NAME¶

git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories

SYNOPSIS¶

git p4 clone [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>...
git p4 sync [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...]
git p4 rebase
git p4 submit [<submit options>] [<master branch name>]

DESCRIPTION¶

This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories using Git.

Create a new Git repository from an existing p4 repository using git p4 clone, giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate new commits from p4 changes with git p4 sync. The sync command is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths. Submit Git changes back to p4 using git p4 submit. The command git p4 rebase does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto the updated p4 remote branch.

EXAMPLE¶

$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project

$ cd project
$ vi foo.h
$ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h"

$ git p4 rebase

$ git p4 submit

COMMANDS¶

$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project

$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all

$ git p4 sync

$ mkdir repo-git
$ cd repo-git
$ git init
$ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot

$ git p4 rebase

$ git p4 submit

$ git p4 submit topicbranch

OPTIONS¶

    $ git init


    $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2

DEPOT PATH SYNTAX¶

The p4 depot path argument to git p4 sync and git p4 clone can be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional p4 revision specifier on the end:

"//depot/my/project"

"//depot/my/project@all"

"//depot/my/project@1,6"

"//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"

See p4 help revisions for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.

CLIENT SPEC¶

The p4 client specification is maintained with the p4 client command and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot is mapped into the client repository. The clone and sync commands can consult the client spec when given the --use-client-spec option or when the useClientSpec variable is true. After git p4 clone, the useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository configuration file. This allows future git p4 submit commands to work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does not have a command-line option.

The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in p4 help views. git p4 knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line mappings, overlays with +, exclusions with - and double-quotes around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, git p4 only handles ..., and only when it is at the end of the path. git p4 will complain if it encounters an unhandled wildcard.

Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository, git p4 can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without dedicating a client spec just for git p4.

The name of the client can be given to git p4 in multiple ways. The variable git-p4.client takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise, normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name.

BRANCH DETECTION¶

P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as Git. Instead, p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention different logical branches are in different locations in the tree. The p4 branch command is used to maintain mappings between different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. git p4 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.

If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use --detect-branches when cloning or syncing to have git p4 automatically find subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in Git.

For example, if the P4 repository structure is:

//depot/main/...
//depot/branch1/...

And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:

//depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...

Then this git p4 clone command:

git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all

produces a separate branch in refs/remotes/p4/ for //depot/main, called master, and one for //depot/branch1 called depot/branch1.

However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch relationships automatically, a Git configuration setting git-p4.branchList can be used to explicitly identify branch relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will occur with:

git init depot
cd depot
git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all .

PERFORMANCE¶

The fast-import mechanism used by git p4 creates one pack file for each invocation of git p4 sync. Normally, Git garbage compression (git-gc(1)) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files, but explicit invocation of git repack -adf may improve performance.

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES¶

The following config settings can be used to modify git p4 behavior. They all are in the git-p4 section.

git config       git-p4.branchList main:branchA
git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB

IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS¶