docs: don't talk about $GIT_DIR/refs/ everywhere

It is misleading to say that we pull refs from $GIT_DIR/refs/*, because we
may also consult the packed refs mechanism. These days we tend to treat
the "refs hierarchy" as more of an abstract namespace that happens to be
represented as $GIT_DIR/refs. At best, this is a minor inaccuracy, but at
worst it can confuse users who then look in $GIT_DIR/refs and find that it
is missing some of the refs they expected to see.

This patch drops most uses of "$GIT_DIR/refs/*", changing them into just
"refs/*", under the assumption that users can handle the concept of an
abstract refs namespace. There are a few things to note:

  - most cases just dropped the $GIT_DIR/ portion. But for cases where
    that left _just_ the word "refs", I changed it to "refs/" to help
    indicate that it was a hierarchy.  I didn't do the same for longer
    paths (e.g., "refs/heads" remained, instead of becoming
    "refs/heads/").

  - in some cases, no change was made, as the text was explicitly about
    unpacked refs (e.g., the discussion in git-pack-refs).

  - In some cases it made sense instead to note the existence of packed
    refs (e.g., in check-ref-format and rev-parse).

Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

diff --git a/Documentation/git-check-ref-format.txt b/Documentation/git-check-ref-format.txt
index e1c4320..379eee6 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-check-ref-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-check-ref-format.txt
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ status if it is not.
 
 A reference is used in git to specify branches and tags.  A
 branch head is stored under the `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads` directory, and
-a tag is stored under the `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags` directory.  git
-imposes the following rules on how references are named:
+a tag is stored under the `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags` directory (or, if refs
+are packed by `git gc`, as entries in the `$GIT_DIR/packed-refs` file).
+git imposes the following rules on how references are named:
 
 . They can include slash `/` for hierarchical (directory)
   grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin with a

diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index f43c8b2..88ea624 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
 current master branch, if any.
 
 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
-the remote branch heads under `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin` and
+the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
 configuration variables.
 

diff --git a/Documentation/git-fetch-pack.txt b/Documentation/git-fetch-pack.txt
index e9952e8..97ea797 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-fetch-pack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-fetch-pack.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ higher level wrapper of this command, instead.
 Invokes 'git-upload-pack' on a possibly remote repository
 and asks it to send objects missing from this repository, to
 update the named heads.  The list of commits available locally
-is found out by scanning local $GIT_DIR/refs/ and sent to
+is found out by scanning the local refs/ hierarchy and sent to
 'git-upload-pack' running on the other end.
 
 This command degenerates to download everything to complete the

diff --git a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
index ffd5025..61fd7d0 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ base-name::
 --all::
        This implies `--revs`.  In addition to the list of
        revision arguments read from the standard input, pretend
-       as if all refs under `$GIT_DIR/refs` are specified to be
+       as if all refs under `refs/` are specified to be
        included.
 
 --include-tag::

diff --git a/Documentation/git-prune.txt b/Documentation/git-prune.txt
index 3bb7304..15cfb7a 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-prune.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-prune.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ NOTE: In most cases, users should run 'git gc', which calls
 'git prune'. See the section "NOTES", below.
 
 This runs 'git fsck --unreachable' using all the refs
-available in `$GIT_DIR/refs`, optionally with additional set of
+available in `refs/`, optionally with additional set of
 objects specified on the command line, and prunes all unpacked
 objects unreachable from any of these head objects from the object database.
 In addition, it

diff --git a/Documentation/git-push.txt b/Documentation/git-push.txt
index bd79119..3f103cc 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-push.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-push.txt
@@ -69,11 +69,11 @@ nor in any Push line of the corresponding remotes file---see below).
 
 --all::
        Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all
-       refs under `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/` be pushed.
+       refs under `refs/heads/` be pushed.
 
 --mirror::
        Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all
-       refs under `$GIT_DIR/refs/` (which includes but is not
+       refs under `refs/` (which includes but is not
        limited to `refs/heads/`, `refs/remotes/`, and `refs/tags/`)
        be mirrored to the remote repository.  Newly created local
        refs will be pushed to the remote end, locally updated refs
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ nor in any Push line of the corresponding remotes file---see below).
        the same as prefixing all refs with a colon.
 
 --tags::
-       All refs under `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags` are pushed, in
+       All refs under `refs/tags` are pushed, in
        addition to refspecs explicitly listed on the command
        line.
 

diff --git a/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt b/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt
index d677c72..1a613aa 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt
@@ -101,15 +101,14 @@ OPTIONS
        abbreviation mode.
 
 --all::
-       Show all refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs`.
+       Show all refs found in `refs/`.
 
 --branches[=pattern]::
 --tags[=pattern]::
 --remotes[=pattern]::
        Show all branches, tags, or remote-tracking branches,
-       respectively (i.e., refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`,
-       `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags`, or `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes`,
-       respectively).
+       respectively (i.e., refs found in `refs/heads`,
+       `refs/tags`, or `refs/remotes`, respectively).
 +
 If a `pattern` is given, only refs matching the given shell glob are
 shown.  If the pattern does not contain a globbing character (`?`,
@@ -189,7 +188,7 @@ blobs contained in a commit.
   `g`, and an abbreviated object name.
 
 * A symbolic ref name.  E.g. 'master' typically means the commit
-  object referenced by $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/master.  If you
+  object referenced by refs/heads/master.  If you
   happen to have both heads/master and tags/master, you can
   explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell git which one you mean.
   When ambiguous, a `<name>` is disambiguated by taking the
@@ -198,15 +197,15 @@ blobs contained in a commit.
   . if `$GIT_DIR/<name>` exists, that is what you mean (this is usually
     useful only for `HEAD`, `FETCH_HEAD`, `ORIG_HEAD` and `MERGE_HEAD`);
 
-  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/<name>` if exists;
+  . otherwise, `refs/<name>` if exists;
 
-  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<name>` if exists;
+  . otherwise, `refs/tags/<name>` if exists;
 
-  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<name>` if exists;
+  . otherwise, `refs/heads/<name>` if exists;
 
-  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>` if exists;
+  . otherwise, `refs/remotes/<name>` if exists;
 
-  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` if exists.
+  . otherwise, `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` if exists.
 +
 HEAD names the commit your changes in the working tree is based on.
 FETCH_HEAD records the branch you fetched from a remote repository
@@ -217,6 +216,9 @@ you can change the tip of the branch back to the state before you ran
 them easily.
 MERGE_HEAD records the commit(s) you are merging into your branch
 when you run 'git merge'.
++
+Note that any of the `refs/*` cases above may come either from
+the `$GIT_DIR/refs` directory or from the `$GIT_DIR/packed-refs` file.
 
 * A ref followed by the suffix '@' with a date specification
   enclosed in a brace

diff --git a/Documentation/git-show-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-show-branch.txt
index 7343361..b9c4154 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-show-branch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-show-branch.txt
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 
 Shows the commit ancestry graph starting from the commits named
-with <rev>s or <globs>s (or all refs under $GIT_DIR/refs/heads
-and/or $GIT_DIR/refs/tags) semi-visually.
+with <rev>s or <globs>s (or all refs under refs/heads
+and/or refs/tags) semi-visually.
 
 It cannot show more than 29 branches and commits at a time.
 
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ OPTIONS
 
 <glob>::
        A glob pattern that matches branch or tag names under
-       $GIT_DIR/refs.  For example, if you have many topic
-       branches under $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/topic, giving
+       refs/.  For example, if you have many topic
+       branches under refs/heads/topic, giving
        `topic/*` would show all of them.
 
 -r::
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ EXAMPLE
 -------
 
 If you keep your primary branches immediately under
-`$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`, and topic branches in subdirectories of
+`refs/heads`, and topic branches in subdirectories of
 it, having the following in the configuration file may help:
 
 ------------

diff --git a/Documentation/git-stash.txt b/Documentation/git-stash.txt
index 84e555d..473889a 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-stash.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-stash.txt
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ A stash is by default listed as "WIP on 'branchname' ...", but
 you can give a more descriptive message on the command line when
 you create one.
 
-The latest stash you created is stored in `$GIT_DIR/refs/stash`; older
+The latest stash you created is stored in `refs/stash`; older
 stashes are found in the reflog of this reference and can be named using
 the usual reflog syntax (e.g. `stash@\{0}` is the most recently
 created stash, `stash@\{1}` is the one before it, `stash@\{2.hours.ago}`

diff --git a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
index 6e9baf8..81c0e6f 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
@@ -225,26 +225,26 @@ endif::git-rev-list[]
 
 --all::
 
-       Pretend as if all the refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/` are listed on the
+       Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/` are listed on the
        command line as '<commit>'.
 
 --branches[=pattern]::
 
-       Pretend as if all the refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads` are listed
+       Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
        on the command line as '<commit>'. If `pattern` is given, limit
        branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
        '*', or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
 
 --tags[=pattern]::
 
-       Pretend as if all the refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags` are listed
+       Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
        on the command line as '<commit>'. If `pattern` is given, limit
        tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '*',
        or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
 
 --remotes[=pattern]::
 
-       Pretend as if all the refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes` are listed
+       Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
        on the command line as '<commit>'. If `pattern`is given, limit
        remote tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
        If pattern lacks '?', '*', or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
@@ -259,9 +259,9 @@ endif::git-rev-list[]
 ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 --bisect::
 
-       Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/bad`
+       Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
        was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
-       bisection refs `$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
+       bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
        line.
 endif::git-rev-list[]
 
@@ -561,10 +561,10 @@ Bisection Helpers
 
 Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
-`$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
-exists) and the good bisection refs `$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/good-*` are
+`refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
+exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
 added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
-are no refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/`, if
+are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
        $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ one.
 --bisect-vars::
 
 This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
-`$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
+`refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
 text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
 name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
@@ -599,7 +599,7 @@ number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
 
 This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
-commits. Refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
+commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
 from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
 `--bisect`.)
 +