1GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1) Git Manual GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1)
2
6 git-update-index - Register file contents in the working tree to the
7 index
8
10 git update-index
11 [--add] [--remove | --force-remove] [--replace]
12 [--refresh] [-q] [--unmerged] [--ignore-missing]
13 [(--cacheinfo <mode>,<object>,<file>)...]
14 [--chmod=(+|-)x]
15 [--[no-]assume-unchanged]
16 [--[no-]skip-worktree]
17 [--[no-]fsmonitor-valid]
18 [--ignore-submodules]
19 [--[no-]split-index]
20 [--[no-|test-|force-]untracked-cache]
21 [--[no-]fsmonitor]
22 [--really-refresh] [--unresolve] [--again | -g]
23 [--info-only] [--index-info]
24 [-z] [--stdin] [--index-version <n>]
25 [--verbose]
26 [--] [<file>...]
27
30 Modifies the index or directory cache. Each file mentioned is updated
31 into the index and any unmerged or needs updating state is cleared.
32 See also git-add(1) for a more user-friendly way to do some of the most
34 common operations on the index.
35 The way git update-index handles files it is told about can be modified
37 using the various options:
38
40 --add
41 If a specified file isn’t in the index already then it’s added.
42 Default behaviour is to ignore new files.
43 --remove
45 If a specified file is in the index but is missing then it’s
46 removed. Default behavior is to ignore removed file.
47 --refresh
49 Looks at the current index and checks to see if merges or updates
50 are needed by checking stat() information.
51 -q
53 Quiet. If --refresh finds that the index needs an update, the
54 default behavior is to error out. This option makes git
55 update-index continue anyway.
56 --ignore-submodules
58 Do not try to update submodules. This option is only respected when
59 passed before --refresh.
60 --unmerged
62 If --refresh finds unmerged changes in the index, the default
63 behavior is to error out. This option makes git update-index
64 continue anyway.
65 --ignore-missing
67 Ignores missing files during a --refresh
68 --cacheinfo <mode>,<object>,<path>, --cacheinfo <mode> <object> <path>
70 Directly insert the specified info into the index. For backward
71 compatibility, you can also give these three arguments as three
72 separate parameters, but new users are encouraged to use a
73 single-parameter form.
74 --index-info
76 Read index information from stdin.
77 --chmod=(+|-)x
79 Set the execute permissions on the updated files.
80 --[no-]assume-unchanged
82 When this flag is specified, the object names recorded for the
83 paths are not updated. Instead, this option sets/unsets the "assume
84 unchanged" bit for the paths. When the "assume unchanged" bit is
85 on, the user promises not to change the file and allows Git to
86 assume that the working tree file matches what is recorded in the
87 index. If you want to change the working tree file, you need to
88 unset the bit to tell Git. This is sometimes helpful when working
89 with a big project on a filesystem that has very slow lstat(2)
90 system call (e.g. cifs).
91 Git will fail (gracefully) in case it needs to modify this file in
93 the index e.g. when merging in a commit; thus, in case the
94 assumed-untracked file is changed upstream, you will need to handle
95 the situation manually.
96 --really-refresh
98 Like --refresh, but checks stat information unconditionally,
99 without regard to the "assume unchanged" setting.
100 --[no-]skip-worktree
102 When one of these flags is specified, the object name recorded for
103 the paths are not updated. Instead, these options set and unset the
104 "skip-worktree" bit for the paths. See section "Skip-worktree bit"
105 below for more information.
106 --[no-]fsmonitor-valid
108 When one of these flags is specified, the object name recorded for
109 the paths are not updated. Instead, these options set and unset the
110 "fsmonitor valid" bit for the paths. See section "File System
111 Monitor" below for more information.
112 -g, --again
114 Runs git update-index itself on the paths whose index entries are
115 different from those from the HEAD commit.
116 --unresolve
118 Restores the unmerged or needs updating state of a file during a
119 merge if it was cleared by accident.
120 --info-only
122 Do not create objects in the object database for all <file>
123 arguments that follow this flag; just insert their object IDs into
124 the index.
125 --force-remove
127 Remove the file from the index even when the working directory
128 still has such a file. (Implies --remove.)
129 --replace
131 By default, when a file path exists in the index, git update-index
132 refuses an attempt to add path/file. Similarly if a file path/file
133 exists, a file path cannot be added. With --replace flag, existing
134 entries that conflict with the entry being added are automatically
135 removed with warning messages.
136 --stdin
138 Instead of taking list of paths from the command line, read list of
139 paths from the standard input. Paths are separated by LF (i.e. one
140 path per line) by default.
141 --verbose
143 Report what is being added and removed from index.
144 --index-version <n>
146 Write the resulting index out in the named on-disk format version.
147 Supported versions are 2, 3 and 4. The current default version is 2
148 or 3, depending on whether extra features are used, such as git add
149 -N.
150 Version 4 performs a simple pathname compression that reduces index
152 size by 30%-50% on large repositories, which results in faster load
153 time. Version 4 is relatively young (first released in 1.8.0 in
154 October 2012). Other Git implementations such as JGit and libgit2
155 may not support it yet.
156 -z
158 Only meaningful with --stdin or --index-info; paths are separated
159 with NUL character instead of LF.
160 --split-index, --no-split-index
162 Enable or disable split index mode. If split-index mode is already
163 enabled and --split-index is given again, all changes in
164 $GIT_DIR/index are pushed back to the shared index file.
165 These options take effect whatever the value of the core.splitIndex
167 configuration variable (see git-config(1)). But a warning is
168 emitted when the change goes against the configured value, as the
169 configured value will take effect next time the index is read and
170 this will remove the intended effect of the option.
171 --untracked-cache, --no-untracked-cache
173 Enable or disable untracked cache feature. Please use
174 --test-untracked-cache before enabling it.
175 These options take effect whatever the value of the
177 core.untrackedCache configuration variable (see git-config(1)). But
178 a warning is emitted when the change goes against the configured
179 value, as the configured value will take effect next time the index
180 is read and this will remove the intended effect of the option.
181 --test-untracked-cache
183 Only perform tests on the working directory to make sure untracked
184 cache can be used. You have to manually enable untracked cache
185 using --untracked-cache or --force-untracked-cache or the
186 core.untrackedCache configuration variable afterwards if you really
187 want to use it. If a test fails the exit code is 1 and a message
188 explains what is not working as needed, otherwise the exit code is
189 0 and OK is printed.
190 --force-untracked-cache
192 Same as --untracked-cache. Provided for backwards compatibility
193 with older versions of Git where --untracked-cache used to imply
194 --test-untracked-cache but this option would enable the extension
195 unconditionally.
196 --fsmonitor, --no-fsmonitor
198 Enable or disable files system monitor feature. These options take
199 effect whatever the value of the core.fsmonitor configuration
200 variable (see git-config(1)). But a warning is emitted when the
201 change goes against the configured value, as the configured value
202 will take effect next time the index is read and this will remove
203 the intended effect of the option.
204 --
206 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
207 <file>
209 Files to act on. Note that files beginning with . are discarded.
210 This includes ./file and dir/./file. If you don’t want this, then
211 use cleaner names. The same applies to directories ending / and
212 paths with //
213
215 --refresh does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the index up to
216 date for mode/content changes. But what it does do is to "re-match" the
217 stat information of a file with the index, so that you can refresh the
218 index for a file that hasn’t been changed but where the stat entry is
219 out of date.
220 For example, you’d want to do this after doing a git read-tree, to link
222 up the stat index details with the proper files.
223
225 --cacheinfo is used to register a file that is not in the current
226 working directory. This is useful for minimum-checkout merging.
227 To pretend you have a file at path with mode and sha1, say:
229 $ git update-index --add --cacheinfo <mode>,<sha1>,<path>
231 --info-only is used to register files without placing them in the
234 object database. This is useful for status-only repositories.
235 Both --cacheinfo and --info-only behave similarly: the index is updated
237 but the object database isn’t. --cacheinfo is useful when the object is
238 in the database but the file isn’t available locally. --info-only is
239 useful when the file is available, but you do not wish to update the
240 object database.
241
243 --index-info is a more powerful mechanism that lets you feed multiple
244 entry definitions from the standard input, and designed specifically
245 for scripts. It can take inputs of three formats:
246 1. mode SP type SP sha1 TAB path
248 This format is to stuff git ls-tree output into the index.
250 2. mode SP sha1 SP stage TAB path
252 This format is to put higher order stages into the index file and
254 matches git ls-files --stage output.
255 3. mode SP sha1 TAB path
257 This format is no longer produced by any Git command, but is and
259 will continue to be supported by update-index --index-info.
260 To place a higher stage entry to the index, the path should first be
262 removed by feeding a mode=0 entry for the path, and then feeding
263 necessary input lines in the third format.
264 For example, starting with this index:
266 $ git ls-files -s
268 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 0 frotz
269 you can feed the following input to --index-info:
272 $ git update-index --index-info
274 0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 frotz
275 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
276 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
277 The first line of the input feeds 0 as the mode to remove the path; the
280 SHA-1 does not matter as long as it is well formatted. Then the second
281 and third line feeds stage 1 and stage 2 entries for that path. After
282 the above, we would end up with this:
283 $ git ls-files -s
285 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
286 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
287
290 Many operations in Git depend on your filesystem to have an efficient
291 lstat(2) implementation, so that st_mtime information for working tree
292 files can be cheaply checked to see if the file contents have changed
293 from the version recorded in the index file. Unfortunately, some
294 filesystems have inefficient lstat(2). If your filesystem is one of
295 them, you can set "assume unchanged" bit to paths you have not changed
296 to cause Git not to do this check. Note that setting this bit on a path
297 does not mean Git will check the contents of the file to see if it has
298 changed — it makes Git to omit any checking and assume it has not
299 changed. When you make changes to working tree files, you have to
300 explicitly tell Git about it by dropping "assume unchanged" bit, either
301 before or after you modify them.
302 In order to set "assume unchanged" bit, use --assume-unchanged option.
304 To unset, use --no-assume-unchanged. To see which files have the
305 "assume unchanged" bit set, use git ls-files -v (see git-ls-files(1)).
306 The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable. When this
308 is true, paths updated with git update-index paths... and paths updated
309 with other Git commands that update both index and working tree (e.g.
310 git apply --index, git checkout-index -u, and git read-tree -u) are
311 automatically marked as "assume unchanged". Note that "assume
312 unchanged" bit is not set if git update-index --refresh finds the
313 working tree file matches the index (use git update-index
314 --really-refresh if you want to mark them as "assume unchanged").
315
317 To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
318 $ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
320 On an inefficient filesystem with core.ignorestat set
324 $ git update-index --really-refresh [1m(1)
326 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c [1m(2)
327 $ git diff --name-only [1m(3)
328 $ edit foo.c
329 $ git diff --name-only [1m(4)
330 M foo.c
331 $ git update-index foo.c [1m(5)
332 $ git diff --name-only [1m(6)
333 $ edit foo.c
334 $ git diff --name-only [1m(7)
335 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c [1m(8)
336 $ git diff --name-only [1m(9)
337 M foo.c
338 1. forces lstat(2) to set "assume unchanged" bits for paths that
340 match index.
341 2. mark the path to be edited.
342 3. this does lstat(2) and finds index matches the path.
343 4. this does lstat(2) and finds index does not match the path.
344 5. registering the new version to index sets "assume unchanged"
345 bit.
346 6. and it is assumed unchanged.
347 7. even after you edit it.
348 8. you can tell about the change after the fact.
349 9. now it checks with lstat(2) and finds it has been changed.
350
352 Skip-worktree bit can be defined in one (long) sentence: When reading
353 an entry, if it is marked as skip-worktree, then Git pretends its
354 working directory version is up to date and read the index version
355 instead.
356 To elaborate, "reading" means checking for file existence, reading file
358 attributes or file content. The working directory version may be
359 present or absent. If present, its content may match against the index
360 version or not. Writing is not affected by this bit, content safety is
361 still first priority. Note that Git can update working directory file,
362 that is marked skip-worktree, if it is safe to do so (i.e. working
363 directory version matches index version)
364 Although this bit looks similar to assume-unchanged bit, its goal is
366 different from assume-unchanged bit’s. Skip-worktree also takes
367 precedence over assume-unchanged bit when both are set.
368
370 This mode is designed for repositories with very large indexes, and
371 aims at reducing the time it takes to repeatedly write these indexes.
372 In this mode, the index is split into two files, $GIT_DIR/index and
374 $GIT_DIR/sharedindex.<SHA-1>. Changes are accumulated in
375 $GIT_DIR/index, the split index, while the shared index file contains
376 all index entries and stays unchanged.
377 All changes in the split index are pushed back to the shared index file
379 when the number of entries in the split index reaches a level specified
380 by the splitIndex.maxPercentChange config variable (see git-config(1)).
381 Each time a new shared index file is created, the old shared index
383 files are deleted if their modification time is older than what is
384 specified by the splitIndex.sharedIndexExpire config variable (see git-
385 config(1)).
386 To avoid deleting a shared index file that is still used, its
388 modification time is updated to the current time everytime a new split
389 index based on the shared index file is either created or read from.
390
392 This cache is meant to speed up commands that involve determining
393 untracked files such as git status.
394 This feature works by recording the mtime of the working tree
396 directories and then omitting reading directories and stat calls
397 against files in those directories whose mtime hasn’t changed. For this
398 to work the underlying operating system and file system must change the
399 st_mtime field of directories if files in the directory are added,
400 modified or deleted.
401 You can test whether the filesystem supports that with the
403 --test-untracked-cache option. The --untracked-cache option used to
404 implicitly perform that test in older versions of Git, but that’s no
405 longer the case.
406 If you want to enable (or disable) this feature, it is easier to use
408 the core.untrackedCache configuration variable (see git-config(1)) than
409 using the --untracked-cache option to git update-index in each
410 repository, especially if you want to do so across all repositories you
411 use, because you can set the configuration variable to true (or false)
412 in your $HOME/.gitconfig just once and have it affect all repositories
413 you touch.
414 When the core.untrackedCache configuration variable is changed, the
416 untracked cache is added to or removed from the index the next time a
417 command reads the index; while when --[no-|force-]untracked-cache are
418 used, the untracked cache is immediately added to or removed from the
419 index.
420 Before 2.17, the untracked cache had a bug where replacing a directory
422 with a symlink to another directory could cause it to incorrectly show
423 files tracked by git as untracked. See the "status: add a failing test
424 showing a core.untrackedCache bug" commit to git.git. A workaround for
425 that is (and this might work for other undiscovered bugs in the
426 future):
427 $ git -c core.untrackedCache=false status
429 This bug has also been shown to affect non-symlink cases of replacing a
432 directory with a file when it comes to the internal structures of the
433 untracked cache, but no case has been reported where this resulted in
434 wrong "git status" output.
435 There are also cases where existing indexes written by git versions
437 before 2.17 will reference directories that don’t exist anymore,
438 potentially causing many "could not open directory" warnings to be
439 printed on "git status". These are new warnings for existing issues
440 that were previously silently discarded.
441 As with the bug described above the solution is to one-off do a "git
443 status" run with core.untrackedCache=false to flush out the leftover
444 bad data.
445
447 This feature is intended to speed up git operations for repos that have
448 large working directories.
449 It enables git to work together with a file system monitor (see the
451 "fsmonitor-watchman" section of githooks(5)) that can inform it as to
452 what files have been modified. This enables git to avoid having to
453 lstat() every file to find modified files.
454 When used in conjunction with the untracked cache, it can further
456 improve performance by avoiding the cost of scanning the entire working
457 directory looking for new files.
458 If you want to enable (or disable) this feature, it is easier to use
460 the core.fsmonitor configuration variable (see git-config(1)) than
461 using the --fsmonitor option to git update-index in each repository,
462 especially if you want to do so across all repositories you use,
463 because you can set the configuration variable in your $HOME/.gitconfig
464 just once and have it affect all repositories you touch.
465 When the core.fsmonitor configuration variable is changed, the file
467 system monitor is added to or removed from the index the next time a
468 command reads the index. When --[no-]fsmonitor are used, the file
469 system monitor is immediately added to or removed from the index.
470
472 The command honors core.filemode configuration variable. If your
473 repository is on a filesystem whose executable bits are unreliable,
474 this should be set to false (see git-config(1)). This causes the
475 command to ignore differences in file modes recorded in the index and
476 the file mode on the filesystem if they differ only on executable bit.
477 On such an unfortunate filesystem, you may need to use git update-index
478 --chmod=.
479 Quite similarly, if core.symlinks configuration variable is set to
481 false (see git-config(1)), symbolic links are checked out as plain
482 files, and this command does not modify a recorded file mode from
483 symbolic link to regular file.
484 The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable. See Using
486 "assume unchanged" bit section above.
487 The command also looks at core.trustctime configuration variable. It
489 can be useful when the inode change time is regularly modified by
490 something outside Git (file system crawlers and backup systems use
491 ctime for marking files processed) (see git-config(1)).
492 The untracked cache extension can be enabled by the core.untrackedCache
494 configuration variable (see git-config(1)).
495
497 git-config(1), git-add(1), git-ls-files(1)
498
500 Part of the git(1) suite
501Git 2.24.1 12/10/2019 GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1)