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+gitrepository-layout(5)
+=======================
+
+NAME
+----
+gitrepository-layout - Git Repository Layout
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+$GIT_DIR/*
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+A Git repository comes in two different flavours:
+
+ * a `.git` directory at the root of the working tree;
+
+ * a `<project>.git` directory that is a 'bare' repository
+ (i.e. without its own working tree), that is typically used for
+ exchanging histories with others by pushing into it and fetching
+ from it.
+
+*Note*: Also you can have a plain text file `.git` at the root of
+your working tree, containing `gitdir: <path>` to point at the real
+directory that has the repository. This mechanism is often used for
+a working tree of a submodule checkout, to allow you in the
+containing superproject to `git checkout` a branch that does not
+have the submodule. The `checkout` has to remove the entire
+submodule working tree, without losing the submodule repository.
+
+These things may exist in a Git repository.
+
+objects::
+ Object store associated with this repository. Usually
+ an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
+ that are referred to by an object found in it are also
+ found in it), but there are a few ways to violate it.
++
+. You could have an incomplete but locally usable repository
+by creating a shallow clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
+. You could be using the `objects/info/alternates` or
+`$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanisms to 'borrow'
+objects from other object stores. A repository with this kind
+of incomplete object store is not suitable to be published for
+use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
+`objects/info/alternates` points at the object stores it
+borrows from.
++
+This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
+"$GIT_COMMON_DIR/objects" will be used instead.
+
+objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
+ A newly created object is stored in its own file.
+ The objects are splayed over 256 subdirectories using
+ the first two characters of the sha1 object name to
+ keep the number of directory entries in `objects`
+ itself to a manageable number. Objects found
+ here are often called 'unpacked' (or 'loose') objects.
+
+objects/pack::
+ Packs (files that store many objects in compressed form,
+ along with index files to allow them to be randomly
+ accessed) are found in this directory.
+
+objects/info::
+ Additional information about the object store is
+ recorded in this directory.
+
+objects/info/packs::
+ This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
+ are available in this object store. Whenever a pack is
+ added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
+ to keep this file up to date if the repository is
+ published for dumb transports. 'git repack' does this
+ by default.
+
+objects/info/alternates::
+ This file records paths to alternate object stores that
+ this object store borrows objects from, one pathname per
+ line. Note that not only native Git tools use it locally,
+ but the HTTP fetcher also tries to use it remotely; this
+ will usually work if you have relative paths (relative
+ to the object database, not to the repository!) in your
+ alternates file, but it will not work if you use absolute
+ paths unless the absolute path in filesystem and web URL
+ is the same. See also `objects/info/http-alternates`.
+
+objects/info/http-alternates::
+ This file records URLs to alternate object stores that
+ this object store borrows objects from, to be used when
+ the repository is fetched over HTTP.
+
+refs::
+ References are stored in subdirectories of this
+ directory. The 'git prune' command knows to preserve
+ objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
+ its subdirectories.
+ This directory is ignored (except refs/bisect,
+ refs/rewritten and refs/worktree) if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is
+ set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/refs" will be used instead.
+
+refs/heads/`name`::
+ records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
+
+refs/tags/`name`::
+ records any object name (not necessarily a commit
+ object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
+
+refs/remotes/`name`::
+ records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branches copied
+ from a remote repository.
+
+refs/replace/`<obj-sha1>`::
+ records the SHA-1 of the object that replaces `<obj-sha1>`.
+ This is similar to info/grafts and is internally used and
+ maintained by linkgit:git-replace[1]. Such refs can be exchanged
+ between repositories while grafts are not.
+
+packed-refs::
+ records the same information as refs/heads/, refs/tags/,
+ and friends record in a more efficient way. See
+ linkgit:git-pack-refs[1]. This file is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
+ is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/packed-refs" will be used instead.
+
+HEAD::
+ A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
+ describing the currently active branch. It does not mean
+ much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
+ (i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid Git repository
+ *must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
+ guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
+ (usually 'master'). It is legal if the named branch
+ 'name' does not (yet) exist. In some legacy setups, it is
+ a symbolic link instead of a symref that points at the current
+ branch.
++
+HEAD can also record a specific commit directly, instead of
+being a symref to point at the current branch. Such a state
+is often called 'detached HEAD.' See linkgit:git-checkout[1]
+for details.
+
+config::
+ Repository specific configuration file. This file is ignored
+ if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/config" will be
+ used instead.
+
+config.worktree::
+ Working directory specific configuration file for the main
+ working directory in multiple working directory setup (see
+ linkgit:git-worktree[1]).
+
+branches::
+ A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
+ to specify a URL to 'git fetch', 'git pull' and 'git push'.
+ A file can be stored as `branches/<name>` and then
+ 'name' can be given to these commands in place of
+ 'repository' argument. See the REMOTES section in
+ linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
+ and not likely to be found in modern repositories. This
+ directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
+ "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/branches" will be used instead.
+
+
+hooks::
+ Hooks are customization scripts used by various Git
+ commands. A handful of sample hooks are installed when
+ 'git init' is run, but all of them are disabled by
+ default. To enable, the `.sample` suffix has to be
+ removed from the filename by renaming.
+ Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about
+ each hook. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set
+ and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/hooks" will be used instead.
+
+common::
+ When multiple working trees are used, most of files in
+ $GIT_DIR are per-worktree with a few known exceptions. All
+ files under 'common' however will be shared between all
+ working trees.
+
+index::
+ The current index file for the repository. It is
+ usually not found in a bare repository.
+
+sharedindex.<SHA-1>::
+ The shared index part, to be referenced by $GIT_DIR/index and
+ other temporary index files. Only valid in split index mode.
+
+info::
+ Additional information about the repository is recorded
+ in this directory. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
+ is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/info" will be used instead.
+
+info/refs::
+ This file helps dumb transports discover what refs are
+ available in this repository. If the repository is
+ published for dumb transports, this file should be
+ regenerated by 'git update-server-info' every time a tag
+ or branch is created or modified. This is normally done
+ from the `hooks/update` hook, which is run by the
+ 'git-receive-pack' command when you 'git push' into the
+ repository.
+
+info/grafts::
+ This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
+ pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
+ from how the commit was actually created. One record
+ per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
+ listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
+ by a space and terminated by a newline.
++
+Note that the grafts mechanism is outdated and can lead to problems
+transferring objects between repositories; see linkgit:git-replace[1]
+for a more flexible and robust system to do the same thing.
+
+info/exclude::
+ This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
+ exclude pattern list. `.gitignore` is the per-directory
+ ignore file. 'git status', 'git add', 'git rm' and
+ 'git clean' look at it but the core Git commands do not look
+ at it. See also: linkgit:gitignore[5].
+
+info/attributes::
+ Defines which attributes to assign to a path, similar to per-directory
+ `.gitattributes` files. See also: linkgit:gitattributes[5].
+
+info/sparse-checkout::
+ This file stores sparse checkout patterns.
+ See also: linkgit:git-read-tree[1].
+
+remotes::
+ Stores shorthands for URL and default refnames for use
+ when interacting with remote repositories via 'git fetch',
+ 'git pull' and 'git push' commands. See the REMOTES section
+ in linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
+ and not likely to be found in modern repositories. This
+ directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
+ "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/remotes" will be used instead.
+
+logs::
+ Records of changes made to refs are stored in this directory.
+ See linkgit:git-update-ref[1] for more information. This
+ directory is ignored (except logs/HEAD) if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is
+ set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/logs" will be used instead.
+
+logs/refs/heads/`name`::
+ Records all changes made to the branch tip named `name`.
+
+logs/refs/tags/`name`::
+ Records all changes made to the tag named `name`.
+
+shallow::
+ This is similar to `info/grafts` but is internally used
+ and maintained by shallow clone mechanism. See `--depth`
+ option to linkgit:git-clone[1] and linkgit:git-fetch[1]. This
+ file is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
+ "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/shallow" will be used instead.
+
+commondir::
+ If this file exists, $GIT_COMMON_DIR (see linkgit:git[1]) will
+ be set to the path specified in this file if it is not
+ explicitly set. If the specified path is relative, it is
+ relative to $GIT_DIR. The repository with commondir is
+ incomplete without the repository pointed by "commondir".
+
+modules::
+ Contains the git-repositories of the submodules.
+
+worktrees::
+ Contains administrative data for linked
+ working trees. Each subdirectory contains the working tree-related
+ part of a linked working tree. This directory is ignored if
+ $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set, in which case
+ "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/worktrees" will be used instead.
+
+worktrees/<id>/gitdir::
+ A text file containing the absolute path back to the .git file
+ that points to here. This is used to check if the linked
+ repository has been manually removed and there is no need to
+ keep this directory any more. The mtime of this file should be
+ updated every time the linked repository is accessed.
+
+worktrees/<id>/locked::
+ If this file exists, the linked working tree may be on a
+ portable device and not available. The presence of this file
+ prevents `worktrees/<id>` from being pruned either automatically
+ or manually by `git worktree prune`. The file may contain a string
+ explaining why the repository is locked.
+
+worktrees/<id>/config.worktree::
+ Working directory specific configuration file.
+
+include::technical/repository-version.txt[]
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-init[1],
+linkgit:git-clone[1],
+linkgit:git-fetch[1],
+linkgit:git-pack-refs[1],
+linkgit:git-gc[1],
+linkgit:git-checkout[1],
+linkgit:gitglossary[7],
+link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual]
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite