Provided by: git-man_2.43.0-1ubuntu7.1_all 
NAME
gitprotocol-pack - How packs are transferred over-the-wire
SYNOPSIS
<over-the-wire-protocol>
DESCRIPTION
Git supports transferring data in packfiles over the ssh://, git://, http:// and file://
transports. There exist two sets of protocols, one for pushing data from a client to a
server and another for fetching data from a server to a client. The three transports (ssh,
git, file) use the same protocol to transfer data. http is documented in gitprotocol-
http(5).
The processes invoked in the canonical Git implementation are upload-pack on the server
side and fetch-pack on the client side for fetching data; then receive-pack on the server
and send-pack on the client for pushing data. The protocol functions to have a server tell
a client what is currently on the server, then for the two to negotiate the smallest
amount of data to send in order to fully update one or the other.
PKT-LINE FORMAT
The descriptions below build on the pkt-line format described in gitprotocol-common(5).
When the grammar indicates PKT-LINE(...), unless otherwise noted the usual pkt-line LF
rules apply: the sender SHOULD include a LF, but the receiver MUST NOT complain if it is
not present.
An error packet is a special pkt-line that contains an error string.
error-line = PKT-LINE("ERR" SP explanation-text)
Throughout the protocol, where PKT-LINE(...) is expected, an error packet MAY be sent.
Once this packet is sent by a client or a server, the data transfer process defined in
this protocol is terminated.
TRANSPORTS
There are three transports over which the packfile protocol is initiated. The Git
transport is a simple, unauthenticated server that takes the command (almost always
upload-pack, though Git servers can be configured to be globally writable, in which
receive- pack initiation is also allowed) with which the client wishes to communicate and
executes it and connects it to the requesting process.
In the SSH transport, the client just runs the upload-pack or receive-pack process on the
server over the SSH protocol and then communicates with that invoked process over the SSH
connection.
The file:// transport runs the upload-pack or receive-pack process locally and
communicates with it over a pipe.
EXTRA PARAMETERS
The protocol provides a mechanism in which clients can send additional information in its
first message to the server. These are called "Extra Parameters", and are supported by the
Git, SSH, and HTTP protocols.
Each Extra Parameter takes the form of <key>=<value> or <key>.
Servers that receive any such Extra Parameters MUST ignore all unrecognized keys.
Currently, the only Extra Parameter recognized is "version" with a value of 1 or 2. See
gitprotocol-v2(5) for more information on protocol version 2.
GIT TRANSPORT
The Git transport starts off by sending the command and repository on the wire using the
pkt-line format, followed by a NUL byte and a hostname parameter, terminated by a NUL
byte.
0033git-upload-pack /project.git\0host=myserver.com\0
The transport may send Extra Parameters by adding an additional NUL byte, and then adding
one or more NUL-terminated strings:
003egit-upload-pack /project.git\0host=myserver.com\0\0version=1\0
git-proto-request = request-command SP pathname NUL
[ host-parameter NUL ] [ NUL extra-parameters ]
request-command = "git-upload-pack" / "git-receive-pack" /
"git-upload-archive" ; case sensitive
pathname = *( %x01-ff ) ; exclude NUL
host-parameter = "host=" hostname [ ":" port ]
extra-parameters = 1*extra-parameter
extra-parameter = 1*( %x01-ff ) NUL
host-parameter is used for the git-daemon name based virtual hosting. See
--interpolated-path option to git daemon, with the %H/%CH format characters.
Basically what the Git client is doing to connect to an upload-pack process on the server
side over the Git protocol is this:
$ echo -e -n \
"003agit-upload-pack /schacon/gitbook.git\0host=example.com\0" |
nc -v example.com 9418
SSH TRANSPORT
Initiating the upload-pack or receive-pack processes over SSH is executing the binary on
the server via SSH remote execution. It is basically equivalent to running this:
$ ssh git.example.com "git-upload-pack '/project.git'"
For a server to support Git pushing and pulling for a given user over SSH, that user needs
to be able to execute one or both of those commands via the SSH shell that they are
provided on login. On some systems, that shell access is limited to only being able to run
those two commands, or even just one of them.
In an ssh:// format URI, it’s absolute in the URI, so the / after the host name (or port
number) is sent as an argument, which is then read by the remote git-upload-pack exactly
as is, so it’s effectively an absolute path in the remote filesystem.
git clone ssh://user@example.com/project.git
|
v
ssh user@example.com "git-upload-pack '/project.git'"
In a "user@host:path" format URI, it’s relative to the user’s home directory, because the
Git client will run:
git clone user@example.com:project.git
|
v
ssh user@example.com "git-upload-pack 'project.git'"
The exception is if a ~ is used, in which case we execute it without the leading /.
ssh://user@example.com/~alice/project.git,
|
v
ssh user@example.com "git-upload-pack '~alice/project.git'"
Depending on the value of the protocol.version configuration variable, Git may attempt to
send Extra Parameters as a colon-separated string in the GIT_PROTOCOL environment
variable. This is done only if the ssh.variant configuration variable indicates that the
ssh command supports passing environment variables as an argument.
A few things to remember here:
• The "command name" is spelled with dash (e.g. git-upload-pack), but this can be
overridden by the client;
• The repository path is always quoted with single quotes.
FETCHING DATA FROM A SERVER
When one Git repository wants to get data that a second repository has, the first can
fetch from the second. This operation determines what data the server has that the client
does not then streams that data down to the client in packfile format.
REFERENCE DISCOVERY
When the client initially connects the server will immediately respond with a version
number (if "version=1" is sent as an Extra Parameter), and a listing of each reference it
has (all branches and tags) along with the object name that each reference currently
points to.
$ echo -e -n "0045git-upload-pack /schacon/gitbook.git\0host=example.com\0\0version=1\0" |
nc -v example.com 9418
000eversion 1
00887217a7c7e582c46cec22a130adf4b9d7d950fba0 HEAD\0multi_ack thin-pack
side-band side-band-64k ofs-delta shallow no-progress include-tag
00441d3fcd5ced445d1abc402225c0b8a1299641f497 refs/heads/integration
003f7217a7c7e582c46cec22a130adf4b9d7d950fba0 refs/heads/master
003cb88d2441cac0977faf98efc80305012112238d9d refs/tags/v0.9
003c525128480b96c89e6418b1e40909bf6c5b2d580f refs/tags/v1.0
003fe92df48743b7bc7d26bcaabfddde0a1e20cae47c refs/tags/v1.0^{}
0000
The returned response is a pkt-line stream describing each ref and its current value. The
stream MUST be sorted by name according to the C locale ordering.
If HEAD is a valid ref, HEAD MUST appear as the first advertised ref. If HEAD is not a
valid ref, HEAD MUST NOT appear in the advertisement list at all, but other refs may still
appear.
The stream MUST include capability declarations behind a NUL on the first ref. The peeled
value of a ref (that is "ref^{}") MUST be immediately after the ref itself, if presented.
A conforming server MUST peel the ref if it’s an annotated tag.
advertised-refs = *1("version 1")
(no-refs / list-of-refs)
*shallow
flush-pkt
no-refs = PKT-LINE(zero-id SP "capabilities^{}"
NUL capability-list)
list-of-refs = first-ref *other-ref
first-ref = PKT-LINE(obj-id SP refname
NUL capability-list)
other-ref = PKT-LINE(other-tip / other-peeled)
other-tip = obj-id SP refname
other-peeled = obj-id SP refname "^{}"
shallow = PKT-LINE("shallow" SP obj-id)
capability-list = capability *(SP capability)
capability = 1*(LC_ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "_")
LC_ALPHA = %x61-7A
Server and client MUST use lowercase for obj-id, both MUST treat obj-id as
case-insensitive.
See protocol-capabilities.txt for a list of allowed server capabilities and descriptions.
PACKFILE NEGOTIATION
After reference and capabilities discovery, the client can decide to terminate the
connection by sending a flush-pkt, telling the server it can now gracefully terminate, and
disconnect, when it does not need any pack data. This can happen with the ls-remote
command, and also can happen when the client already is up to date.
Otherwise, it enters the negotiation phase, where the client and server determine what the
minimal packfile necessary for transport is, by telling the server what objects it wants,
its shallow objects (if any), and the maximum commit depth it wants (if any). The client
will also send a list of the capabilities it wants to be in effect, out of what the server
said it could do with the first want line.
upload-request = want-list
*shallow-line
*1depth-request
[filter-request]
flush-pkt
want-list = first-want
*additional-want
shallow-line = PKT-LINE("shallow" SP obj-id)
depth-request = PKT-LINE("deepen" SP depth) /
PKT-LINE("deepen-since" SP timestamp) /
PKT-LINE("deepen-not" SP ref)
first-want = PKT-LINE("want" SP obj-id SP capability-list)
additional-want = PKT-LINE("want" SP obj-id)
depth = 1*DIGIT
filter-request = PKT-LINE("filter" SP filter-spec)
Clients MUST send all the obj-ids it wants from the reference discovery phase as want
lines. Clients MUST send at least one want command in the request body. Clients MUST NOT
mention an obj-id in a want command which did not appear in the response obtained through
ref discovery.
The client MUST write all obj-ids which it only has shallow copies of (meaning that it
does not have the parents of a commit) as shallow lines so that the server is aware of the
limitations of the client’s history.
The client now sends the maximum commit history depth it wants for this transaction, which
is the number of commits it wants from the tip of the history, if any, as a deepen line. A
depth of 0 is the same as not making a depth request. The client does not want to receive
any commits beyond this depth, nor does it want objects needed only to complete those
commits. Commits whose parents are not received as a result are defined as shallow and
marked as such in the server. This information is sent back to the client in the next
step.
The client can optionally request that pack-objects omit various objects from the packfile
using one of several filtering techniques. These are intended for use with partial clone
and partial fetch operations. An object that does not meet a filter-spec value is omitted
unless explicitly requested in a want line. See rev-list for possible filter-spec values.
Once all the want’s and 'shallow’s (and optional 'deepen) are transferred, clients MUST
send a flush-pkt, to tell the server side that it is done sending the list.
Otherwise, if the client sent a positive depth request, the server will determine which
commits will and will not be shallow and send this information to the client. If the
client did not request a positive depth, this step is skipped.
shallow-update = *shallow-line
*unshallow-line
flush-pkt
shallow-line = PKT-LINE("shallow" SP obj-id)
unshallow-line = PKT-LINE("unshallow" SP obj-id)
If the client has requested a positive depth, the server will compute the set of commits
which are no deeper than the desired depth. The set of commits starts at the client’s
wants.
The server writes shallow lines for each commit whose parents will not be sent as a
result. The server writes an unshallow line for each commit which the client has indicated
is shallow, but is no longer shallow at the currently requested depth (that is, its
parents will now be sent). The server MUST NOT mark as unshallow anything which the client
has not indicated was shallow.
Now the client will send a list of the obj-ids it has using have lines, so the server can
make a packfile that only contains the objects that the client needs. In multi_ack mode,
the canonical implementation will send up to 32 of these at a time, then will send a
flush-pkt. The canonical implementation will skip ahead and send the next 32 immediately,
so that there is always a block of 32 "in-flight on the wire" at a time.
upload-haves = have-list
compute-end
have-list = *have-line
have-line = PKT-LINE("have" SP obj-id)
compute-end = flush-pkt / PKT-LINE("done")
If the server reads have lines, it then will respond by ACKing any of the obj-ids the
client said it had that the server also has. The server will ACK obj-ids differently
depending on which ack mode is chosen by the client.
In multi_ack mode:
• the server will respond with ACK obj-id continue for any common commits.
• once the server has found an acceptable common base commit and is ready to make a
packfile, it will blindly ACK all have obj-ids back to the client.
• the server will then send a NAK and then wait for another response from the client -
either a done or another list of have lines.
In multi_ack_detailed mode:
• the server will differentiate the ACKs where it is signaling that it is ready to send
data with ACK obj-id ready lines, and signals the identified common commits with ACK
obj-id common lines.
Without either multi_ack or multi_ack_detailed:
• upload-pack sends "ACK obj-id" on the first common object it finds. After that it says
nothing until the client gives it a "done".
• upload-pack sends "NAK" on a flush-pkt if no common object has been found yet. If one
has been found, and thus an ACK was already sent, it’s silent on the flush-pkt.
After the client has gotten enough ACK responses that it can determine that the server has
enough information to send an efficient packfile (in the canonical implementation, this is
determined when it has received enough ACKs that it can color everything left in the
--date-order queue as common with the server, or the --date-order queue is empty), or the
client determines that it wants to give up (in the canonical implementation, this is
determined when the client sends 256 have lines without getting any of them ACKed by the
server - meaning there is nothing in common and the server should just send all of its
objects), then the client will send a done command. The done command signals to the server
that the client is ready to receive its packfile data.
However, the 256 limit only turns on in the canonical client implementation if we have
received at least one "ACK %s continue" during a prior round. This helps to ensure that at
least one common ancestor is found before we give up entirely.
Once the done line is read from the client, the server will either send a final ACK obj-id
or it will send a NAK. obj-id is the object name of the last commit determined to be
common. The server only sends ACK after done if there is at least one common base and
multi_ack or multi_ack_detailed is enabled. The server always sends NAK after done if
there is no common base found.
Instead of ACK or NAK, the server may send an error message (for example, if it does not
recognize an object in a want line received from the client).
Then the server will start sending its packfile data.
server-response = *ack_multi ack / nak
ack_multi = PKT-LINE("ACK" SP obj-id ack_status)
ack_status = "continue" / "common" / "ready"
ack = PKT-LINE("ACK" SP obj-id)
nak = PKT-LINE("NAK")
A simple clone may look like this (with no have lines):
C: 0054want 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d multi_ack \
side-band-64k ofs-delta\n
C: 0032want 7d1665144a3a975c05f1f43902ddaf084e784dbe\n
C: 0032want 5a3f6be755bbb7deae50065988cbfa1ffa9ab68a\n
C: 0032want 7e47fe2bd8d01d481f44d7af0531bd93d3b21c01\n
C: 0032want 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d\n
C: 0000
C: 0009done\n
S: 0008NAK\n
S: [PACKFILE]
An incremental update (fetch) response might look like this:
C: 0054want 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d multi_ack \
side-band-64k ofs-delta\n
C: 0032want 7d1665144a3a975c05f1f43902ddaf084e784dbe\n
C: 0032want 5a3f6be755bbb7deae50065988cbfa1ffa9ab68a\n
C: 0000
C: 0032have 7e47fe2bd8d01d481f44d7af0531bd93d3b21c01\n
C: [30 more have lines]
C: 0032have 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d\n
C: 0000
S: 003aACK 7e47fe2bd8d01d481f44d7af0531bd93d3b21c01 continue\n
S: 003aACK 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d continue\n
S: 0008NAK\n
C: 0009done\n
S: 0031ACK 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d\n
S: [PACKFILE]
PACKFILE DATA
Now that the client and server have finished negotiation about what the minimal amount of
data that needs to be sent to the client is, the server will construct and send the
required data in packfile format.
See gitformat-pack(5) for what the packfile itself actually looks like.
If side-band or side-band-64k capabilities have been specified by the client, the server
will send the packfile data multiplexed.
Each packet starting with the packet-line length of the amount of data that follows,
followed by a single byte specifying the sideband the following data is coming in on.
In side-band mode, it will send up to 999 data bytes plus 1 control code, for a total of
up to 1000 bytes in a pkt-line. In side-band-64k mode it will send up to 65519 data bytes
plus 1 control code, for a total of up to 65520 bytes in a pkt-line.
The sideband byte will be a 1, 2 or a 3. Sideband 1 will contain packfile data, sideband 2
will be used for progress information that the client will generally print to stderr and
sideband 3 is used for error information.
If no side-band capability was specified, the server will stream the entire packfile
without multiplexing.
PUSHING DATA TO A SERVER
Pushing data to a server will invoke the receive-pack process on the server, which will
allow the client to tell it which references it should update and then send all the data
the server will need for those new references to be complete. Once all the data is
received and validated, the server will then update its references to what the client
specified.
AUTHENTICATION
The protocol itself contains no authentication mechanisms. That is to be handled by the
transport, such as SSH, before the receive-pack process is invoked. If receive-pack is
configured over the Git transport, those repositories will be writable by anyone who can
access that port (9418) as that transport is unauthenticated.
REFERENCE DISCOVERY
The reference discovery phase is done nearly the same way as it is in the fetching
protocol. Each reference obj-id and name on the server is sent in packet-line format to
the client, followed by a flush-pkt. The only real difference is that the capability
listing is different - the only possible values are report-status, report-status-v2,
delete-refs, ofs-delta, atomic and push-options.
REFERENCE UPDATE REQUEST AND PACKFILE TRANSFER
Once the client knows what references the server is at, it can send a list of reference
update requests. For each reference on the server that it wants to update, it sends a line
listing the obj-id currently on the server, the obj-id the client would like to update it
to and the name of the reference.
This list is followed by a flush-pkt.
update-requests = *shallow ( command-list | push-cert )
shallow = PKT-LINE("shallow" SP obj-id)
command-list = PKT-LINE(command NUL capability-list)
*PKT-LINE(command)
flush-pkt
command = create / delete / update
create = zero-id SP new-id SP name
delete = old-id SP zero-id SP name
update = old-id SP new-id SP name
old-id = obj-id
new-id = obj-id
push-cert = PKT-LINE("push-cert" NUL capability-list LF)
PKT-LINE("certificate version 0.1" LF)
PKT-LINE("pusher" SP ident LF)
PKT-LINE("pushee" SP url LF)
PKT-LINE("nonce" SP nonce LF)
*PKT-LINE("push-option" SP push-option LF)
PKT-LINE(LF)
*PKT-LINE(command LF)
*PKT-LINE(gpg-signature-lines LF)
PKT-LINE("push-cert-end" LF)
push-option = 1*( VCHAR | SP )
If the server has advertised the push-options capability and the client has specified
push-options as part of the capability list above, the client then sends its push options
followed by a flush-pkt.
push-options = *PKT-LINE(push-option) flush-pkt
For backwards compatibility with older Git servers, if the client sends a push cert and
push options, it MUST send its push options both embedded within the push cert and after
the push cert. (Note that the push options within the cert are prefixed, but the push
options after the cert are not.) Both these lists MUST be the same, modulo the prefix.
After that the packfile that should contain all the objects that the server will need to
complete the new references will be sent.
packfile = "PACK" 28*(OCTET)
If the receiving end does not support delete-refs, the sending end MUST NOT ask for delete
command.
If the receiving end does not support push-cert, the sending end MUST NOT send a push-cert
command. When a push-cert command is sent, command-list MUST NOT be sent; the commands
recorded in the push certificate is used instead.
The packfile MUST NOT be sent if the only command used is delete.
A packfile MUST be sent if either create or update command is used, even if the server
already has all the necessary objects. In this case the client MUST send an empty
packfile. The only time this is likely to happen is if the client is creating a new branch
or a tag that points to an existing obj-id.
The server will receive the packfile, unpack it, then validate each reference that is
being updated that it hasn’t changed while the request was being processed (the obj-id is
still the same as the old-id), and it will run any update hooks to make sure that the
update is acceptable. If all of that is fine, the server will then update the references.
PUSH CERTIFICATE
A push certificate begins with a set of header lines. After the header and an empty line,
the protocol commands follow, one per line. Note that the trailing LF in push-cert
PKT-LINEs is not optional; it must be present.
Currently, the following header fields are defined:
pusher ident
Identify the GPG key in "Human Readable Name <email@address[1]>" format.
pushee url
The repository URL (anonymized, if the URL contains authentication material) the user
who ran git push intended to push into.
nonce nonce
The nonce string the receiving repository asked the pushing user to include in the
certificate, to prevent replay attacks.
The GPG signature lines are a detached signature for the contents recorded in the push
certificate before the signature block begins. The detached signature is used to certify
that the commands were given by the pusher, who must be the signer.
REPORT STATUS
After receiving the pack data from the sender, the receiver sends a report if
report-status or report-status-v2 capability is in effect. It is a short listing of what
happened in that update. It will first list the status of the packfile unpacking as either
unpack ok or unpack [error]. Then it will list the status for each of the references that
it tried to update. Each line is either ok [refname] if the update was successful, or ng
[refname] [error] if the update was not.
report-status = unpack-status
1*(command-status)
flush-pkt
unpack-status = PKT-LINE("unpack" SP unpack-result)
unpack-result = "ok" / error-msg
command-status = command-ok / command-fail
command-ok = PKT-LINE("ok" SP refname)
command-fail = PKT-LINE("ng" SP refname SP error-msg)
error-msg = 1*(OCTET) ; where not "ok"
The report-status-v2 capability extends the protocol by adding new option lines in order
to support reporting of reference rewritten by the proc-receive hook. The proc-receive
hook may handle a command for a pseudo-reference which may create or update one or more
references, and each reference may have different name, different new-oid, and different
old-oid.
report-status-v2 = unpack-status
1*(command-status-v2)
flush-pkt
unpack-status = PKT-LINE("unpack" SP unpack-result)
unpack-result = "ok" / error-msg
command-status-v2 = command-ok-v2 / command-fail
command-ok-v2 = command-ok
*option-line
command-ok = PKT-LINE("ok" SP refname)
command-fail = PKT-LINE("ng" SP refname SP error-msg)
error-msg = 1*(OCTET) ; where not "ok"
option-line = *1(option-refname)
*1(option-old-oid)
*1(option-new-oid)
*1(option-forced-update)
option-refname = PKT-LINE("option" SP "refname" SP refname)
option-old-oid = PKT-LINE("option" SP "old-oid" SP obj-id)
option-new-oid = PKT-LINE("option" SP "new-oid" SP obj-id)
option-force = PKT-LINE("option" SP "forced-update")
Updates can be unsuccessful for a number of reasons. The reference can have changed since
the reference discovery phase was originally sent, meaning someone pushed in the meantime.
The reference being pushed could be a non-fast-forward reference and the update hooks or
configuration could be set to not allow that, etc. Also, some references can be updated
while others can be rejected.
An example client/server communication might look like this:
S: 006274730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d refs/heads/local\0report-status delete-refs ofs-delta\n
S: 003e7d1665144a3a975c05f1f43902ddaf084e784dbe refs/heads/debug\n
S: 003f74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d refs/heads/master\n
S: 003d74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d refs/heads/team\n
S: 0000
C: 00677d1665144a3a975c05f1f43902ddaf084e784dbe 74730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d refs/heads/debug\n
C: 006874730d410fcb6603ace96f1dc55ea6196122532d 5a3f6be755bbb7deae50065988cbfa1ffa9ab68a refs/heads/master\n
C: 0000
C: [PACKDATA]
S: 000eunpack ok\n
S: 0018ok refs/heads/debug\n
S: 002ang refs/heads/master non-fast-forward\n
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
NOTES
1. email@address
mailto:email@address