3 perlrepository - Using the Perl source repository
7 All of Perl's source code is kept centrally in a Git repository. The
8 repository contains many Perl revisions from Perl 1 onwards and all
9 the revisions from Perforce, the version control system we were using
10 previously. This repository is accessible in different ways.
12 The full repository takes up about 80MB of disk space. A check out of
13 the blead branch (that is, the master branch, which contains bleadperl,
14 the development version of perl 5) takes up about 160MB of disk space
15 (including the repository). A build of bleadperl takes up about 200MB
16 (including the repository and the check out).
18 =head1 GETTING ACCESS TO THE REPOSITORY
20 =head2 READ ACCESS VIA THE WEB
22 You may access this over the web. This allows you to browse the tree,
23 see recent commits, search for particular commits and more. You may
26 http://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git
28 =head2 READ ACCESS VIA GIT
30 You will need a copy of Git for your computer. You can fetch a copy of
31 the repository using the Git protocol (which uses port 9418):
33 git clone git://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git perl-git
35 This clones the repository and makes a local copy in the 'perl-git'
38 If your local network does not allow you to use port 9418, then you can
39 fetch a copy of the repository over HTTP (this is slower):
41 git clone http://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git perl-http
43 This clones the repository and makes a local copy in the 'perl-http'
46 =head2 WRITE ACCESS TO THE REPOSITORY
48 If you are a committer, then you can fetch a copy of the repository that
49 you can push back on with:
51 git clone ssh://perl5.git.perl.org/gitroot/perl.git perl-ssh
53 This clones the repository and makes a local copy in the 'perl-ssh'
56 If you clone using git, which is faster than ssh, then you will need to
57 modify your config in order to enable pushing. Edit F<.git/config> where
58 you will see something like:
61 url = git://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git
63 change that to something like this:
66 url = ssh://perl5.git.perl.org/gitroot/perl.git
68 NOTE: there are symlinks set up so that the /gitroot is actually optional.
70 =head1 OVERVIEW OF THE REPOSITORY
72 Once you have changed into the repository directory, you can inspect it.
75 After a clone the repository will contain a single local branch, which
76 will be the current branch as well, as indicated by the asterix.
81 Using the -a switch to branch will also show the remote tracking branches in the
90 The branches that begin with "origin" correspond to the "git remote" that
91 you cloned from (which is named "origin"). Each branch on the remote will
92 be exactly tracked by theses branches. You should NEVER do work on these
93 remote tracking branches. You only ever do work in a local branch. Local
94 branches can be configured to automerge (on pull) from a designated remote
95 tracking branch. This is the case with the default branch C<blead> which
96 will be configured to merge from the remote tracking branch
99 You can see recent commits:
103 And pull new changes from the repository, and update your local repository
104 (must be clean first)
108 Assuming we are on the branch C<blead> immediately after a pull, this command
109 would be more or less equivalent to:
112 % git merge origin/blead
114 In fact if you want to update your local repository without touching your working
119 And if you want to update your remote-tracking branches for all defined remotes
120 simultaneously you can do
124 Neither of these last two commands will update your working directory, however
125 both will update the remote-tracking branches in your repository.
127 To switch to another branch:
129 % git checkout origin/maint-5.8-dor
131 To switch back to blead:
135 =head2 FINDING OUT YOUR STATUS
137 The most common git command you will use will probably be
141 This command will produce as output a description of the current state of the
142 repository, including modified files and unignored untracked files, and in addition
143 it will show things like what files have been staged for the next commit,
144 and usually some useful information about how to change things. For instance the
149 # Your branch is ahead of 'origin/blead' by 1 commit.
151 # Changes to be committed:
152 # (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
154 # modified: pod/perlrepository.pod
156 # Changed but not updated:
157 # (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
159 # modified: pod/perlrepository.pod
162 # (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
164 # deliberate.untracked
166 This shows that there were changes to this document staged for commit, and
167 that there were further changes in the working directory not yet staged. It
168 also shows that there was an untracked file in the working directory, and as
169 you can see shows how to change all of this. It also shows that there
170 is one commit on the working branch C<blead> which has not been pushed to the
171 C<origin> remote yet. B<NOTE>: that this output is also what you see as a
172 template if you do not provide a message to C<git commit>.
174 Assuming we commit all the mentioned changes above:
176 % git commit -a -m'explain git status and stuff about remotes'
177 Created commit daf8e63: explain git status and stuff about remotes
178 1 files changed, 83 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
180 We can re-run git status and see something like this:
184 # Your branch is ahead of 'origin/blead' by 2 commits.
187 # (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
189 # deliberate.untracked
190 nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)
193 When in doubt, before you do anything else, check your status and read it
194 carefully, many questions are answered directly by the git status output.
196 =head1 SUBMITTING A PATCH
198 If you have a patch in mind for Perl, you should first get a copy of
201 % git clone git://perl5.git.perl.org/perl.git perl-git
203 Then change into the directory:
207 Alternatively, if you already have a Perl repository, you should
208 ensure that you're on the I<blead> branch, and your repository
214 Now that we have everything up to date, we need to create a temporary new
215 branch for these changes and switch into it:
217 % git checkout -b orange
219 which is the short form of
222 % git checkout orange
224 Then make your changes. For example, if Leon Brocard changes his name
225 to Orange Brocard, we should change his name in the AUTHORS file:
227 % perl -pi -e 's{Leon Brocard}{Orange Brocard}' AUTHORS
229 You can see what files are changed:
233 # Changes to be committed:
234 # (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
239 And you can see the changes:
242 diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
243 index 293dd70..722c93e 100644
246 @@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ Lars Hecking <lhecking@nmrc.ucc.ie>
247 Laszlo Molnar <laszlo.molnar@eth.ericsson.se>
248 Leif Huhn <leif@hale.dkstat.com>
249 Len Johnson <lenjay@ibm.net>
250 -Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>
251 +Orange Brocard <acme@astray.com>
252 Les Peters <lpeters@aol.net>
253 Lesley Binks <lesley.binks@gmail.com>
254 Lincoln D. Stein <lstein@cshl.org>
256 Now commit your change locally:
259 % git commit -m 'Rename Leon Brocard to Orange Brocard'
260 Created commit 6196c1d: Rename Leon Brocard to Orange Brocard
261 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
263 Now you should create a patch file for all your local changes:
265 % git format-patch origin
266 0001-Rename-Leon-Brocard-to-Orange-Brocard.patch
268 You should now send an email to perl5-porters@perl.org with a
269 description of your changes, and attach this patch file as an
272 If you want to delete your temporary branch, you may do so with:
275 % git branch -d orange
276 error: The branch 'orange' is not an ancestor of your current HEAD.
277 If you are sure you want to delete it, run 'git branch -D orange'.
278 % git branch -D orange
279 Deleted branch orange.
281 =head1 ACCEPTING A PATCH
283 If you have received a patch file generated using the above section,
284 you should try out the patch.
286 First we need to create a temporary new branch for these changes and
289 % git checkout -b experimental
291 Now we should apply the patch:
293 % git am 0001-Rename-Leon-Brocard-to-Orange-Brocard.patch
294 Applying Rename Leon Brocard to Orange Brocard
296 Now we can inspect the change:
299 commit b1b3dab48344cff6de4087efca3dbd63548ab5e2
300 Author: Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>
301 Date: Fri Dec 19 17:02:59 2008 +0000
303 Rename Leon Brocard to Orange Brocard
307 diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
308 index 293dd70..722c93e 100644
311 @@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ Lars Hecking <lhecking@nmrc.ucc.ie>
312 Laszlo Molnar <laszlo.molnar@eth.ericsson.se>
313 Leif Huhn <leif@hale.dkstat.com>
314 Len Johnson <lenjay@ibm.net>
315 -Leon Brocard <acme@astray.com>
316 +Orange Brocard <acme@astray.com>
317 Les Peters <lpeters@aol.net>
318 Lesley Binks <lesley.binks@gmail.com>
319 Lincoln D. Stein <lstein@cshl.org>
321 If you are a committer to Perl and you think the patch is good, you can
322 then merge it into blead then push it out to the main repository:
325 % git merge experimental
328 If you want to delete your temporary branch, you may do so with:
331 % git branch -d experimental
332 error: The branch 'experimental' is not an ancestor of your current HEAD.
333 If you are sure you want to delete it, run 'git branch -D experimental'.
334 % git branch -D experimental
335 Deleted branch experimental.