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+git-bundle(1)
+=============
+
+NAME
+----
+git-bundle - Move objects and refs by archive
+
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+[verse]
+'git bundle' create [-q | --quiet | --progress]
+ [--version=<version>] <file> <git-rev-list-args>
+'git bundle' verify [-q | --quiet] <file>
+'git bundle' list-heads <file> [<refname>...]
+'git bundle' unbundle [--progress] <file> [<refname>...]
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+Create, unpack, and manipulate "bundle" files. Bundles are used for
+the "offline" transfer of Git objects without an active "server"
+sitting on the other side of the network connection.
+
+They can be used to create both incremental and full backups of a
+repository, and to relay the state of the references in one repository
+to another.
+
+Git commands that fetch or otherwise "read" via protocols such as
+`ssh://` and `https://` can also operate on bundle files. It is
+possible linkgit:git-clone[1] a new repository from a bundle, to use
+linkgit:git-fetch[1] to fetch from one, and to list the references
+contained within it with linkgit:git-ls-remote[1]. There's no
+corresponding "write" support, i.e.a 'git push' into a bundle is not
+supported.
+
+See the "EXAMPLES" section below for examples of how to use bundles.
+
+BUNDLE FORMAT
+-------------
+
+Bundles are `.pack` files (see linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]) with a
+header indicating what references are contained within the bundle.
+
+Like the packed archive format itself bundles can either be
+self-contained, or be created using exclusions.
+See the "OBJECT PREREQUISITES" section below.
+
+Bundles created using revision exclusions are "thin packs" created
+using the `--thin` option to linkgit:git-pack-objects[1], and
+unbundled using the `--fix-thin` option to linkgit:git-index-pack[1].
+
+There is no option to create a "thick pack" when using revision
+exclusions, and users should not be concerned about the difference. By
+using "thin packs", bundles created using exclusions are smaller in
+size. That they're "thin" under the hood is merely noted here as a
+curiosity, and as a reference to other documentation.
+
+See linkgit:gitformat-bundle[5] for more details and the discussion of
+"thin pack" in linkgit:gitformat-pack[5] for further details.
+
+OPTIONS
+-------
+
+create [options] <file> <git-rev-list-args>::
+ Used to create a bundle named 'file'. This requires the
+ '<git-rev-list-args>' arguments to define the bundle contents.
+ 'options' contains the options specific to the 'git bundle create'
+ subcommand. If 'file' is `-`, the bundle is written to stdout.
+
+verify <file>::
+ Used to check that a bundle file is valid and will apply
+ cleanly to the current repository. This includes checks on the
+ bundle format itself as well as checking that the prerequisite
+ commits exist and are fully linked in the current repository.
+ Then, 'git bundle' prints a list of missing commits, if any.
+ Finally, information about additional capabilities, such as "object
+ filter", is printed. See "Capabilities" in linkgit:gitformat-bundle[5]
+ for more information. The exit code is zero for success, but will
+ be nonzero if the bundle file is invalid. If 'file' is `-`, the
+ bundle is read from stdin.
+
+list-heads <file>::
+ Lists the references defined in the bundle. If followed by a
+ list of references, only references matching those given are
+ printed out. If 'file' is `-`, the bundle is read from stdin.
+
+unbundle <file>::
+ Passes the objects in the bundle to 'git index-pack'
+ for storage in the repository, then prints the names of all
+ defined references. If a list of references is given, only
+ references matching those in the list are printed. This command is
+ really plumbing, intended to be called only by 'git fetch'.
+ If 'file' is `-`, the bundle is read from stdin.
+
+<git-rev-list-args>::
+ A list of arguments, acceptable to 'git rev-parse' and
+ 'git rev-list' (and containing a named ref, see SPECIFYING REFERENCES
+ below), that specifies the specific objects and references
+ to transport. For example, `master~10..master` causes the
+ current master reference to be packaged along with all objects
+ added since its 10th ancestor commit. There is no explicit
+ limit to the number of references and objects that may be
+ packaged.
+
+
+[<refname>...]::
+ A list of references used to limit the references reported as
+ available. This is principally of use to 'git fetch', which
+ expects to receive only those references asked for and not
+ necessarily everything in the pack (in this case, 'git bundle' acts
+ like 'git fetch-pack').
+
+--progress::
+ Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
+ by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
+ is specified. This flag forces progress status even if
+ the standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
+
+--version=<version>::
+ Specify the bundle version. Version 2 is the older format and can only be
+ used with SHA-1 repositories; the newer version 3 contains capabilities that
+ permit extensions. The default is the oldest supported format, based on the
+ hash algorithm in use.
+
+-q::
+--quiet::
+ This flag makes the command not to report its progress
+ on the standard error stream.
+
+SPECIFYING REFERENCES
+---------------------
+
+Revisions must be accompanied by reference names to be packaged in a
+bundle.
+
+More than one reference may be packaged, and more than one set of prerequisite objects can
+be specified. The objects packaged are those not contained in the
+union of the prerequisites.
+
+The 'git bundle create' command resolves the reference names for you
+using the same rules as `git rev-parse --abbrev-ref=loose`. Each
+prerequisite can be specified explicitly (e.g. `^master~10`), or implicitly
+(e.g. `master~10..master`, `--since=10.days.ago master`).
+
+All of these simple cases are OK (assuming we have a "master" and
+"next" branch):
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create master.bundle master
+$ echo master | git bundle create master.bundle --stdin
+$ git bundle create master-and-next.bundle master next
+$ (echo master; echo next) | git bundle create master-and-next.bundle --stdin
+----------------
+
+And so are these (and the same but omitted `--stdin` examples):
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create recent-master.bundle master~10..master
+$ git bundle create recent-updates.bundle master~10..master next~5..next
+----------------
+
+A revision name or a range whose right-hand-side cannot be resolved to
+a reference is not accepted:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create HEAD.bundle $(git rev-parse HEAD)
+fatal: Refusing to create empty bundle.
+$ git bundle create master-yesterday.bundle master~10..master~5
+fatal: Refusing to create empty bundle.
+----------------
+
+OBJECT PREREQUISITES
+--------------------
+
+When creating bundles it is possible to create a self-contained bundle
+that can be unbundled in a repository with no common history, as well
+as providing negative revisions to exclude objects needed in the
+earlier parts of the history.
+
+Feeding a revision such as `new` to `git bundle create` will create a
+bundle file that contains all the objects reachable from the revision
+`new`. That bundle can be unbundled in any repository to obtain a full
+history that leads to the revision `new`:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create full.bundle new
+----------------
+
+A revision range such as `old..new` will produce a bundle file that
+will require the revision `old` (and any objects reachable from it)
+to exist for the bundle to be "unbundle"-able:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create full.bundle old..new
+----------------
+
+A self-contained bundle without any prerequisites can be extracted
+into anywhere, even into an empty repository, or be cloned from
+(i.e., `new`, but not `old..new`).
+
+It is okay to err on the side of caution, causing the bundle file
+to contain objects already in the destination, as these are ignored
+when unpacking at the destination.
+
+If you want to match `git clone --mirror`, which would include your
+refs such as `refs/remotes/*`, use `--all`.
+If you want to provide the same set of refs that a clone directly
+from the source repository would get, use `--branches --tags` for
+the `<git-rev-list-args>`.
+
+The 'git bundle verify' command can be used to check whether your
+recipient repository has the required prerequisite commits for a
+bundle.
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+
+Assume you want to transfer the history from a repository R1 on machine A
+to another repository R2 on machine B.
+For whatever reason, direct connection between A and B is not allowed,
+but we can move data from A to B via some mechanism (CD, email, etc.).
+We want to update R2 with development made on the branch master in R1.
+
+To bootstrap the process, you can first create a bundle that does not have
+any prerequisites. You can use a tag to remember up to what commit you last
+processed, in order to make it easy to later update the other repository
+with an incremental bundle:
+
+----------------
+machineA$ cd R1
+machineA$ git bundle create file.bundle master
+machineA$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
+----------------
+
+Then you transfer file.bundle to the target machine B. Because this
+bundle does not require any existing object to be extracted, you can
+create a new repository on machine B by cloning from it:
+
+----------------
+machineB$ git clone -b master /home/me/tmp/file.bundle R2
+----------------
+
+This will define a remote called "origin" in the resulting repository that
+lets you fetch and pull from the bundle. The $GIT_DIR/config file in R2 will
+have an entry like this:
+
+------------------------
+[remote "origin"]
+ url = /home/me/tmp/file.bundle
+ fetch = refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
+------------------------
+
+To update the resulting mine.git repository, you can fetch or pull after
+replacing the bundle stored at /home/me/tmp/file.bundle with incremental
+updates.
+
+After working some more in the original repository, you can create an
+incremental bundle to update the other repository:
+
+----------------
+machineA$ cd R1
+machineA$ git bundle create file.bundle lastR2bundle..master
+machineA$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
+----------------
+
+You then transfer the bundle to the other machine to replace
+/home/me/tmp/file.bundle, and pull from it.
+
+----------------
+machineB$ cd R2
+machineB$ git pull
+----------------
+
+If you know up to what commit the intended recipient repository should
+have the necessary objects, you can use that knowledge to specify the
+prerequisites, giving a cut-off point to limit the revisions and objects that go
+in the resulting bundle. The previous example used the lastR2bundle tag
+for this purpose, but you can use any other options that you would give to
+the linkgit:git-log[1] command. Here are more examples:
+
+You can use a tag that is present in both:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create mybundle v1.0.0..master
+----------------
+
+You can use a prerequisite based on time:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create mybundle --since=10.days master
+----------------
+
+You can use the number of commits:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle create mybundle -10 master
+----------------
+
+You can run `git-bundle verify` to see if you can extract from a bundle
+that was created with a prerequisite:
+
+----------------
+$ git bundle verify mybundle
+----------------
+
+This will list what commits you must have in order to extract from the
+bundle and will error out if you do not have them.
+
+A bundle from a recipient repository's point of view is just like a
+regular repository which it fetches or pulls from. You can, for example, map
+references when fetching:
+
+----------------
+$ git fetch mybundle master:localRef
+----------------
+
+You can also see what references it offers:
+
+----------------
+$ git ls-remote mybundle
+----------------
+
+FILE FORMAT
+-----------
+
+See linkgit:gitformat-bundle[5].
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite