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4 @settitle Using Git to develop FFmpeg
7 @center @titlefont{Using Git to develop FFmpeg}
16 This document aims in giving some quick references on a set of useful Git
17 commands. You should always use the extensive and detailed documentation
18 provided directly by Git:
25 shows you the available subcommands,
32 shows information about the subcommand <command>.
34 Additional information could be found on the
35 @url{http://gitref.org, Git Reference} website.
37 For more information about the Git project, visit the
38 @url{http://git-scm.com/, Git website}.
40 Consult these resources whenever you have problems, they are quite exhaustive.
42 What follows now is a basic introduction to Git and some FFmpeg-specific
43 guidelines to ease the contribution to the project.
49 You can get Git from @url{http://git-scm.com/}
50 Most distribution and operating system provide a package for it.
53 @section Cloning the source tree
56 git clone git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg <target>
59 This will put the FFmpeg sources into the directory @var{<target>}.
62 git clone git@@source.ffmpeg.org:ffmpeg <target>
65 This will put the FFmpeg sources into the directory @var{<target>} and let
66 you push back your changes to the remote repository.
69 git clone gil@@ffmpeg.org:ffmpeg-web <target>
72 This will put the source of the FFmpeg website into the directory
73 @var{<target>} and let you push back your changes to the remote repository.
74 (Note that @var{gil} stands for GItoLite and is not a typo of @var{git}.)
76 If you don't have write-access to the ffmpeg-web repository, you can
77 create patches after making a read-only ffmpeg-web clone:
80 git clone git://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-web <target>
83 Make sure that you do not have Windows line endings in your checkouts,
84 otherwise you may experience spurious compilation failures. One way to
85 achieve this is to run
88 git config --global core.autocrlf false
92 @anchor{Updating the source tree to the latest revision}
93 @section Updating the source tree to the latest revision
99 pulls in the latest changes from the tracked branch. The tracked branch
100 can be remote. By default the master branch tracks the branch master in
104 @command{--rebase} (see below) is recommended.
107 @section Rebasing your local branches
113 fetches the changes from the main repository and replays your local commits
114 over it. This is required to keep all your local changes at the top of
115 FFmpeg's master tree. The master tree will reject pushes with merge commits.
118 @section Adding/removing files/directories
121 git add [-A] <filename/dirname>
122 git rm [-r] <filename/dirname>
125 Git needs to get notified of all changes you make to your working
126 directory that makes files appear or disappear.
127 Line moves across files are automatically tracked.
130 @section Showing modifications
133 git diff <filename(s)>
136 will show all local modifications in your working directory as unified diff.
139 @section Inspecting the changelog
142 git log <filename(s)>
145 You may also use the graphical tools like @command{gitview} or @command{gitk}
146 or the web interface available at @url{http://source.ffmpeg.org/}.
148 @section Checking source tree status
154 detects all the changes you made and lists what actions will be taken in case
155 of a commit (additions, modifications, deletions, etc.).
164 to double check your changes before committing them to avoid trouble later
165 on. All experienced developers do this on each and every commit, no matter
168 Every one of them has been saved from looking like a fool by this many times.
169 It's very easy for stray debug output or cosmetic modifications to slip in,
170 please avoid problems through this extra level of scrutiny.
172 For cosmetics-only commits you should get (almost) empty output from
175 git diff -w -b <filename(s)>
178 Also check the output of
184 to make sure you don't have untracked files or deletions.
187 git add [-i|-p|-A] <filenames/dirnames>
190 Make sure you have told Git your name and email address
193 git config --global user.name "My Name"
194 git config --global user.email my@@email.invalid
197 Use @option{--global} to set the global configuration for all your Git checkouts.
199 Git will select the changes to the files for commit. Optionally you can use
200 the interactive or the patch mode to select hunk by hunk what should be
208 Git will commit the selected changes to your current local branch.
210 You will be prompted for a log message in an editor, which is either
211 set in your personal configuration file through
214 git config --global core.editor
217 or set by one of the following environment variables:
218 @var{GIT_EDITOR}, @var{VISUAL} or @var{EDITOR}.
220 Log messages should be concise but descriptive. Explain why you made a change,
221 what you did will be obvious from the changes themselves most of the time.
222 Saying just "bug fix" or "10l" is bad. Remember that people of varying skill
223 levels look at and educate themselves while reading through your code. Don't
224 include filenames in log messages, Git provides that information.
226 Possibly make the commit message have a terse, descriptive first line, an
227 empty line and then a full description. The first line will be used to name
228 the patch by @command{git format-patch}.
230 @section Preparing a patchset
233 git format-patch <commit> [-o directory]
236 will generate a set of patches for each commit between @var{<commit>} and
237 current @var{HEAD}. E.g.
240 git format-patch origin/master
243 will generate patches for all commits on current branch which are not
245 A useful shortcut is also
251 which will generate patches from last @var{n} commits.
252 By default the patches are created in the current directory.
254 @section Sending patches for review
257 git send-email <commit list|directory>
260 will send the patches created by @command{git format-patch} or directly
261 generates them. All the email fields can be configured in the global/local
262 configuration or overridden by command line.
263 Note that this tool must often be installed separately (e.g. @var{git-email}
264 package on Debian-based distros).
267 @section Renaming/moving/copying files or contents of files
269 Git automatically tracks such changes, making those normal commits.
272 mv/cp path/file otherpath/otherfile
278 @chapter Git configuration
280 In order to simplify a few workflows, it is advisable to configure both
281 your personal Git installation and your local FFmpeg repository.
283 @section Personal Git installation
285 Add the following to your @file{~/.gitconfig} to help @command{git send-email}
286 and @command{git format-patch} detect renames:
293 @section Repository configuration
295 In order to have @command{git send-email} automatically send patches
296 to the ffmpeg-devel mailing list, add the following stanza
297 to @file{/path/to/ffmpeg/repository/.git/config}:
301 to = ffmpeg-devel@@ffmpeg.org
304 @chapter FFmpeg specific
306 @section Reverting broken commits
312 @command{git reset} will uncommit the changes till @var{<commit>} rewriting
313 the current branch history.
319 allows one to amend the last commit details quickly.
322 git rebase -i origin/master
325 will replay local commits over the main repository allowing to edit, merge
326 or remove some of them in the process.
329 @command{git reset}, @command{git commit --amend} and @command{git rebase}
330 rewrite history, so you should use them ONLY on your local or topic branches.
331 The main repository will reject those changes.
338 @command{git revert} will generate a revert commit. This will not make the
339 faulty commit disappear from the history.
341 @section Pushing changes to remote trees
344 git push origin master --dry-run
347 Will simulate a push of the local master branch to the default remote
348 (@var{origin}). And list which branches and ranges or commits would have been
350 Git will prevent you from pushing changes if the local and remote trees are
351 out of sync. Refer to @ref{Updating the source tree to the latest revision}.
354 git remote add <name> <url>
357 Will add additional remote with a name reference, it is useful if you want
358 to push your local branch for review on a remote host.
361 git push <remote> <refspec>
364 Will push the changes to the @var{<remote>} repository.
365 Omitting @var{<refspec>} makes @command{git push} update all the remote
366 branches matching the local ones.
368 @section Finding a specific svn revision
370 Since version 1.7.1 Git supports @samp{:/foo} syntax for specifying commits
371 based on a regular expression. see man gitrevisions
374 git show :/'as revision 23456'
377 will show the svn changeset @samp{r23456}. With older Git versions searching in
378 the @command{git log} output is the easiest option (especially if a pager with
379 search capabilities is used).
381 This commit can be checked out with
384 git checkout -b svn_23456 :/'as revision 23456'
387 or for Git < 1.7.1 with
390 git checkout -b svn_23456 $SHA1
393 where @var{$SHA1} is the commit hash from the @command{git log} output.
396 @chapter Pre-push checklist
398 Once you have a set of commits that you feel are ready for pushing,
399 work through the following checklist to doublecheck everything is in
400 proper order. This list tries to be exhaustive. In case you are just
401 pushing a typo in a comment, some of the steps may be unnecessary.
402 Apply your common sense, but if in doubt, err on the side of caution.
404 First, make sure that the commits and branches you are going to push
405 match what you want pushed and that nothing is missing, extraneous or
406 wrong. You can see what will be pushed by running the git push command
407 with @option{--dry-run} first. And then inspecting the commits listed with
408 @command{git log -p 1234567..987654}. The @command{git status} command
409 may help in finding local changes that have been forgotten to be added.
411 Next let the code pass through a full run of our test suite.
414 @item @command{make distclean}
415 @item @command{/path/to/ffmpeg/configure}
416 @item @command{make fate}
417 @item if fate fails due to missing samples run @command{make fate-rsync} and retry
420 Make sure all your changes have been checked before pushing them, the
421 test suite only checks against regressions and that only to some extend. It does
422 obviously not check newly added features/code to be working unless you have
423 added a test for that (which is recommended).
425 Also note that every single commit should pass the test suite, not just
426 the result of a series of patches.
428 Once everything passed, push the changes to your public ffmpeg clone and post a
429 merge request to ffmpeg-devel. You can also push them directly but this is not
432 @chapter Server Issues
434 Contact the project admins at @email{root@@ffmpeg.org} if you have technical
435 problems with the Git server.