glossary: fix and clarify the definition of 'ref'
Signed-off-by: Richard Hansen <rhansen@bbn.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Richard Hansen committed
Sep 4, 2013 at 15:04 UTC
4b6acde54364d9350779eb470a1677aa78ed5bf4
1 file changed
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Documentation/glossary-content.txt
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@@ -395,10 +395,20 @@ should not be combined with other pathspec.
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to the result.
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[[def_ref]]ref::
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- A 40-byte hex representation of a <<def_SHA1,SHA-1>> or a name that
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- denotes a particular <<def_object,object>>. They may be stored in
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- a file under `$GIT_DIR/refs/` directory, or
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- in the `$GIT_DIR/packed-refs` file.
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+ A name that begins with `refs/` (e.g. `refs/heads/master`)
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+ that points to an <<def_object_name,object name>> or another
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+ ref (the latter is called a <<def_symref,symbolic ref>>).
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+ For convenience, a ref can sometimes be abbreviated when used
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+ as an argument to a Git command; see linkgit:gitrevisions[7]
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+ for details.
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+ Refs are stored in the <<def_repository,repository>>.
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++
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+The ref namespace is hierarchical.
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+Different subhierarchies are used for different purposes (e.g. the
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+`refs/heads/` hierarchy is used to represent local branches).
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++
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+There are a few special-purpose refs that do not begin with `refs/`.
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+The most notable example is `HEAD`.
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[[def_reflog]]reflog::
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A reflog shows the local "history" of a ref. In other words,