Provided by: git-man_1.9.1-1ubuntu0.10_all 
NAME
git-update-index - Register file contents in the working tree to the index
SYNOPSIS
git update-index
[--add] [--remove | --force-remove] [--replace]
[--refresh] [-q] [--unmerged] [--ignore-missing]
[(--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <file>)...]
[--chmod=(+|-)x]
[--[no-]assume-unchanged]
[--[no-]skip-worktree]
[--ignore-submodules]
[--really-refresh] [--unresolve] [--again | -g]
[--info-only] [--index-info]
[-z] [--stdin] [--index-version <n>]
[--verbose]
[--] [<file>...]
DESCRIPTION
Modifies the index or directory cache. Each file mentioned is updated into the index and
any unmerged or needs updating state is cleared.
See also git-add(1) for a more user-friendly way to do some of the most common operations
on the index.
The way git update-index handles files it is told about can be modified using the various
options:
OPTIONS
--add
If a specified file isn’t in the index already then it’s added. Default behaviour is
to ignore new files.
--remove
If a specified file is in the index but is missing then it’s removed. Default behavior
is to ignore removed file.
--refresh
Looks at the current index and checks to see if merges or updates are needed by
checking stat() information.
-q
Quiet. If --refresh finds that the index needs an update, the default behavior is to
error out. This option makes git update-index continue anyway.
--ignore-submodules
Do not try to update submodules. This option is only respected when passed before
--refresh.
--unmerged
If --refresh finds unmerged changes in the index, the default behavior is to error
out. This option makes git update-index continue anyway.
--ignore-missing
Ignores missing files during a --refresh
--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <path>
Directly insert the specified info into the index.
--index-info
Read index information from stdin.
--chmod=(+|-)x
Set the execute permissions on the updated files.
--[no-]assume-unchanged
When these flags are specified, the object names recorded for the paths are not
updated. Instead, these options set and unset the "assume unchanged" bit for the
paths. When the "assume unchanged" bit is on, Git stops checking the working tree
files for possible modifications, so you need to manually unset the bit to tell Git
when you change the working tree file. This is sometimes helpful when working with a
big project on a filesystem that has very slow lstat(2) system call (e.g. cifs).
This option can be also used as a coarse file-level mechanism to ignore uncommitted
changes in tracked files (akin to what .gitignore does for untracked files). Git will
fail (gracefully) in case it needs to modify this file in the index e.g. when merging
in a commit; thus, in case the assumed-untracked file is changed upstream, you will
need to handle the situation manually.
--really-refresh
Like --refresh, but checks stat information unconditionally, without regard to the
"assume unchanged" setting.
--[no-]skip-worktree
When one of these flags is specified, the object name recorded for the paths are not
updated. Instead, these options set and unset the "skip-worktree" bit for the paths.
See section "Skip-worktree bit" below for more information.
-g, --again
Runs git update-index itself on the paths whose index entries are different from those
from the HEAD commit.
--unresolve
Restores the unmerged or needs updating state of a file during a merge if it was
cleared by accident.
--info-only
Do not create objects in the object database for all <file> arguments that follow this
flag; just insert their object IDs into the index.
--force-remove
Remove the file from the index even when the working directory still has such a file.
(Implies --remove.)
--replace
By default, when a file path exists in the index, git update-index refuses an attempt
to add path/file. Similarly if a file path/file exists, a file path cannot be added.
With --replace flag, existing entries that conflict with the entry being added are
automatically removed with warning messages.
--stdin
Instead of taking list of paths from the command line, read list of paths from the
standard input. Paths are separated by LF (i.e. one path per line) by default.
--verbose
Report what is being added and removed from index.
--index-version <n>
Write the resulting index out in the named on-disk format version. Supported versions
are 2, 3 and 4. The current default version is 2 or 3, depending on whether extra
features are used, such as git add -N.
Version 4 performs a simple pathname compression that reduces index size by 30%-50% on
large repositories, which results in faster load time. Version 4 is relatively young
(first released in in 1.8.0 in October 2012). Other Git implementations such as JGit
and libgit2 may not support it yet.
-z
Only meaningful with --stdin or --index-info; paths are separated with NUL character
instead of LF.
--
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
<file>
Files to act on. Note that files beginning with . are discarded. This includes ./file
and dir/./file. If you don’t want this, then use cleaner names. The same applies to
directories ending / and paths with //
USING --REFRESH
--refresh does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the index up-to-date for
mode/content changes. But what it does do is to "re-match" the stat information of a file
with the index, so that you can refresh the index for a file that hasn’t been changed but
where the stat entry is out of date.
For example, you’d want to do this after doing a git read-tree, to link up the stat index
details with the proper files.
USING --CACHEINFO OR --INFO-ONLY
--cacheinfo is used to register a file that is not in the current working directory. This
is useful for minimum-checkout merging.
To pretend you have a file with mode and sha1 at path, say:
$ git update-index --cacheinfo mode sha1 path
--info-only is used to register files without placing them in the object database. This is
useful for status-only repositories.
Both --cacheinfo and --info-only behave similarly: the index is updated but the object
database isn’t. --cacheinfo is useful when the object is in the database but the file
isn’t available locally. --info-only is useful when the file is available, but you do not
wish to update the object database.
USING --INDEX-INFO
--index-info is a more powerful mechanism that lets you feed multiple entry definitions
from the standard input, and designed specifically for scripts. It can take inputs of
three formats:
1. mode SP sha1 TAB path
The first format is what "git-apply --index-info" reports, and used to reconstruct a
partial tree that is used for phony merge base tree when falling back on 3-way merge.
2. mode SP type SP sha1 TAB path
The second format is to stuff git ls-tree output into the index file.
3. mode SP sha1 SP stage TAB path
This format is to put higher order stages into the index file and matches git ls-files
--stage output.
To place a higher stage entry to the index, the path should first be removed by feeding a
mode=0 entry for the path, and then feeding necessary input lines in the third format.
For example, starting with this index:
$ git ls-files -s
100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 0 frotz
you can feed the following input to --index-info:
$ git update-index --index-info
0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 frotz
100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
The first line of the input feeds 0 as the mode to remove the path; the SHA-1 does not
matter as long as it is well formatted. Then the second and third line feeds stage 1 and
stage 2 entries for that path. After the above, we would end up with this:
$ git ls-files -s
100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
USING “ASSUME UNCHANGED” BIT
Many operations in Git depend on your filesystem to have an efficient lstat(2)
implementation, so that st_mtime information for working tree files can be cheaply checked
to see if the file contents have changed from the version recorded in the index file.
Unfortunately, some filesystems have inefficient lstat(2). If your filesystem is one of
them, you can set "assume unchanged" bit to paths you have not changed to cause Git not to
do this check. Note that setting this bit on a path does not mean Git will check the
contents of the file to see if it has changed — it makes Git to omit any checking and
assume it has not changed. When you make changes to working tree files, you have to
explicitly tell Git about it by dropping "assume unchanged" bit, either before or after
you modify them.
In order to set "assume unchanged" bit, use --assume-unchanged option. To unset, use
--no-assume-unchanged. To see which files have the "assume unchanged" bit set, use git
ls-files -v (see git-ls-files(1)).
The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable. When this is true, paths
updated with git update-index paths... and paths updated with other Git commands that
update both index and working tree (e.g. git apply --index, git checkout-index -u, and git
read-tree -u) are automatically marked as "assume unchanged". Note that "assume unchanged"
bit is not set if git update-index --refresh finds the working tree file matches the index
(use git update-index --really-refresh if you want to mark them as "assume unchanged").
EXAMPLES
To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
$ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
On an inefficient filesystem with core.ignorestat set
$ git update-index --really-refresh (1)
$ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c (2)
$ git diff --name-only (3)
$ edit foo.c
$ git diff --name-only (4)
M foo.c
$ git update-index foo.c (5)
$ git diff --name-only (6)
$ edit foo.c
$ git diff --name-only (7)
$ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c (8)
$ git diff --name-only (9)
M foo.c
1. forces lstat(2) to set "assume unchanged" bits for paths that match index.
2. mark the path to be edited.
3. this does lstat(2) and finds index matches the path.
4. this does lstat(2) and finds index does not match the path.
5. registering the new version to index sets "assume unchanged" bit.
6. and it is assumed unchanged.
7. even after you edit it.
8. you can tell about the change after the fact.
9. now it checks with lstat(2) and finds it has been changed.
SKIP-WORKTREE BIT
Skip-worktree bit can be defined in one (long) sentence: When reading an entry, if it is
marked as skip-worktree, then Git pretends its working directory version is up to date and
read the index version instead.
To elaborate, "reading" means checking for file existence, reading file attributes or file
content. The working directory version may be present or absent. If present, its content
may match against the index version or not. Writing is not affected by this bit, content
safety is still first priority. Note that Git can update working directory file, that is
marked skip-worktree, if it is safe to do so (i.e. working directory version matches index
version)
Although this bit looks similar to assume-unchanged bit, its goal is different from
assume-unchanged bit’s. Skip-worktree also takes precedence over assume-unchanged bit when
both are set.
CONFIGURATION
The command honors core.filemode configuration variable. If your repository is on a
filesystem whose executable bits are unreliable, this should be set to false (see git-
config(1)). This causes the command to ignore differences in file modes recorded in the
index and the file mode on the filesystem if they differ only on executable bit. On such
an unfortunate filesystem, you may need to use git update-index --chmod=.
Quite similarly, if core.symlinks configuration variable is set to false (see git-
config(1)), symbolic links are checked out as plain files, and this command does not
modify a recorded file mode from symbolic link to regular file.
The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable. See Using "assume unchanged"
bit section above.
The command also looks at core.trustctime configuration variable. It can be useful when
the inode change time is regularly modified by something outside Git (file system crawlers
and backup systems use ctime for marking files processed) (see git-config(1)).
SEE ALSO
git-config(1), git-add(1), git-ls-files(1)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite