path: root/doc/git-howto.texi

\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-

@settitle Using git to develop FFmpeg

@titlepage
@center @titlefont{Using git to develop FFmpeg}
@end titlepage

@top

@contents

@chapter Introduction

This document aims in giving some quick references on a set of useful git
commands. You should always use the extensive and detailed documentation
provided directly by git:

@example
git --help
man git
@end example

shows you the available subcommands,

@example
git <command> --help
man git-<command>
@end example

shows information about the subcommand <command>.

Additional information could be found on the
@url{http://gitref.org, Git Reference} website

For more information about the Git project, visit the

@url{http://git-scm.com/, Git website}

Consult these resources whenever you have problems, they are quite exhaustive.

What follows now is a basic introduction to Git and some FFmpeg-specific
guidelines to ease the contribution to the project

@chapter Basics Usage

@section Get GIT

You can get git from @url{http://git-scm.com/}
Most distribution and operating system provide a package for it.


@section Cloning the source tree

@example
git clone git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg <target>
@end example

This will put the FFmpeg sources into the directory @var{<target>}.

@example
git clone git@@source.ffmpeg.org:ffmpeg <target>
@end example

This will put the FFmpeg sources into the directory @var{<target>} and let
you push back your changes to the remote repository.

Make sure that you do not have Windows line endings in your checkouts,
otherwise you may experience spurious compilation failures. One way to
achieve this is to run

@example
git config --global core.autocrlf false
@end example


@section Updating the source tree to the latest revision

@example
git pull (--rebase)
@end example

pulls in the latest changes from the tracked branch. The tracked branch
can be remote. By default the master branch tracks the branch master in
the remote origin.

@float IMPORTANT
@command{--rebase} (see below) is recommended.
@end float

@section Rebasing your local branches

@example
git pull --rebase
@end example

fetches the changes from the main repository and replays your local commits
over it. This is required to keep all your local changes at the top of
FFmpeg's master tree. The master tree will reject pushes with merge commits.


@section Adding/removing files/directories

@example
git add [-A] <filename/dirname>
git rm [-r] <filename/dirname>
@end example

GIT needs to get notified of all changes you make to your working
directory that makes files appear or disappear.
Line moves across files are automatically tracked.


@section Showing modifications

@example
git diff <filename(s)>
@end example

will show all local modifications in your working directory as unified diff.


@section Inspecting the changelog

@example
git log <filename(s)>
@end example

You may also use the graphical tools like gitview or gitk or the web
interface available at http://source.ffmpeg.org/

@section Checking source tree status

@example
git status
@end example

detects all the changes you made and lists what actions will be taken in case
of a commit (additions, modifications, deletions, etc.).


@section Committing

@example
git diff --check
@end example

to double check your changes before committing them to avoid trouble later
on. All experienced developers do this on each and every commit, no matter
how small.
Every one of them has been saved from looking like a fool by this many times.
It's very easy for stray debug output or cosmetic modifications to slip in,
please avoid problems through this extra level of scrutiny.

For cosmetics-only commits you should get (almost) empty output from

@example
git diff -w -b <filename(s)>
@end example

Also check the output of

@example
git status
@end example

to make sure you don't have untracked files or deletions.

@example
git add [-i|-p|-A] <filenames/dirnames>
@end example

Make sure you have told git your name and email address

@example
git config --global user.name "My Name"
git config --global user.email my@@email.invalid
@end example

Use @var{--global} to set the global configuration for all your git checkouts.

Git will select the changes to the files for commit. Optionally you can use
the interactive or the patch mode to select hunk by hunk what should be
added to the commit.


@example
git commit
@end example

Git will commit the selected changes to your current local branch.

You will be prompted for a log message in an editor, which is either
set in your personal configuration file through

@example
git config --global core.editor
@end example

or set by one of the following environment variables:
@var{GIT_EDITOR}, @var{VISUAL} or @var{EDITOR}.

Log messages should be concise but descriptive. Explain why you made a change,
what you did will be obvious from the changes themselves most of the time.
Saying just "bug fix" or "10l" is bad. Remember that people of varying skill
levels look at and educate themselves while reading through your code. Don't
include filenames in log messages, Git provides that information.

Possibly make the commit message have a terse, descriptive first line, an
empty line and then a full description. The first line will be used to name
the patch by git format-patch.

@section Preparing a patchset

@example
git format-patch <commit> [-o directory]
@end example

will generate a set of patches for each commit between @var{<commit>} and
current @var{HEAD}. E.g.

@example
git format-patch origin/master
@end example

will generate patches for all commits on current branch which are not
present in upstream.
A useful shortcut is also

@example
git format-patch -n
@end example

which will generate patches from last @var{n} commits.
By default the patches are created in the current directory.

@section Sending patches for review

@example
git send-email <commit list|directory>
@end example

will send the patches created by @command{git format-patch} or directly
generates them. All the email fields can be configured in the global/local
configuration or overridden by command line.
Note that this tool must often be installed separately (e.g. @var{git-email}
package on Debian-based distros).


@section Renaming/moving/copying files or contents of files

Git automatically tracks such changes, making those normal commits.

@example
mv/cp path/file otherpath/otherfile
git add [-A] .
git commit
@end example


@chapter FFmpeg specific

@section Reverting broken commits

@example
git reset <commit>
@end example

@command{git reset} will uncommit the changes till @var{<commit>} rewriting
the current branch history.

@example
git commit --amend
@end example

allows to amend the last commit details quickly.

@example
git rebase -i origin/master
@end example

will replay local commits over the main repository allowing to edit, merge
or remove some of them in the process.

@float NOTE
@command{git reset}, @command{git commit --amend} and @command{git rebase}
rewrite history, so you should use them ONLY on your local or topic branches.
The main repository will reject those changes.
@end float

@example
git revert <commit>
@end example

@command{git revert} will generate a revert commit. This will not make the
faulty commit disappear from the history.

@section Pushing changes to remote trees

@example
git push
@end example

Will push the changes to the default remote (@var{origin}).
Git will prevent you from pushing changes if the local and remote trees are
out of sync. Refer to and to sync the local tree.

@example
git remote add <name> <url>
@end example

Will add additional remote with a name reference, it is useful if you want
to push your local branch for review on a remote host.

@example
git push <remote> <refspec>
@end example

Will push the changes to the @var{<remote>} repository.
Omitting @var{<refspec>} makes @command{git push} update all the remote
branches matching the local ones.

@section Finding a specific svn revision

Since version 1.7.1 git supports @var{:/foo} syntax for specifying commits
based on a regular expression. see man gitrevisions

@example
git show :/'as revision 23456'
@end example

will show the svn changeset @var{r23456}. With older git versions searching in
the @command{git log} output is the easiest option (especially if a pager with
search capabilities is used).
This commit can be checked out with

@example
git checkout -b svn_23456 :/'as revision 23456'
@end example

or for git < 1.7.1 with

@example
git checkout -b svn_23456 $SHA1
@end example

where @var{$SHA1} is the commit hash from the @command{git log} output.


@chapter pre-push checklist

Once you have a set of commits that you feel are ready for pushing,
work through the following checklist to doublecheck everything is in
proper order. This list tries to be exhaustive. In case you are just
pushing a typo in a comment, some of the steps may be unnecessary.
Apply your common sense, but if in doubt, err on the side of caution.

First, make sure that the commits and branches you are going to push
match what you want pushed and that nothing is missing, extraneous or
wrong. You can see what will be pushed by running the git push command
with --dry-run first. And then inspecting the commits listed with
@command{git log -p 1234567..987654}. The @item @command{git status} command
may help in finding local changes that have been forgotten to be added.

Next let the code pass through a full run of our testsuite.

@itemize
@item @command{make distclean}
@item @command{/path/to/ffmpeg/configure}
@item @command{make check}
@item if fate fails due to missing samples run @command{make fate-rsync} and retry
@end itemize

Make sure all your changes have been checked before pushing them, the
testsuite only checks against regressions and that only to some extend. It does
obviously not check newly added features/code to be working unless you have
added a test for that (which is recommanded btw).

Also note that every single commit should pass the test suite, not just
the result of a series of patches.

Once everything passed, push the changes to your public ffmpeg clone and post a
merge request to ffmpeg-devel. You can also push them directly but this is not
recommended.

@chapter Server Issues

Contact the project admins @email{root@@ffmpeg.org} if you have technical
problems with the GIT server.