git-describe.txt - external/gitster/git-htmldocs - Git at Google

 git-describe(1)
 ===============

 NAME
 ----
 git-describe - Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit


 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git describe' [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=<n>] <committish>...
 'git describe' [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=<n>] --dirty[=<mark>]

 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
 commit. If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
 shown. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
 additional commits on top of the tagged object and the
 abbreviated object name of the most recent commit.

 By default (without --all or --tags) `git describe` only shows
 annotated tags. For more information about creating annotated tags
 see the -a and -s options to linkgit:git-tag[1].

 OPTIONS
 -------
 <committish>...::
 Committish object names to describe.

 --dirty[=<mark>]::
 Describe the working tree.
 It means describe HEAD and appends <mark> (`-dirty` by
 default) if the working tree is dirty.

 --all::
 Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref
 found in `refs/` namespace. This option enables matching
 any known branch, remote-tracking branch, or lightweight tag.

 --tags::
 Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag
 found in `refs/tags` namespace. This option enables matching
 a lightweight (non-annotated) tag.

 --contains::
 Instead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find
 the tag that comes after the commit, and thus contains it.
 Automatically implies --tags.

 --abbrev=<n>::
 Instead of using the default 7 hexadecimal digits as the
 abbreviated object name, use <n> digits, or as many digits
 as needed to form a unique object name. An <n> of 0
 will suppress long format, only showing the closest tag.

 --candidates=<n>::
 Instead of considering only the 10 most recent tags as
 candidates to describe the input committish consider
 up to <n> candidates. Increasing <n> above 10 will take
 slightly longer but may produce a more accurate result.
 An <n> of 0 will cause only exact matches to be output.

 --exact-match::
 Only output exact matches (a tag directly references the
 supplied commit). This is a synonym for --candidates=0.

 --debug::
 Verbosely display information about the searching strategy
 being employed to standard error. The tag name will still
 be printed to standard out.

 --long::
 Always output the long format (the tag, the number of commits
 and the abbreviated commit name) even when it matches a tag.
 This is useful when you want to see parts of the commit object name
 in "describe" output, even when the commit in question happens to be
 a tagged version. Instead of just emitting the tag name, it will
 describe such a commit as v1.2-0-gdeadbee (0th commit since tag v1.2
 that points at object deadbee....).

 --match <pattern>::
 Only consider tags matching the given pattern (can be used to avoid
 leaking private tags made from the repository).

 --always::
 Show uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback.

 EXAMPLES
 --------

 With something like git.git current tree, I get:

 [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent
 v1.0.4-14-g2414721

 i.e. the current head of my "parent" branch is based on v1.0.4,
 but since it has a few commits on top of that,
 describe has added the number of additional commits ("14") and
 an abbreviated object name for the commit itself ("2414721")
 at the end.

 The number of additional commits is the number
 of commits which would be displayed by "git log v1.0.4..parent".
 The hash suffix is "-g" + 7-char abbreviation for the tip commit
 of parent (which was `2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6`).
 The "g" prefix stands for "git" and is used to allow describing the version of
 a software depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful
 in an environment where people may use different SCMs.

 Doing a 'git describe' on a tag-name will just show the tag name:

 [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4
 v1.0.4

 With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so
 the output shows the reference path as well:

 [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2
 tags/v1.0.0-21-g975b

 [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 HEAD^
 heads/lt/describe-7-g975b

 With --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the
 closest tagname without any suffix:

 [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2
 tags/v1.0.0

 Note that the suffix you get if you type these commands today may be
 longer than what Linus saw above when he ran these commands, as your
 git repository may have new commits whose object names begin with
 975b that did not exist back then, and "-g975b" suffix alone may not
 be sufficient to disambiguate these commits.


 SEARCH STRATEGY
 ---------------

 For each committish supplied, 'git describe' will first look for
 a tag which tags exactly that commit. Annotated tags will always
 be preferred over lightweight tags, and tags with newer dates will
 always be preferred over tags with older dates. If an exact match
 is found, its name will be output and searching will stop.

 If an exact match was not found, 'git describe' will walk back
 through the commit history to locate an ancestor commit which
 has been tagged. The ancestor's tag will be output along with an
 abbreviation of the input committish's SHA1.

 If multiple tags were found during the walk then the tag which
 has the fewest commits different from the input committish will be
 selected and output. Here fewest commits different is defined as
 the number of commits which would be shown by `git log tag..input`
 will be the smallest number of commits possible.

 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
	git-describe(1)
	===============

	NAME
	----
	git-describe - Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit


	SYNOPSIS
	--------
	[verse]
	'git describe' [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=<n>] <committish>...
	'git describe' [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=<n>] --dirty[=<mark>]

	DESCRIPTION
	-----------
	The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
	commit. If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
	shown. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
	additional commits on top of the tagged object and the
	abbreviated object name of the most recent commit.

	By default (without --all or --tags) `git describe` only shows
	annotated tags. For more information about creating annotated tags
	see the -a and -s options to linkgit:git-tag[1].

	OPTIONS
	-------
	<committish>...::
	Committish object names to describe.

	--dirty[=<mark>]::
	Describe the working tree.
	It means describe HEAD and appends <mark> (`-dirty` by
	default) if the working tree is dirty.

	--all::
	Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref
	found in `refs/` namespace. This option enables matching
	any known branch, remote-tracking branch, or lightweight tag.

	--tags::
	Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag
	found in `refs/tags` namespace. This option enables matching
	a lightweight (non-annotated) tag.

	--contains::
	Instead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find
	the tag that comes after the commit, and thus contains it.
	Automatically implies --tags.

	--abbrev=<n>::
	Instead of using the default 7 hexadecimal digits as the
	abbreviated object name, use <n> digits, or as many digits
	as needed to form a unique object name. An <n> of 0
	will suppress long format, only showing the closest tag.

	--candidates=<n>::
	Instead of considering only the 10 most recent tags as
	candidates to describe the input committish consider
	up to <n> candidates. Increasing <n> above 10 will take
	slightly longer but may produce a more accurate result.
	An <n> of 0 will cause only exact matches to be output.

	--exact-match::
	Only output exact matches (a tag directly references the
	supplied commit). This is a synonym for --candidates=0.

	--debug::
	Verbosely display information about the searching strategy
	being employed to standard error. The tag name will still
	be printed to standard out.

	--long::
	Always output the long format (the tag, the number of commits
	and the abbreviated commit name) even when it matches a tag.
	This is useful when you want to see parts of the commit object name
	in "describe" output, even when the commit in question happens to be
	a tagged version. Instead of just emitting the tag name, it will
	describe such a commit as v1.2-0-gdeadbee (0th commit since tag v1.2
	that points at object deadbee....).

	--match <pattern>::
	Only consider tags matching the given pattern (can be used to avoid
	leaking private tags made from the repository).

	--always::
	Show uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback.

	EXAMPLES
	--------

	With something like git.git current tree, I get:

	[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent
	v1.0.4-14-g2414721

	i.e. the current head of my "parent" branch is based on v1.0.4,
	but since it has a few commits on top of that,
	describe has added the number of additional commits ("14") and
	an abbreviated object name for the commit itself ("2414721")
	at the end.

	The number of additional commits is the number
	of commits which would be displayed by "git log v1.0.4..parent".
	The hash suffix is "-g" + 7-char abbreviation for the tip commit
	of parent (which was `2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6`).
	The "g" prefix stands for "git" and is used to allow describing the version of
	a software depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful
	in an environment where people may use different SCMs.

	Doing a 'git describe' on a tag-name will just show the tag name:

	[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4
	v1.0.4

	With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so
	the output shows the reference path as well:

	[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2
	tags/v1.0.0-21-g975b

	[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 HEAD^
	heads/lt/describe-7-g975b

	With --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the
	closest tagname without any suffix:

	[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2
	tags/v1.0.0

	Note that the suffix you get if you type these commands today may be
	longer than what Linus saw above when he ran these commands, as your
	git repository may have new commits whose object names begin with
	975b that did not exist back then, and "-g975b" suffix alone may not
	be sufficient to disambiguate these commits.


	SEARCH STRATEGY
	---------------

	For each committish supplied, 'git describe' will first look for
	a tag which tags exactly that commit. Annotated tags will always
	be preferred over lightweight tags, and tags with newer dates will
	always be preferred over tags with older dates. If an exact match
	is found, its name will be output and searching will stop.

	If an exact match was not found, 'git describe' will walk back
	through the commit history to locate an ancestor commit which
	has been tagged. The ancestor's tag will be output along with an
	abbreviation of the input committish's SHA1.

	If multiple tags were found during the walk then the tag which
	has the fewest commits different from the input committish will be
	selected and output. Here fewest commits different is defined as
	the number of commits which would be shown by `git log tag..input`
	will be the smallest number of commits possible.

	GIT
	---
	Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite