example

Will push the changes to the default remote (@var{origin}).
Git will prevent you from pushing changes if the local and remote trees are
out of sync. Refer to and to sync the local tree.

@example
git remote add <name> <url>
@end example

Will add additional remote with a name reference, it is useful if you want
to push your local branch for review on a remote host.

@example
git push <remote> <refspec>
@end example

Will push the changes to the @var{<remote>} repository.
Omitting @var{<refspec>} makes @command{git push} update all the remote
branches matching the local ones.

@section Finding a specific svn revision

Since version 1.7.1 git supports @var{:/foo} syntax for specifying commits
based on a regular expression. see man gitrevisions

@example
git show :/'as revision 23456'
@end example

will show the svn changeset @var{r23456}. With older git versions searching in
the @command{git log} output is the easiest option (especially if a pager with
search capabilities is used).
This commit can be checked out with

@example
git checkout -b svn_23456 :/'as revision 23456'
@end example

or for git < 1.7.1 with

@example
git checkout -b svn_23456 $SHA1
@end example

where @var{$SHA1} is the commit hash from the @command{git log} output.

375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418

@chapter pre-push checklist

Once you have a set of commits that you feel are ready for pushing,
work through the following checklist to doublecheck everything is in
proper order. This list tries to be exhaustive. In case you are just
pushing a typo in a comment, some of the steps may be unnecessary.
Apply your common sense, but if in doubt, err on the side of caution.

First make sure your Git repository is on a branch that is a direct
descendant of the Libav master branch, which is the only one from which
pushing to Libav is possible. Then run the following command:

@itemize
@item @command{git log --patch --stat origin/master..}

to make sure that only the commits you want to push are pending, that
the log messages of the commits are correct and descriptive and contain
no cruft from @command{git am} and to doublecheck that the commits you
want to push really only contain the changes they are supposed to contain.

@item @command{git status}

to ensure no local changes still need to be committed and that no local
changes may have thrown off the results of your testing.
@end itemize

Next let the code pass through a full run of our testsuite. Before you do,
the command @command{make fate-rsync} will update the test samples. Changes
to the samples set are not very common and commits depending on samples
changes are delayed for at least 24 hours to allow the new samples to
propagate, so updating it once per day is sufficient.  Now execute

@itemize
@item @command{make distclean}
@item @command{/path/to/libav/configure}
@item @command{make check}
@end itemize

While the test suite covers a wide range of possible problems, it is not
a panacea. Do not hesitate to perform any other tests necessary to convince
yourself that the changes you are about to push actually work as expected.

Also note that every single commit should pass the test suite, not just
419 420
the result of a series of patches. So if you have a series of commits
to push, run the test suite on every single commit.
421

422 423 424 425 426 427 428
Give other developers a reasonable amount of time to look at and review
patches before you push them. Not everybody is online 24/7, but may wish
to look at and comment on a patch nonetheless. The time you leave depends
on the urgency and complexity of the patch. Use your common sense to pick
a timeframe that allows everybody that you think may wish to comment
and/or should comment on the change an opportunity to see it.

429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436
Finally, after pushing, mark all patches as committed on
@url{http://patches.libav.org/,patchwork}.
Sometimes this is not automatically done when a patch has been
slightly modified from the version on the mailing list.
Also update previous incarnations of the patches you push so that
patchwork is not cluttered with cruft.


437 438 439 440
@chapter Server Issues

Contact the project admins @email{git@@libav.org} if you have technical
problems with the GIT server.