=====
git-p4 supports two main modes: Importing from Perforce to a Git repository is
-done using "git-p4 sync". Submitting changes from Git back to Perforce is
-done using "git-p4 submit".
+done using "git-p4 sync" or "git-p4 rebase". Submitting changes from Git back
+to Perforce is done using "git-p4 submit".
Importing
=========
This will create an empty git repository in a subdirectory called "project" (or
"myproject" with the second command), import the head revision from the
-specified perforce path into a git "p4" branch, create a master branch off it
-and check it out. If you want the entire history (not just the head revision) then
-you can simply append a "@all" to the depot path:
+specified perforce path into a git "p4" branch (remotes/p4 actually), create a
+master branch off it and check it out. If you want the entire history (not just
+the head revision) then you can simply append a "@all" to the depot path:
git-p4 clone //depot/project/main@all myproject
git-p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot
This will import the current head revision of the specified depot path into a
-"p4" branch of your git repository. You can use the --branch=mybranch option
-to use a different branch.
+"remotes/p4/master" branch of your git repository. You can use the
+--branch=mybranch option to use a different branch.
If you want to import the entire history of a given depot path just use
Support for Perforce integrations is still work in progress. Don't bother
trying it unless you want to hack on it :)
-For convenience there's also the git-p4 clone command that works similar to
-git-clone and combines the creation of the git repository with the the initial
-import and the branch setup
-
Incremental Imports
===================
git-p4 sync
-in your git repository. By default the "p4" branch is updated.
+in your git repository. By default the "remotes/p4/master" branch is updated.
It is recommended to run 'git repack -a -d -f' from time to time when using
incremental imports to optimally combine the individual git packs that each
After submitting you should sync your perforce import branch ("p4" or "origin")
from Perforce using git-p4's sync command.
+
+If you have changes in your working directory that you haven't committed into
+git yet but that you want to commit to Perforce directly ("quick fixes") then
+you do not have to go through the intermediate step of creating a git commit
+first but you can just call
+
+ git-p4 submit --direct
+
+
+Example
+=======
+
+# Clone a repository
+ git-p4 clone //depot/path/project
+# Enter the newly cloned directory
+ cd project
+# Do some work...
+ vi foo.h
+# ... and commit locally to gi
+ git commit foo.h
+# In the meantime somebody submitted changes to the Perforce depot. Rebase your latest
+# changes against the latest changes in Perforce:
+ git-p4 rebase
+# Submit your locally committed changes back to Perforce
+ git-p4 submit
+# ... and synchronize with Perforce
+ git-p4 rebase
+
+
+Configuration parameters
+========================
+
+git-p4.user ($P4USER)
+
+Allows you to specify the username to use to connect to the Perforce repository.
+
+ git config [--global] git-p4.user public
+
+git-p4.password ($P4PASS)
+
+Allows you to specify the password to use to connect to the Perforce repository.
+Warning this password will be visible on the command-line invocation of the p4 binary.
+
+ git config [--global] git-p4.password public1234
+
+git-p4.port ($P4PORT)
+
+Specify the port to be used to contact the Perforce server. As this will be passed
+directly to the p4 binary, it may be in the format host:port as well.
+
+ git config [--global] git-p4.port codes.zimbra.com:2666
+
+git-p4.host ($P4HOST)
+
+Specify the host to contact for a Perforce repository.
+
+ git config [--global] git-p4.host perforce.example.com
+
+git-p4.client ($P4CLIENT)
+
+Specify the client name to use
+
+ git config [--global] git-p4.client public-view
+
+git-p4.syncFromOrigin
+
+A useful setup may be that you have a periodically updated git repository
+somewhere that contains a complete import of a Perforce project. That git
+repository can be used to clone the working repository from and one would
+import from Perforce directly after cloning using git-p4. If the connection to
+the Perforce server is slow and the working repository hasn't been synced for a
+while it may be desirable to fetch changes from the origin git repository using
+the efficient git protocol. git-p4 supports this setup by calling "git fetch origin"
+by default if there is an origin branch. You can disable this using:
+
+ git config [--global] git-p4.syncFromOrigin false
+
+Implementation Details...
+=========================
+
+* Changesets from Perforce are imported using git fast-import.
+* The import does not require anything from the Perforce client view as it just uses
+ "p4 print //depot/path/file#revision" to get the actual file contents.
+* Every imported changeset has a special [git-p4...] line at the
+ end of the log message that gives information about the corresponding
+ Perforce change number and is also used by git-p4 itself to find out
+ where to continue importing when doing incremental imports.
+ Basically when syncing it extracts the perforce change number of the
+ latest commit in the "p4" branch and uses "p4 changes //depot/path/...@changenum,#head"
+ to find out which changes need to be imported.
+* git-p4 submit uses "git rev-list" to pick the commits between the "p4" branch
+ and the current branch.
+ The commits themselves are applied using git diff/format-patch ... | git apply
+
projects / git.git / blobdiff