Log ref updates to logs/refs/<ref>
If config parameter core.logAllRefUpdates is true or the log
file already exists then append a line to ".git/logs/refs/<ref>"
whenever git-update-ref <ref> is executed. Each log line contains
the following information:
oldsha1 <SP> newsha1 <SP> committer <LF>
where committer is the current user, date, time and timezone in
the standard GIT ident format. If the caller is unable to append
to the log file then git-update-ref will fail without updating <ref>.
An optional message may be included in the log line with the -m flag.
Signed-off-by: Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
diff --git a/Documentation/git-update-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-update-ref.txt
index f0e710a..dfbd886 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-update-ref.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-update-ref.txt
@@ -49,6 +49,32 @@
ref symlink to some other tree, if you have copied a whole
archive by creating a symlink tree).
+Logging Updates
+---------------
+If config parameter "core.logAllRefUpdates" is true or the file
+"$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>" exists then `git-update-ref` will append
+a line to the log file "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>" (dereferencing all
+symbolic refs before creating the log name) describing the change
+in ref value. Log lines are formatted as:
+
+ . oldsha1 SP newsha1 SP committer LF
++
+Where "oldsha1" is the 40 character hexadecimal value previously
+stored in <ref>, "newsha1" is the 40 character hexadecimal value of
+<newvalue> and "committer" is the committer's name, email address
+and date in the standard GIT committer ident format.
+
+Optionally with -m:
+
+ . oldsha1 SP newsha1 SP committer TAB message LF
++
+Where all fields are as described above and "message" is the
+value supplied to the -m option.
+
+An update will fail (without changing <ref>) if the current user is
+unable to create a new log file, append to the existing log file
+or does not have committer information available.
+
Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
