git-update-index
(1)
Name
git-update-index - Register file contents in the working
tree to the index
Synopsis
git update-index
[--add] [--remove | --force-remove] [--replace]
[--refresh] [-q] [--unmerged] [--ignore-missing]
[(--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <file>)...]
[--chmod=(+|-)x]
[--assume-unchanged | --no-assume-unchanged]
[--skip-worktree | --no-skip-worktree]
[--ignore-submodules]
[--really-refresh] [--unresolve] [--again | -g]
[--info-only] [--index-info]
[-z] [--stdin]
[--verbose]
[--] [<file>...]
Description
Git Manual GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1)
NAME
git-update-index - Register file contents in the working
tree to the index
SYNOPSIS
git update-index
[--add] [--remove | --force-remove] [--replace]
[--refresh] [-q] [--unmerged] [--ignore-missing]
[(--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <file>)...]
[--chmod=(+|-)x]
[--assume-unchanged | --no-assume-unchanged]
[--skip-worktree | --no-skip-worktree]
[--ignore-submodules]
[--really-refresh] [--unresolve] [--again | -g]
[--info-only] [--index-info]
[-z] [--stdin]
[--verbose]
[--] [<file>...]
DESCRIPTION
Modifies the index or directory cache. Each file mentioned
is updated into the index and any unmerged or needs updating
state is cleared.
See also git-add(1) for a more user-friendly way to do some
of the most common operations on the index.
The way git update-index handles files it is told about can
be modified using the various options:
OPTIONS
--add
If a specified file isn't in the index already then it's
added. Default behaviour is to ignore new files.
--remove
If a specified file is in the index but is missing then
it's removed. Default behavior is to ignore removed
file.
--refresh
Looks at the current index and checks to see if merges
or updates are needed by checking stat() information.
-q
Quiet. If --refresh finds that the index needs an
update, the default behavior is to error out. This
option makes git update-index continue anyway.
--ignore-submodules
Do not try to update submodules. This option is only
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respected when passed before --refresh.
--unmerged
If --refresh finds unmerged changes in the index, the
default behavior is to error out. This option makes git
update-index continue anyway.
--ignore-missing
Ignores missing files during a --refresh
--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <path>
Directly insert the specified info into the index.
--index-info
Read index information from stdin.
--chmod=(+|-)x
Set the execute permissions on the updated files.
--assume-unchanged, --no-assume-unchanged
When these flags are specified, the object names
recorded for the paths are not updated. Instead, these
options set and unset the "assume unchanged" bit for the
paths. When the "assume unchanged" bit is on, git stops
checking the working tree files for possible
modifications, so you need to manually unset the bit to
tell git when you change the working tree file. This is
sometimes helpful when working with a big project on a
filesystem that has very slow lstat(2) system call (e.g.
cifs).
This option can be also used as a coarse file-level
mechanism to ignore uncommitted changes in tracked files
(akin to what .gitignore does for untracked files). Git
will fail (gracefully) in case it needs to modify this
file in the index e.g. when merging in a commit; thus,
in case the assumed-untracked file is changed upstream,
you will need to handle the situation manually.
--really-refresh
Like --refresh, but checks stat information
unconditionally, without regard to the "assume
unchanged" setting.
--skip-worktree, --no-skip-worktree
When one of these flags is specified, the object name
recorded for the paths are not updated. Instead, these
options set and unset the "skip-worktree" bit for the
paths. See section "Skip-worktree bit" below for more
information.
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-g, --again
Runs git update-index itself on the paths whose index
entries are different from those from the HEAD commit.
--unresolve
Restores the unmerged or needs updating state of a file
during a merge if it was cleared by accident.
--info-only
Do not create objects in the object database for all
<file> arguments that follow this flag; just insert
their object IDs into the index.
--force-remove
Remove the file from the index even when the working
directory still has such a file. (Implies --remove.)
--replace
By default, when a file path exists in the index, git
update-index refuses an attempt to add path/file.
Similarly if a file path/file exists, a file path cannot
be added. With --replace flag, existing entries that
conflict with the entry being added are automatically
removed with warning messages.
--stdin
Instead of taking list of paths from the command line,
read list of paths from the standard input. Paths are
separated by LF (i.e. one path per line) by default.
--verbose
Report what is being added and removed from index.
-z
Only meaningful with --stdin or --index-info; paths are
separated with NUL character instead of LF.
--
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
<file>
Files to act on. Note that files beginning with . are
discarded. This includes ./file and dir/./file. If you
don't want this, then use cleaner names. The same
applies to directories ending / and paths with //
USING --REFRESH
--refresh does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the
index up-to-date for mode/content changes. But what it does
do is to "re-match" the stat information of a file with the
index, so that you can refresh the index for a file that
hasn't been changed but where the stat entry is out of date.
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For example, you'd want to do this after doing a git
read-tree, to link up the stat index details with the proper
files.
USING --CACHEINFO OR --INFO-ONLY
--cacheinfo is used to register a file that is not in the
current working directory. This is useful for
minimum-checkout merging.
To pretend you have a file with mode and sha1 at path, say:
$ git update-index --cacheinfo mode sha1 path
--info-only is used to register files without placing them
in the object database. This is useful for status-only
repositories.
Both --cacheinfo and --info-only behave similarly: the index
is updated but the object database isn't. --cacheinfo is
useful when the object is in the database but the file isn't
available locally. --info-only is useful when the file is
available, but you do not wish to update the object
database.
USING --INDEX-INFO
--index-info is a more powerful mechanism that lets you feed
multiple entry definitions from the standard input, and
designed specifically for scripts. It can take inputs of
three formats:
1. mode SP sha1 TAB path
The first format is what "git-apply --index-info"
reports, and used to reconstruct a partial tree that is
used for phony merge base tree when falling back on
3-way merge.
2. mode SP type SP sha1 TAB path
The second format is to stuff git ls-tree output into
the index file.
3. mode SP sha1 SP stage TAB path
This format is to put higher order stages into the index
file and matches git ls-files --stage output.
To place a higher stage entry to the index, the path should
first be removed by feeding a mode=0 entry for the path, and
then feeding necessary input lines in the third format.
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For example, starting with this index:
$ git ls-files -s
100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 0 frotz
you can feed the following input to --index-info:
$ git update-index --index-info
0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 frotz
100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
The first line of the input feeds 0 as the mode to remove
the path; the SHA1 does not matter as long as it is well
formatted. Then the second and third line feeds stage 1 and
stage 2 entries for that path. After the above, we would end
up with this:
$ git ls-files -s
100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
USING "ASSUME UNCHANGED" BIT
Many operations in git depend on your filesystem to have an
efficient lstat(2) implementation, so that st_mtime
information for working tree files can be cheaply checked to
see if the file contents have changed from the version
recorded in the index file. Unfortunately, some filesystems
have inefficient lstat(2). If your filesystem is one of
them, you can set "assume unchanged" bit to paths you have
not changed to cause git not to do this check. Note that
setting this bit on a path does not mean git will check the
contents of the file to see if it has changed -- it makes
git to omit any checking and assume it has not changed. When
you make changes to working tree files, you have to
explicitly tell git about it by dropping "assume unchanged"
bit, either before or after you modify them.
In order to set "assume unchanged" bit, use
--assume-unchanged option. To unset, use
--no-assume-unchanged. To see which files have the "assume
unchanged" bit set, use git ls-files -v (see git-ls-
files(1)).
The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable.
When this is true, paths updated with git update-index
paths... and paths updated with other git commands that
update both index and working tree (e.g. git apply --index,
git checkout-index -u, and git read-tree -u) are
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automatically marked as "assume unchanged". Note that
"assume unchanged" bit is not set if git update-index
--refresh finds the working tree file matches the index (use
git update-index --really-refresh if you want to mark them
as "assume unchanged").
EXAMPLES
To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
$ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
On an inefficient filesystem with core.ignorestat set
$ git update-index --really-refresh (1)
$ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c (2)
$ git diff --name-only (3)
$ edit foo.c
$ git diff --name-only (4)
M foo.c
$ git update-index foo.c (4)
$ git diff --name-only (6)
$ edit foo.c
$ git diff --name-only (5)
$ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c (8)
$ git diff --name-only (9)
M foo.c
1. forces lstat(2) to set "assume unchanged" bits for
paths that match index.
2. mark the path to be edited.
3. this does lstat(2) and finds index matches the path.
4. this does lstat(2) and finds index does not match the
path.
5. registering the new version to index sets "assume
unchanged" bit.
6. and it is assumed unchanged.
7. even after you edit it.
8. you can tell about the change after the fact.
9. now it checks with lstat(2) and finds it has been
changed.
SKIP-WORKTREE BIT
Skip-worktree bit can be defined in one (long) sentence:
When reading an entry, if it is marked as skip-worktree,
then Git pretends its working directory version is up to
date and read the index version instead.
To elaborate, "reading" means checking for file existence,
reading file attributes or file content. The working
directory version may be present or absent. If present, its
content may match against the index version or not. Writing
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is not affected by this bit, content safety is still first
priority. Note that Git can update working directory file,
that is marked skip-worktree, if it is safe to do so (i.e.
working directory version matches index version)
Although this bit looks similar to assume-unchanged bit, its
goal is different from assume-unchanged bit's. Skip-worktree
also takes precedence over assume-unchanged bit when both
are set.
CONFIGURATION
The command honors core.filemode configuration variable. If
your repository is on a filesystem whose executable bits are
unreliable, this should be set to false (see git-config(1)).
This causes the command to ignore differences in file modes
recorded in the index and the file mode on the filesystem if
they differ only on executable bit. On such an unfortunate
filesystem, you may need to use git update-index --chmod=.
Quite similarly, if core.symlinks configuration variable is
set to false (see git-config(1)), symbolic links are checked
out as plain files, and this command does not modify a
recorded file mode from symbolic link to regular file.
The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable.
See Using "assume unchanged" bit section above.
The command also looks at core.trustctime configuration
variable. It can be useful when the inode change time is
regularly modified by something outside Git (file system
crawlers and backup systems use ctime for marking files
processed) (see git-config(1)).
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+--------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Availability | developer/versioning/git |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------------+
SEE ALSO
git-config(1), git-add(1), git-ls-files(1)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
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NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://git-
core.googlecode.com/files/git-1.7.9.2.tar.gz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://git-scm.com/.
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