path: root/Documentation/magit.org

#+TITLE: Magit User Manual
#+AUTHOR: Jonas Bernoulli
#+EMAIL: jonas@bernoul.li
#+DATE: 2015-2016
#+LANGUAGE: en

#+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY: Emacs
#+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE: Magit: (magit).
#+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC: Using Git from Emacs with Magit.
#+SUBTITLE: for version 2.3

#+OPTIONS: H:4 num:3 toc:2

* Copying
:PROPERTIES:
:COPYING:    t
:END:

#+BEGIN_TEXINFO
@ifnottex
Magit is an interface to the version control system Git, implemented
as an Emacs package.  Magit aspires to be a complete Git porcelain.
While we cannot (yet) claim that Magit wraps and improves upon each
and every Git command, it is complete enough to allow even experienced
Git users to perform almost all of their daily version control tasks
directly from within Emacs.  While many fine Git clients exist, only
Magit and Git itself deserve to be called porcelains.
@end ifnottex

@quotation
Copyright (C) 2015-2016 Jonas Bernoulli <jonas@@bernoul.li>

You can redistribute this document and/or modify it under the terms
of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any
later version.

This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.
@end quotation
#+END_TEXINFO

* Introduction

Magit is an interface to the version control system Git, implemented
as an Emacs package.  Magit aspires to be a complete Git porcelain.
While we cannot (yet) claim that Magit wraps and improves upon each
and every Git command, it is complete enough to allow even experienced
Git users to perform almost all of their daily version control tasks
directly from within Emacs.  While many fine Git clients exist, only
Magit and Git itself deserve to be called porcelains.

Staging and otherwise applying changes is one of the most important
features in a Git porcelain and here Magit outshines anything else,
including Git itself.  Git's own staging interface (~git add --patch~)
is so cumbersome that many users only use it in exceptional cases.
In Magit staging a hunk or even just part of a hunk is as trivial as
staging all changes made to a file.

The most visible part of Magit's interface is the status buffer, which
displays information about the current repository.  Its content is
created by running several Git commands and making their output
actionable.  Among other things, it displays information about the
current branch, lists unpulled and unpushed changes and contains
sections displaying the staged and unstaged changes.  That might sound
noisy, but, since sections are collapsible, it's not.

To stage or unstage a change one places the cursor on the change and
then types ~s~ or ~u~.  The change can be a file or a hunk, or when the
region is active (i.e. when there is a selection) several files or
hunks, or even just part of a hunk.  The change or changes that these
commands - and many others - would act on are highlighted.

Magit also implements several other "apply variants" in addition to
staging and unstaging.  One can discard or reverse a change, or
apply it to the working tree.  Git's own porcelain only supports this
for staging and unstaging and you would have to do something like ~git
diff ... | ??? | git apply ...~ to discard, revert, or apply a single
hunk on the command line.  In fact that's exactly what Magit does
internally (which is what lead to the term "apply variants").

Magit isn't just for Git experts, but it does assume some prior
experience with Git as well as Emacs.  That being said, many users
have reported that using Magit was what finally taught them what Git
is capable of and how to use it to its fullest.  Other users
wished they had switched to Emacs sooner so that they would have
gotten their hands on Magit earlier.

While one has to know the basic features of Emacs to be able to make
full use of Magit, acquiring just enough Emacs skills doesn't take
long and is worth it, even for users who prefer other editors.  Vim
users are advised to give [[https://bitbucket.org/lyro/evil/wiki/Home][Evil]], the "Extensible VI Layer for Emacs",
and [[https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs][Spacemacs]], an "Emacs starter-kit focused on Evil" a try.

Magit provides a consistent and efficient Git porcelain.  After a
short learning period, you will be able to perform most of your daily
version control tasks faster than you would on the command line.  You
will likely also start using features that seemed too daunting in the
past.

Magit fully embraces Git.  It exposes many advanced features using a
simple but flexible interface instead of only wrapping the trivial
ones like many GUI clients do.  Of course Magit supports logging,
cloning, pushing, and other commands that usually don't fail in
spectacular ways; but it also supports tasks that often cannot be
completed in a single step.  Magit fully supports tasks such as
merging, rebasing, cherry-picking, reverting, and blaming by not only
providing a command to initiate these tasks but also by displaying
context sensitive information along the way and providing commands
that are useful for resolving conflicts and resuming the sequence
after doing so.

Magit wraps and in many cases improves upon at least the following Git
porcelain commands: ~add~, ~am~, ~bisect~, ~blame~, ~branch~,
~checkout~, ~cherry~, ~cherry-pick~, ~clean~, ~clone~, ~commit~,
~config~, ~describe~, ~diff~, ~fetch~, ~format-patch~, ~init~, ~log~,
~merge~, ~merge-tree~, ~mv~, ~notes~, ~pull~, ~rebase~, ~reflog~,
~remote~, ~request-pull~, ~reset~, ~revert~, ~rm~, ~show~, ~stash~,
~submodule~, and ~tag~.  Many more Magit porcelain commands are
implemented on top of Git plumbing commands.

* Installation

Magit can be installed using Emacs' package manager or manually from
its development repository.

** Updating from an older release

When updating from ~1.2.*~ or ~1.4.*~, you should first uninstall Magit
and some of its dependencies and restart Emacs before installing the
latest release.

- The old Magit installation has to be removed because some macros
  have changed and using the old definitions when building the new
  release would lead to very strange results, including compile
  errors.  This is due to a limitation in Emacs' package manager or
  rather Emacs itself: it's not possible to reliably unload a feature
  or even all features belonging to a package.

- Furthermore the old dependencies ~git-commit-mode~ and ~git-rebase-mode~
  have to be removed because they are no longer used by the ~2.1.0~
  release and later, and get in the way of their successors ~git-commit~
  and ~git-rebase~.

So please uninstall the packages ~magit~, ~git-commit-mode~, and
~git-rebase-mode~.  Then quit Emacs and start a new instance.  Only then
follow the instructions in either one of the next two sections.

Also note that starting with the ~2.1.0~ release, Magit requires at least
Emacs ~24.4~ and Git ~1.9.4~.  You should make sure you have at least
these releases installed before updating Magit.  And if you connect to
remote hosts using Tramp, then you should also make sure to install a
recent enough Git version on these hosts.

** Installing from an Elpa archive

If you are updating from a release older than ~2.1.0~, then you have to
first uninstall the old version.  See [[*Updating from an older release]].

Magit is available from all three of the popular unofficial Elpa
archives: Melpa, Melpa-Stable, and Marmalade.  If you haven't used
Emacs' package manager before, then it is high time you familiarize
yourself with it by reading the documentation in the Emacs manual,
see [[info:emacs#Packages]].  Then add one of the archives to ~package-archives~:

- To use Melpa:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (require 'package)
  (add-to-list 'package-archives
               '("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/") t)
#+END_SRC

- To use Melpa-Stable:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (require 'package)
  (add-to-list 'package-archives
               '("melpa-stable" . "http://stable.melpa.org/packages/") t)
#+END_SRC

- To use Marmalade:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (require 'package)
  (add-to-list 'package-archives
               '("marmalade" . "http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/") t)
#+END_SRC

Once you have added your preferred archive, you need to update the
local package list using:

#+BEGIN_SRC undefined
  M-x package-refresh-contents RET
#+END_SRC

Once you have done that, you can install Magit and its dependencies
using:

#+BEGIN_SRC undefined
  M-x package-install RET magit RET
#+END_SRC

Now see [[*Post-installation tasks]].

** Installing from the Git repository

If you are updating from a release older than ~2.1.0~, then you have to
first uninstall the old version.  See [[*Updating from an older release]].

Magit depends on the ~dash~ library, available from all three of the
popular third-party Elpa archives.  Install it using ~M-x
package-install RET dash RET~.  Of course you may also install it
manually from its development repository, but I won't cover that here.

Then clone the Magit repository:

#+BEGIN_SRC shell
  $ git clone https://github.com/magit/magit.git ~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/magit
  $ cd ~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/magit
#+END_SRC

Then compile the libraries and generate the info manuals:

#+BEGIN_SRC shell
  $ make
#+END_SRC

If you haven't installed ~dash~ using Elpa or at ~/path/to/magit/../dash~,
then you have to tell ~make~ where to find it.  To do so create
~/path/to/magit/config.mk~ with the following content before running
~make~:

#+BEGIN_SRC makefile
  LOAD_PATH = -L /path/to/magit/lisp -L /path/to/dash
#+END_SRC

Finally add this to your init file:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/magit/lisp")
  (require 'magit)

  (with-eval-after-load 'info
    (info-initialize)
    (add-to-list 'Info-directory-list
                 "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/magit/Documentation/"))
#+END_SRC

Note that you have to add the ~lisp/~ subdirectory to the ~load-path~,
not the top-level of the repository.

Instead of requiring the feature ~magit~, you could only load the
autoloads, by loading the file ~magit-autoloads.el~.

Instead of running Magit directly from the repository by adding that
to the ~load-path~, you might want to instead install it in some other
directory using ~sudo make install~ and setting ~load-path~ accordingly.

To update Magit use:

#+BEGIN_SRC shell
  $ git pull
  $ make
#+END_SRC

At times it might be necessary to run ~make clean all~ instead.

To view all available targets use ~make help~.

Now see [[*Post-installation tasks]].

** Post-installation tasks

After installing Magit you should verify that you are indeed using the
Magit, Git, and Emacs releases you think you are using.  It's best to
restart Emacs before doing so, to make sure you are not using an
outdated value for ~load-path~.

#+BEGIN_SRC undefined
  M-x magit-version RET
#+END_SRC

should display something like

#+BEGIN_SRC undefined
  Magit 2.2.0, Git 2.4.2, Emacs 24.5.1
#+END_SRC

Then you might also want to read about options that many users likely
want to customize.  See [[*Essential settings]].

To be able to follow cross references to Git manpages found in this
manual, you might also have to manually install the ~gitman~ info manual,
or advice ~Info-follow-nearest-node~ to instead open the actual manpage.
See [[*How to install the gitman info manual?]].

If you are completely new to Magit then see [[*Getting started]].

If you have used an older Magit release before, then you should have a
look at the release notes
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/magit/magit/master/Documentation/RelNotes/2.1.0.txt
and
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/magit/magit/master/Documentation/RelNotes/2.2.0.txt

And last but not least please consider making a donation, to ensure
that I can keep working on Magit.  See http://magit.vc/donations.html
for various donation options.

* Getting started

This section describes the most essential features that many
Magitians use on a daily basis.  It only scratches the surface but
should be enough to get you started.

(You might want to create a repository just for this walk-through,
e.g. by cloning an existing repository.  If you don't use a separate
repository then make sure you create a snapshot as described below).

To display information about the current Git repository, type ~M-x
magit-status~.  You will be doing that so often that it is best to bind
this command globally:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x g") 'magit-status)
#+END_SRC

Most Magit commands are commonly invoked from this buffer.  It should
be considered the primary interface to interact with Git using Magit.
There are many other Magit buffers, but they are usually created from
this buffer.

Depending on what state your repository is in, this buffer will
contain sections titled "Staged changes", "Unstaged changes",
"Unpulled commits", "Unpushed commits", and/or some others.

If some staged and/or unstaged changes exist, you should back them up
now.  Type ~z~ to show the stashing popup buffer featuring various stash
variants and arguments that can be passed to these commands.  Do not
worry about those for now, just type ~Z~ (uppercase) to create a stash
while also keeping the index and work tree intact.  The status buffer
should now also contain a section titled "Stashes".

Otherwise, if there are no uncommitted changes, you should create some
now by editing and saving some of the tracked files.  Then go back to
the status buffer, while at the same time refreshing it, by typing ~C-x
g~.  (When the status buffer, or any Magit buffer for that matter, is
the current buffer, then you can also use just ~g~ to refresh it).

Move between sections using ~p~ and ~n~.  Note that the bodies of some
sections are hidden.  Type ~TAB~ to expand or collapse the section at
point.  You can also use ~C-tab~ to cycle the visibility of the current
section and its children. Move to a file section inside the section
named "Unstaged changes" and type ~s~ to stage the changes you have made
to that file. That file now appears under "Staged changes".

Magit can stage and unstage individual hunks, not just complete files.
Move to the file you have just staged, expand it using ~TAB~, move to
one of the hunks using ~n~, and unstage just that by typing ~u~.  Note how
the staging (~s~) and unstaging (~u~) commands operate on the change at
point.  Many other commands behave the same way.

You can also un-/stage just part of a hunk.  Inside the body of a hunk
section (move there using ~C-n~), set the mark using ~C-SPC~ and move down
until some added and removed lines fall inside the region but not all
of them.  Again type ~s~ to stage.

It's also possible to un-/stage multiple files at once.  Move to a
file section, type ~C-SPC~, move to the next file using ~n~, and then ~s~ to
stage both files.  Note that both the mark and point have to be on the
headings of sibling sections for this to work.  If the region looks
like it does in other buffers, then it doesn't select Magit sections
that can be acted on as a unit.

And then of course you want to commit your changes.  Type ~c~.  This
shows the committing popup buffer featuring various commit variants
and arguments that can be passed to ~git commit~.  Do not worry about
those for now.  We want to create a "normal" commit, which is done by
typing ~c~ again.

Now two new buffers appear.  One is for writing the commit message,
the other shows a diff with the changes that are about to committed.
Write a message and then type ~C-c C-c~ to actually create the commit.

You probably don't want to push the commit you just created because
you just committed some random changes, but if that is not the case
you could push it by typing ~P~ to bring up the push popup and then ~P~
again to push to the configured upstream.  (If the upstream is not
configured, then you would be prompted for the push target instead.)

Instead we are going to undo the changes made so far.  Bring up the
log for the current branch by typing ~l l~, move to the last commit
created before starting with this walk through using ~n~, and do a hard
reset using ~C-u x~.  *WARNING*: this discards all uncommitted changes.
If you did not follow the advice about using a separate repository for
these experiments and did not create a snapshot of uncommitted changes
before starting to try out Magit, then don't do this.

So far we have mentioned the commit, push, and log popups.  These are
probably among the popups you will be using the most, but many others
exist.  To show a popup with all other popups (as well as the various
apply commands), type ~h~.  Try a few.

The key bindings in that popup correspond to the bindings in Magit
buffers, including but not limited to the status buffer.  So you could
type ~h d~ to bring up the diff popup, but once you remember that "d"
stands for "diff", you would usually do so by just typing ~d~.  But the
"popup of popups" is useful even once you have memorized all the
bindings, as it can provide easy access to Magit commands from
non-Magit buffers.  So you should bind this globally too:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x M-g") 'magit-dispatch-popup)
#+END_SRC

You might also want to enable ~global-magit-file-mode~ (see [[*Minor mode
for buffers visiting files]]).

* Interface concepts
** Modes and Buffers

Magit provides several major-modes.  For each of these modes there
usually exists only one buffer per repository.  Separate modes and
thus buffers exist for commits, diffs, logs, and some other things.

Besides these special purpose buffers, there also exists an overview
buffer, called the *status buffer*.  Its usually from this buffer that
the user invokes Git commands, or creates or visits other buffers.

In this manual we often speak about "Magit buffers".  By that we mean
buffers whose major-modes derive from ~magit-mode~.

- Key: M-x magit-toggle-buffer-lock, magit-toggle-buffer-lock

  This command locks the current buffer to its value or if the buffer
  is already locked, then it unlocks it.

  Locking a buffer to its value, prevents it from being reused to
  display another value.  The name of a locked buffer contains its
  value, which allows telling it apart from other locked buffers and
  the unlocked buffer.

  Not all Magit buffers can be locked to their values, for example it
  wouldn't make sense to lock a status buffer.

  There can only be a single unlocked buffer using a certain
  major-mode per repository.  So when a buffer is being unlocked and
  another unlocked buffer already exists for that mode and repository,
  then the former buffer is instead deleted and the latter is
  displayed in its place.

*** Switching Buffers

- Function: magit-display-buffer buffer

  This function is a wrapper around ~display-buffer~ and is used to
  display any Magit buffer.  It displays BUFFER in some window and,
  unlike ~display-buffer~, also selects that window, provided
  ~magit-display-buffer-noselect~ is ~nil~.  It also runs the hooks
  mentioned below.

- Variable: magit-display-buffer-noselect

  When this is non-nil, then ~magit-display-buffer~ only displays the
  buffer but forgoes also selecting the window.  This variable should
  not be set globally, it is only intended to be let-bound, by code
  that automatically updates "the other window".  This is used for
  example when the revision buffer is updated when you move inside the
  log buffer.

- User Option: magit-display-buffer-function

  The function specified here is called by ~magit-display-buffer~ with
  one argument, a buffer, to actually display that buffer.  This
  function should call ~display-buffer~ with that buffer as first and a
  list of display actions as second argument.

  Instead of using a wrapper around ~display-buffer~, that function
  itself can be used here, in which case the display actions have to
  be specified by adding them to ~display-buffer-alist~ instead.

  To learn about display actions, see [[info:elisp#Choosing a Window for
  Display]].

- Function: magit-display-buffer-traditional buffer

  This function is the current default value of the option
  ~magit-display-buffer-function~.  Before that option and this function
  were added, the behavior was hard-coded in many places all over the
  code base but now all the rules are contained in this one function
  (except for the "noselect" special case mentioned above).

  If you want to use different rules, then a good way of doing that is
  to start with a copy of this function and then adjust it to your
  needs.  More functions to choose from will be added in the future,
  and eventually the default will change.

- User Option: magit-pre-display-buffer-hook

  This hook is run by ~magit-display-buffer~ before displaying the
  buffer.

- Function: magit-save-window-configuration

  This function saves the current window configuration.  Later when
  the buffer is buried, it may be restored by
  ~magit-restore-window-configuration~.

- User Option: magit-post-display-buffer-hook

  This hook is run by ~magit-display-buffer~ after displaying the
  buffer.

- Function: magit-maybe-set-dedicated

  This function remembers if a new window had to be created to display
  the buffer, or whether an existing window was reused.  This
  information is later used by ~magit-mode-quit-window~, to determine
  whether the window should be deleted when its last Magit buffer is
  buried.

*** Naming Buffers

- User Option: magit-generate-buffer-name-function

  The function used to generate the names of Magit buffers.

  Such a function should take the options ~magit-uniquify-buffer-names~
  as well as ~magit-buffer-name-format~ into account.  If it doesn't,
  then should be clearly stated in the doc-string.  And if it supports
  %-sequences beyond those mentioned in the doc-string of the option
  ~magit-buffer-name-format~, then its own doc-string should describe
  the additions.

- Function: magit-generate-buffer-name-default-function mode

  This function returns a buffer name suitable for a buffer whose
  major-mode is MODE and which shows information about the repository
  in which ~default-directory~ is located.

  This function uses ~magit-buffer-name-format~ and supporting all of
  the %-sequences mentioned the documentation of that option.  It also
  respects the option ~magit-uniquify-buffer-names~.

- User Option: magit-buffer-name-format

  The format string used to name Magit buffers.

  At least the following %-sequences are supported:

  - ~%m~

    The name of the major-mode, but with the ~-mode~ suffix removed.

  - ~%M~

    Like ~%m~ but abbreviate ~magit-status-mode~ as ~magit~.

  - ~%v~

    The value the buffer is locked to, in parentheses, or an empty
    string if the buffer is not locked to a value.

  - ~%V~

    Like ~%v~, but the string is prefixed with a space, unless it is an
    empty string.

  - ~%t~

    The top-level directory of the working tree of the repository, or
    if ~magit-uniquify-buffer-names~ is non-nil an abbreviation of that.

  The value should always contain either ~%m~ or ~%M~, ~%v~ or ~%V~, and ~%t~.
  If ~magit-uniquify-buffer-names~ is non-nil, then the value must end
  with ~%t~.

- User Option: magit-uniquify-buffer-names

  This option controls whether the names of Magit buffers are
  uniquified.  If the names are not being uniquified, then they
  contain the full path of the top-level of the working tree of the
  corresponding repository.  If they are being uniquified, then they
  end with the basename of the top-level, or if that would conflict
  with the name used for other buffers, then the names of all these
  buffers are adjusted until they no longer conflict.

  This is done using the ~uniquify~ package; customize its options to
  control how buffer names are uniquified.

*** Quitting Windows

- Key: q, magit-mode-bury-buffer

  This command buries the current Magit buffer.  With a prefix
  argument, it instead kills the buffer.

- User Option: magit-bury-buffer-function

  The function used to actually bury or kill the current buffer.

  ~magit-mode-bury-buffer~ calls this function with one argument.  If
  the argument is non-nil, then the function has to kill the current
  buffer.  Otherwise it has to bury it alive.  The default value
  currently is ~magit-restore-window-configuration~.

- Function: magit-restore-window-configuration kill-buffer

  Bury or kill the current buffer using ~quit-window~, which is called
  with KILL-BUFFER as first and the selected window as second
  argument.

  Then restore the window configuration that existed right before the
  current buffer was displayed in the selected frame.  Unfortunately
  that also means that point gets adjusted in all the buffers, which
  are being displayed in the selected frame.

- Function: magit-mode-quit-window kill-buffer

  Bury or kill the current buffer using ~quit-window~, which is called
  with KILL-BUFFER as first and the selected window as second
  argument.

  Then, if the window was originally created to display a Magit buffer
  and the buried buffer was the last remaining Magit buffer that was
  ever displayed in the window, then that is deleted.

*** Automatic Refreshing of Magit Buffers

After running a command which may change the state of the current
repository, the current Magit buffer and the corresponding status
buffer are refreshed.  The status buffer may optionally be
automatically refreshed whenever a buffer is saved to a file inside
the respective repository.

Automatically refreshing Magit buffers ensures that the displayed
information is up-to-date most of the time but can lead to a
noticeable delay in big repositories.  Other Magit buffers are not
refreshed to keep the delay to a minimum and also because doing so can
sometimes be undesirable.

Buffers can also be refreshed explicitly, which is useful in buffers
that weren't current during the last refresh and after changes were
made to the repository outside of Magit.

- Key: g, magit-refresh

  This command refreshes the current buffer if its major mode derives
  from ~magit-mode~ as well as the corresponding status buffer.

  If the option ~magit-revert-buffers~ calls for it, then it also
  reverts all unmodified buffers that visit files being tracked in the
  current repository.

- Key: G, magit-refresh-all

  This command refreshes all Magit buffers belonging to the current
  repository and also reverts all unmodified buffers that visit files
  being tracked in the current repository.

  The file-visiting buffers are always reverted, even if
  ~magit-revert-buffers~ is nil.

- User Option: magit-refresh-buffer-hook

  This hook is run in each Magit buffer that was refreshed during the
  current refresh - normally the current buffer and the status buffer.

- User Option: magit-refresh-status-buffer

  When this option is non-nil, then the status buffer is automatically
  refreshed after running git for side-effects, in addition to the
  current Magit buffer, which is always refreshed automatically.

  Only set this to nil after exhausting all other options to improve
  performance.

- Function: magit-after-save-refresh-status

  This function is intended to be added to ~after-save-hook~.  After
  doing that the corresponding status buffer is refreshed whenever a
  buffer is saved to a file inside a repository.

  Note that refreshing a Magit buffer is done by re-creating its
  contents from scratch, which can be slow in large repositories.  If
  you are not satisfied with Magit's performance, then you should
  obviously not add this function to that hook.

*** Automatic Saving of File-Visiting Buffers

File-visiting buffers are by default saved at certain points in time.
This doesn't guarantee that Magit buffers are always up-to-date, but,
provided one only edits files by editing them in Emacs and uses only
Magit to interact with Git, one can be fairly confident.  When in
doubt or after outside changes, type ~g~ (~magit-refresh~) to save and
refresh explicitly.

- User Option: magit-save-repository-buffers

  This option controls whether file-visiting buffers are saved before
  certain events.

  If this is non-nil then all modified file-visiting buffers belonging
  to the current repository may be saved before running commands,
  before creating new Magit buffers, and before explicitly refreshing
  such buffers.  If this is ~dontask~ then this is done without user
  intervention.  If it is ~t~ then the user has to confirm each save.

*** Automatic Reverting of File-Visiting Buffers

By default Magit automatically reverts buffers that are visiting files
that are being tracked in a Git repository, after they have changed on
disk.  When using Magit one often changes files on disk by running
git, i.e. "outside Emacs", making this a rather important feature.

For example, if you discard a change in the status buffer, then that
is done by running ~git apply --reverse ...~, and Emacs considers the
file to have "change on disk".  If Magit did not automaticallyrevert
the buffer, then you would have to type ~M-x revert-buffer RET RET~ in
the visiting buffer before you could continue making changes.

- User Option: magit-auto-revert-mode

  When this mode is enabled, then buffers that visit tracked files,
  are automatically reverted after the visited files changed on disk.

- User Option: global-auto-revert-mode

  When this mode is enabled, then any file-visiting buffer is
  automatically reverted after the visited file changed on disk.

  If you like buffers that visit tracked files to be automatically
  reverted, then you might also like any buffer to be reverted, not
  just those visiting tracked files.  If that is the case, then enable
  this mode /instead of/ ~magit-auto-revert-mode~.

- User Option: magit-auto-revert-immediately

  This option controls whether Magit reverts buffers immediately.

  If this is non-nil and either ~global-auto-revert-mode~ or
  ~magit-auto-revert-mode~ is enabled, then Magit immediately reverts
  buffers by explicitly calling ~auto-revert-buffers~ after running git
  for side-effects.

  If ~auto-revert-use-notify~ is non-nil (and file notifications are
  actually supported), then ~magit-auto-revert-immediately~ should be
  set to nil, because the reverts happen immediately anyway.

  If ~magit-auto-revert-immediately~ and ~auto-revert-use-notify~ are both
  nil, then reverts happen after ~auto-revert-interval~ seconds of user
  inactivity.  That is not desirable.

- User Option: auto-revert-use-notify

  This option controls whether file notification functions should be
  used.  Note that this variable unfortunately defaults to ~t~ even on
  systems on which file notifications cannot be used.

- User Option: magit-auto-revert-tracked-only

  This option controls whether ~magit-auto-revert-mode~ only reverts
  tracked files or all files that are located inside Git repositories,
  including untracked files and files located inside Git's control
  directory.

- Command: auto-revert-mode

  The global mode ~magit-auto-revert-mode~ works by turning on this
  local mode in the appropriate buffers.  You can also turn it on or
  off manually, which might be necessary if Magit does not notice that
  a previously untracked file now is being tracked or vice-versa.

- User Option: auto-revert-stop-on-user-input

  This option controls whether the arrival of user input suspends the
  automatic reverts for ~auto-revert-interval~ seconds.

- User Option: auto-revert-interval

  This option controls for how many seconds Emacs waits before
  resuming suspended reverts.

- User Option: auto-revert-verbose

  This option controls whether Emacs reports when a buffer has been
  reverted.

The options with the ~auto-revert-~ prefix are located in the Custom
group named ~auto-revert~.  The other, magit-specific, options are
located in the ~magit~ group.

**** Risk of Reverting Automatically

For the vast majority users automatically reverting file-visiting
buffers after they have changed on disk is harmless.

If a buffer is modified (i.e. it contains changes that haven't been
saved yet), then Emacs would refuse to automatically revert it.  If
you save a previously modified buffer, then that results in what is
seen by Git as an uncommitted change.  Git would then refuse to carry
out any commands that would cause these changes to be lost.  In other
words, if there is anything that could be lost, then either Git or
Emacs would refuse to discard the changes.

However if you do use file-visiting buffers as a sort of ad hoc
"staging area", then the automatic reverts could potentially cause
data loss.  So far I have only heard from one user who uses such a
workflow.

An example: You visit some file in a buffer, edit it, and save the
changes.  Then, outside of Emacs (or at least not using Magit or by
saving the buffer) you change the file on disk again.  At this point
the buffer is the only place where the intermediate version still
exists.  You have saved the changes to disk, but that has since been
overwritten.  Meanwhile Emacs considers the buffer to be unmodified
(because you have not made any changes to it since you last saved it
to the visited file) and therefore would not object to it being
automatically reverted.  At this point an Auto-Revert mode would kick
in.  It would check whether the buffer is modified and since that is
not the case it would revert it.  The intermediate version would be
lost.  (Actually you could still get it back using the ~undo~ command.)

If your workflow depends on Emacs preserving the intermediate version
in the buffer, then you have to disable all Auto-Revert modes.  But
please consider that such a workflow would be dangerous even without
using an Auto-Revert mode, and should therefore be avoided.  If Emacs
crashed or if you quit Emacs by mistake, then you would also lose the
buffer content.  There would be no autosave file still containing the
intermediate version (because that was deleted when you saved the
buffer) and you would not be asked whether you want to safe the buffer
(because it isn't modified).

** Sections

Magit buffers are organized into nested sections, which can be
collapsed and expanded, similar to how sections are handled in Org
mode.  Each section also has a type, and some sections also have a
value.  For each section type there can also be a local keymap, shared
by all sections of that type.

Taking advantage of the section value and type, many commands operate on
the current section, or when the region is active and selects sections
of the same type, all of the selected sections.  Commands that only
make sense for a particular section type (as opposed to just behaving
differently depending on the type) are usually bound in section type
keymaps.

*** Section movement

To move within a section use the usual keys (~C-p~, ~C-n~, ~C-b~, ~C-f~ etc),
whose global bindings are not shadowed.  To move to another section use
the following commands.

- Key: p, magit-section-backward

  When not at the beginning of a section, then move to the beginning
  of the current section.  At the beginning of a section, instead move
  to the beginning of the previous visible section.

- Key: n, magit-section-forward

  Move to the beginning of the next visible section.

- Key: M-p, magit-section-backward-siblings

  Move to the beginning of the previous sibling section.  If there is
  no previous sibling section, then move to the parent section
  instead.

- Key: M-n, magit-section-forward-siblings

  Move to the beginning of the next sibling section.  If there is no
  next sibling section, then move to the parent section instead.

- Key: ^, magit-section-up

  Move to the beginning of the parent of the current section.

The above commands all call the hook ~magit-section-movement-hook~.
And, except for the second, the below functions are all members of
that hook's default value.

- Variable: magit-section-movement-hook

  This hook is run by all of the above movement commands, after
  arriving at the destination.

- Function: magit-hunk-set-window-start

  This hook function ensures that the beginning of the current section
  is visible, provided it is a ~hunk~ section.  Otherwise, it does
  nothing.

- Function: magit-section-set-window-start

  This hook function ensures that the beginning of the current section
  is visible, regardless of the section's type.  If you add this to
  ~magit-section-movement-hook~, then you must remove the hunk-only
  variant in turn.

- Function: magit-log-maybe-show-more-commits

  This hook function only has an effect in log buffers, and ~point~ is
  on the "show more" section.  If that is the case, then it doubles
  the number of commits that are being shown.

- Function: magit-log-maybe-update-revision-buffer

  When moving inside a log buffer, then this function updates the
  revision buffer, provided it is already being displayed in another
  window of the same frame.

- Function: magit-log-maybe-update-blob-buffer

  When moving inside a log buffer and another window of the same frame
  displays a blob buffer, then this function instead displays the blob
  buffer for the commit at point in that window.

- Function: magit-status-maybe-update-revision-buffer

  When moving inside a status buffer, then this function updates the
  revision buffer, provided it is already being displayed in another
  window of the same frame.

- Function: magit-status-maybe-update-blob-buffer

  When moving inside a status buffer and another window of the same
  frame displays a blob buffer, then this function instead displays
  the blob buffer for the commit at point in that window.

- User Option: magit-update-other-window-delay

  Delay before automatically updating the other window.

  When moving around in certain buffers certain other buffers, which
  are being displayed in another window, may optionally be updated to
  display information about the section at point.

  When holding down a key to move by more than just one section, then
  that would update that buffer for each section on the way.  To
  prevent that, updating the revision buffer is delayed, and this
  option controls for how long.  For optimal experience you might have
  to adjust this delay and/or the keyboard repeat rate and delay of
  your graphical environment or operating system.

*** Section visibility

Magit provides many commands for changing the visibility of sections,
but all you need to get started are the next two.

- Key: TAB, magit-section-toggle

  Toggle the visibility of the body of the current section.

- Key: C-<tab>, magit-section-cycle

  Cycle the visibility of current section and its children.

- Key: M-<tab>, magit-section-cycle-diffs

  Cycle the visibility of diff-related sections in the current buffer.

- Key: s-<tab>, magit-section-cycle-global

  Cycle the visibility of all sections in the current buffer.

#+KINDEX: 1
#+KINDEX: 2
#+KINDEX: 3
#+KINDEX: 4
- Command( magit-section-show-level-1
- Command, magit-section-show-level-2
- Command, magit-section-show-level-3
- Command) magit-section-show-level-4

  To show sections surrounding the current section, up to level N,
  press the respective number key (~1~, ~2~, ~3~, or ~4~).

#+KINDEX: M-1
#+KINDEX: M-2
#+KINDEX: M-3
#+KINDEX: M-4
- Command( magit-section-show-level-1-all
- Command, magit-section-show-level-2-all
- Command, magit-section-show-level-3-all
- Command) magit-section-show-level-4-all

  To show all sections up to level N, press the respective number key
  and meta (~M-1~, ~M-2~, ~M-3~, or ~M-4~).

Some functions, which are used to implement the above commands, are
also exposed as commands themselves.  By default no keys are bound to
these commands, as they are generally perceived to be much less
useful.  But your mileage may vary.

- Command: magit-section-show

  Show the body of the current section.

- Command: magit-section-hide

  Hide the body of the current section.

- Command: magit-section-show-headings

  Recursively show headings of children of the current section.  Only
  show the headings.  Previously shown text-only bodies are hidden.

- Command: magit-section-show-children

  Recursively show the bodies of children of the current section.
  With a prefix argument show children down to the level of the
  current section, and hide deeper children.

- Command: magit-section-hide-children

  Recursively hide the bodies of children of the current section.

- Command: magit-section-toggle-children

  Toggle visibility of bodies of children of the current section.

When a buffer is first created then some sections are shown expanded
while others are not.  This is hard coded.  When a buffer is refreshed
then the previous visibility is preserved. The initial visibility of
certain sections can also be overwritten using the hook
~magit-section-set-visibility-hook~.

- Variable: magit-section-set-visibility-hook

  This hook is run when first creating a buffer and also when
  refreshing an existing buffer, and is used to determine the
  visibility of the section currently being inserted.

  Each function is called with one argument, the section being
  inserted.  It should return ~hide~ or ~show~, or to leave the visibility
  undefined ~nil~.  If no function decides on the visibility and the
  buffer is being refreshed, then the visibility is preserved; or if
  the buffer is being created, then the hard coded default is used.

  Usually this should only be used to set the initial visibility but
  not during refreshes.  If ~magit-insert-section--oldroot~ is non-nil,
  then the buffer is being refreshed and these functions should
  immediately return ~nil~.

*** Section hooks

Which sections are inserted into certain buffers is controlled with
hooks.  This includes the status and the refs buffers.  For other
buffers, e.g. log, diff, and revision buffers, this is not possible.

For buffers whose sections can be customized by the user, a hook
variable called ~magit-TYPE-sections-hook~ exists.  This hook should be
changed using ~magit-add-section-hook~.  Avoid using ~add-hooks~ or the
Custom interface.

The various available section hook variables are described later in
this manual along with the appropriate "section inserter functions".

- Function: magit-add-section-hook hook function &optional at append local

  Add the function FUNCTION to the value of section hook HOOK.

  Add FUNCTION at the beginning of the hook list unless optional
  APPEND is non-nil, in which case FUNCTION is added at the end.  If
  FUNCTION already is a member then move it to the new location.

  If optional AT is non-nil and a member of the hook list, then add
  FUNCTION next to that instead.  Add before or after AT, or replace
  AT with FUNCTION depending on APPEND.  If APPEND is the symbol
  ~replace~, then replace AT with FUNCTION.  For any other non-nil value
  place FUNCTION right after AT.  If nil, then place FUNCTION right
  before AT.  If FUNCTION already is a member of the list but AT is
  not, then leave FUNCTION where ever it already is.

  If optional LOCAL is non-nil, then modify the hook's buffer-local
  value rather than its global value.  This makes the hook local by
  copying the default value.  That copy is then modified.

  HOOK should be a symbol.  If HOOK is void, it is first set to nil.
  HOOK's value must not be a single hook function.  FUNCTION should
  be a function that takes no arguments and inserts one or multiple
  sections at point, moving point forward.  FUNCTION may choose not
  to insert its section(s), when doing so would not make sense.  It
  should not be abused for other side-effects.

To remove a function from a section hook, use ~remove-hook~.

*** Section types and values

Each section has a type, for example ~hunk~, ~file~, and ~commit~.
Instances of certain section types also have a value.  The value of a
section of type ~file~, for example, is a file name.

Users usually do not have to worry about a section's type and value,
but knowing them can be handy at times.

- Key: M-x magit-describe-section, magit-describe-section

  Show information about the section at point in the echo area,
  as "VALUE [TYPE PARENT-TYPE...] BEGINNING-END".

Many commands behave differently depending on the type of the section
at point and/or somehow consume the value of that section.  But that
is only one of the reasons why the same key may do something different,
depending on what section is current.

Additionally for each section type a keymap *might* be defined, named
~magit-TYPE-section-map~.  That keymap is used as text property keymap
of all text belonging to any section of the respective type.  If such
a map does not exist for a certain type, then you can define it
yourself, and it will automatically be used.

*** Section options

This section describes options that have an effect on more than just a
certain type of sections.  As you can see there are not many of those.

- User Option: magit-section-show-child-count

  Whether to append the number of children to section headings.  This
  only affects sections that could benefit from this information.

** Popup buffers and prefix commands

Many Magit commands are implemented using *popup buffers*.  First the
user invokes a *popup* or *prefix* command, which causes a popup buffer
with the available *infix* arguments and *suffix* commands to be
displayed.  The user then optionally toggles/sets some arguments and
finally invokes one of the suffix commands.

This is implemented in the library ~magit-popup~.  Earlier releases used
the library ~magit-key-mode~.  A future release will switch to a
yet-to-be-written successor, which will likely be named ~transient~.

Because ~magit-popup~ can also be used by other packages without having
to depend on all of Magit, it is documented in its own manual.  See
[[info:magit-popup]].

- Key: C-c C-c, magit-dispatch-popup

  This popup command shows a buffer featuring all other Magit popup
  commands as well as some other commands that are not popup commands
  themselves.

This command is also, or especially, useful outside Magit buffers, so
you should setup a global binding:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x M-g") 'magit-dispatch-popup)
#+END_SRC

** Completion and confirmation

Many commands read a value from the user.  By default this is done
using the built-in function ~completing-read~, but Magit can instead use
another completion framework.

- User Option: magit-completing-read-function

  The value of this variable is the function used to perform
  completion.  Because functions /intended/ to replace ~completing-read~
  often are not fully compatible drop-in replacements, and also
  because Magit expects them to add the default choice to the prompt
  themselves, such functions should not be used directly.  Instead a
  wrapper function has to be used.

Currently only the real ~completing-read~ and [[http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/InteractivelyDoThings][Ido]] are fully supported.
More frameworks will be supported in the future.

- Function: magit-builtin-completing-read prompt choices &optional predicate require-match initial-input hist def

  Perform completion using ~completion-read~.

- Function: magit-ido-completing-read prompt choices &optional predicate require-match initial-input hist def

  Perform completion using ~ido-completing-read+~ from the package by
  the same name (which you have to explicitly install).  Ido itself
  comes with a supposed drop-in replacement ~ido-completing-read~, but
  that has too many deficits to serve our needs.

By default many commands that could potentially lead to data loss have
to be confirmed.  This includes many very common commands, so this
can become annoying quickly.  Many of these actions can be undone,
provided ~magit-wip-before-change-mode~ is turned on (which it is not by
default, due to performance concerns).

- User Option: magit-no-confirm

  The value of this option is a list of symbols, representing commands
  which do not have to be confirmed by the user before being carried
  out.

  When the global mode ~magit-wip-before-change-mode~ is enabled then
  many commands can be undone.  If that mode is enabled then adding
  ~safe-with-wip~ to this list has the same effect as adding ~discard~,
  ~reverse~, ~stage-all-changes~, and ~unstage-all-changes~.

  #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
    (add-to-list 'magit-no-confirm 'safe-with-wip)
  #+END_SRC

  For a list of all symbols that can be added to the value of this
  variable, see the doc-string.

Note that there are commands that ignore this option and always
require confirmation, or which can be told not to do so using another
dedicated option.  Also most commands, when acting on multiple sections
at once always, require confirmation, even when they do respect this
option when acting on a single section.

** Running Git
*** Viewing Git output

Magit runs Git either for side-effects (e.g. when pushing) or to get
some value (e.g. the name of the current branch).  When Git is run for
side-effects then the output goes into a per-repository log buffer,
which can be consulted when things don't go as expected.

- Key: $, magit-process

  This commands displays the process buffer for the current
  repository.

Inside that buffer, the usual key bindings for navigating and showing
sections are available.  There is one additional command.

- Key: k, magit-process-kill

  This command kills the process represented by the section at point.

- User Option: magit-git-debug

  When this is non-nil then the output of all calls to git are logged
  in the process buffer.  This is useful when debugging, otherwise it
  just negatively affects performance.

*** Running Git manually

While Magit provides many Emacs commands to interact with Git, it does
not cover everything.  In those cases your existing Git knowledge will
come in handy.  Magit provides some commands for running arbitrary Git
commands by typing them into the minibuffer, instead of having to
switch to a shell.

- Key: !, magit-run-popup

  Shows the popup buffer featuring the below suffix commands.

These suffix commands run a Git subcommand.  The user input has to
begin with the subcommand, "git" is assumed.

- Key: ! !, magit-git-command-topdir

  This command reads a Git subcommand from the user and executes it in
  the top-level directory of the current repository.

- Key: ! p, magit-git-command

  This command reads a Git subcommand from the user and executes it in
  ~default-directory~.  With a prefix argument the command is executed
  in the top-level directory of the current repository instead.

These suffix commands run arbitrary shell commands.

- Key: ! s, magit-shell-command-topdir

  This command reads a shell command from the user and executes it in
  the top-level directory of the current repository.

- Key: ! S, magit-shell-command

  This command reads a shell command from the user and executes it in
  ~default-directory~.  With a prefix argument the command is executed
  in the top-level directory of the current repository instead.

These suffix commands start external gui tools.

- Key: ! k, magit-run-gitk

  This command runs ~gitk~ in the current repository.

- Key: ! a, magit-run-gitk-all

  This command runs ~gitk --all~ in the current repository.

- Key: ! b, magit-run-gitk-branches

  This command runs ~gitk --branches~ in the current repository.

- Key: ! g, magit-run-git-gui

  This command runs ~git gui~ in the current repository.

*** Git executable

Except on MS Windows, Magit defaults to running Git without specifying
the path to the git executable.  Instead the first executable found by
Emacs on ~exec-path~ is used (whose value in turn is set based on the
value of the environment variable ~$PATH~ when Emacs was started).

This has the advantage that it continues to work even when using Tramp
to connect to a remote machine on which the executable is found in a
different place.  The downside is that if you have multiple versions
of Git installed, then you might end up using another version than the
one you think you are using.

- Key: M-x magit-version, magit-version

  Shows the currently used versions of Magit, Git, and Emacs in the
  echo area.  Non-interactively this just returns the Magit version.

When the ~system-type~ is ~windows-nt~, then ~magit-git-executable~ is set
to an absolute path when Magit is first loaded.  This is necessary
because Git on that platform comes with several wrapper scripts for
the actual git binary, which are also placed on ~$PATH~, and using one
of these wrappers instead of the binary would degrade performance
horribly.

If Magit doesn't find the correct executable then you *can* work around
that by setting ~magit-git-executable~ to an absolute path.  But note
that doing so is a kludge.  It is better to make sure the order in the
environment variable ~$PATH~ is correct, and that Emacs is started with
that environment in effect.  If you have to connect from Windows to a
non-Windows machine, then you must change the value to "git".

- User Option: magit-git-executable

  The git executable used by Magit, either the full path to the
  executable or the string "git" to let Emacs find the executable
  itself, using the standard mechanism for doing such things.

*** Global Git arguments

- User Option: magit-git-global-arguments

  The arguments set here are used every time the git executable is run
  as a subprocess.  They are placed right after the executable itself
  and before the git command - as in ~git HERE... COMMAND REST~.  For
  valid arguments see [[info:gitman#git]].

  Be careful what you add here, especially if you are using Tramp to
  connect to servers with ancient Git versions.  Never remove anything
  that is part of the default value, unless you really know what you
  are doing.  And think very hard before adding something; it will be
  used every time Magit runs Git for any purpose.

* Inspecting

The functionality provided by Magit can be roughly divided into three
groups: inspecting existing data, manipulating existing data or adding
new data, and transferring data.  Of course that is a rather crude
distinction that often falls short, but it's more useful than no
distinction at all.  This section is concerned with inspecting data,
the next two with manipulating and transferring it.  Then follows a
section about miscellaneous functionality, which cannot easily be fit
into this distinction.

Of course other distinctions make sense too, e.g. Git's distinction
between porcelain and plumbing commands, which for the most part is
equivalent to Emacs' distinction between interactive commands and
non-interactive functions.  All of the sections mentioned before are
mainly concerned with the porcelain -- Magit's plumbing layer is
described later.

** Status buffer

While other Magit buffers contain e.g. one particular diff or one
particular log, the status buffer contains the diffs for staged and
unstaged changes, logs for unpushed and unpulled commits, lists of
stashes and untracked files, and information related to the current
branch.

During certain incomplete operations -- for example when a merge
resulted in a conflict -- additional information is displayed that
helps proceeding with or aborting the operation.

The command ~magit-status~ displays the status buffer belonging to the
current repository in another window.  This command is used so often
that it should be bound globally.  We recommend using ~C-x g~:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x g") 'magit-status)
#+END_SRC

- Key: C-x g, magit-status

  Show the status of the current Git repository in a buffer.
  With a prefix argument prompt for a repository to be shown.
  With two prefix arguments prompt for an arbitrary directory.
  If that directory isn't the root of an existing repository,
  then offer to initialize it as a new repository.

- User Option: magit-repository-directories

  Directories containing Git repositories.  Magit checks these
  directories for Git repositories and offers them as choices when
  ~magit-status~ is used with a prefix argument.

- User Option: magit-repository-directories-depth

  The maximum depth to look for Git repositories.  When looking for
  a Git repository below the directories in
  ~magit-repository-directories~, only descend this many levels deep.

- Command: ido-enter-magit-status

  From an Ido prompt used to open a file, instead drop into
  ~magit-status~.  This is similar to ~ido-magic-delete-char~, which,
  despite its name, usually causes a Dired buffer to be created.

  To make this command available, use something like:

  #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
    (add-hook 'ido-setup-hook
              (lambda ()
                (define-key ido-completion-map
                  (kbd \"C-x g\") 'ido-enter-magit-status)))
  #+END_SRC

  Starting with Emacs 25.1 the Ido keymaps are defined just once
  instead of every time Ido is invoked, so now you can modify it
  like pretty much every other keymap:

  #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
    (define-key ido-common-completion-map
      (kbd \"C-x g\") 'ido-enter-magit-status)
  #+END_SRC

*** Status sections

The contents of status buffers is controlled using the hook
~magit-status-sections-hook~.  See [[*Section hooks]] to learn about such
hooks and how to customize them.

- User Option: magit-status-sections-hook

  Hook run to insert sections into a status buffer.

The first function on that hook by default is
~magit-insert-status-headers~; it is described in the next section.
By default the following functions are also members of that hook:

- Function: magit-insert-merge-log

  Insert section for the on-going merge.  Display the heads that are
  being merged.  If no merge is in progress, do nothing.

- Function: magit-insert-rebase-sequence

  Insert section for the on-going rebase sequence.
  If no such sequence is in progress, do nothing.

- Function: magit-insert-am-sequence

  Insert section for the on-going patch applying sequence.
  If no such sequence is in progress, do nothing.

- Function: magit-insert-sequencer-sequence

  Insert section for the on-going cherry-pick or revert sequence.
  If no such sequence is in progress, do nothing.

- Function: magit-insert-bisect-output

  While bisecting, insert section with output from ~git bisect~.

- Function: magit-insert-bisect-rest

  While bisecting, insert section visualizing the bisect state.

- Function: magit-insert-bisect-log

  While bisecting, insert section logging bisect progress.

- Function: magit-insert-untracked-files

  Maybe insert a list or tree of untracked files.
  Do so depending on the value of ~status.showUntrackedFiles~.

- Function: magit-insert-unstaged-changes

  Insert section showing unstaged changes.

- Function: magit-insert-staged-changes

  Insert section showing staged changes.

- Function: magit-insert-stashes &optional ref heading

  Insert the ~stashes~ section showing reflog for "refs/stash".
  If optional REF is non-nil show reflog for that instead.
  If optional HEADING is non-nil use that as section heading
  instead of "Stashes:".

- Function: magit-insert-unpulled-from-upstream

  Insert section showing commits that haven't been pulled from the
  upstream branch yet.

- Function: magit-insert-unpulled-from-pushremote

  Insert section showing commits that haven't been pulled from the
  push-remote branch yet.

- Function: magit-insert-unpushed-to-upstream

  Insert section showing commits that haven't been pushed to the
  upstream yet.

- Function: magit-insert-unpushed-to-pushremote

  Insert section showing commits that haven't been pushed to the
  push-remote yet.

The following functions can also be added to the above hook:

- Function: magit-insert-tracked-files

  Insert a tree of tracked files.

- Function: magit-insert-unpulled-or-recent-commits

  Insert section showing unpulled or recent commits.
  If an upstream is configured for the current branch and it is
  ahead of the current branch, then show the missing commits.
  Otherwise, show the last ~magit-log-section-commit-count~
  commits.

- Function: magit-insert-recent-commits

  Insert section showing the last ~magit-log-section-commit-count~
  commits.

- User Option: magit-log-section-commit-count

  How many recent commits ~magit-insert-recent-commits~ and
  ~magit-insert-unpulled-or-recent-commits~ (provided there are no
  unpulled commits) show.

- Function: magit-insert-unpulled-cherries

  Insert section showing unpulled commits.
  Like ~magit-insert-unpulled-commits~ but prefix each commit
  that has not been applied yet (i.e. a commit with a patch-id
  not shared with any local commit) with "+", and all others
  with "-".

- Function: magit-insert-unpulled-module-commits

  Insert sections for all submodules with unpulled commits.
  These sections can be expanded to show the respective commits.

- Function: magit-insert-unpushed-cherries

  Insert section showing unpushed commits.
  Like ~magit-insert-unpushed-commits~ but prefix each commit
  which has not been applied to upstream yet (i.e. a commit with
  a patch-id not shared with any upstream commit) with "+" and
  all others with "-".

- Function: magit-insert-unpushed-module-commits

  Insert sections for all submodules with unpushed commits.
  These sections can be expanded to show the respective commits.

See [[*References buffer]] for some more section inserters, which could be
used here.

*** Status header sections

The contents of status buffers is controlled using the hook
~magit-status-sections-hook~, as described in the previous section.
By default ~magit-insert-status-headers~ is the first member of that
hook variable.

- Function: magit-insert-status-headers

  Insert headers sections appropriate for ~magit-status-mode~ buffers.
  The sections are inserted by running the functions on the hook
  ~magit-status-headers-hook~.

- User Option: magit-status-headers-hook

  Hook run to insert headers sections into the status buffer.

  This hook is run by ~magit-insert-status-headers~, which in turn has
  to be a member of ~magit-insert-status-sections~ to be used at all.

By default the following functions are members of the above hook:

- Function: magit-insert-error-header

  Insert a header line showing the message about the Git error that
  just occurred.

  This function is only aware of the last error that occur when Git
  was run for side-effects.  If, for example, an error occurs while
  generating a diff, then that error won't be inserted.  Refreshing
  the status buffer causes this section to disappear again.

- Function: magit-insert-diff-filter-header

  Insert a header line showing the effective diff filters.

- Function: magit-insert-head-branch-header

  Insert a header line about the current branch or detached ~HEAD~.

- Function: magit-insert-upstream-branch-header

  Insert a header line about the branch that is usually pulled into
  the current branch.

- Function: magit-insert-push-branch-header

  Insert a header line about the branch that the current branch is
  usually pushed to.

- Function: magit-insert-tags-header

  Insert a header line about the current and/or next tag.

The following functions can also be added to the above hook:

- Function: magit-insert-repo-header

  Insert a header line showing the path to the repository top-level.

- Function: magit-insert-remote-header

  Insert a header line about the remote of the current branch.

  If no remote is configured for the current branch, then fall back
  showing the "origin" remote, or if that does not exist the first
  remote in alphabetic order.

- Function: magit-insert-user-header

  Insert a header line about the current user.

*** Status options

- User Option: magit-status-refresh-hook

  Hook run after a status buffer has been refreshed.

- User Option: magit-log-section-args

  Additional Git arguments used when creating log sections.  Only
  ~--graph~, ~--decorate~, and ~--show-signature~ are supported.  This
  option is only a temporary kludge and will be removed.

  Note that due to an issue in Git the use of ~--graph~ is very slow
  with long histories, so you probably don't want to add this here.

Also see the proceeding section for more options concerning status
buffers.

** Logging

The status buffer contains logs for the unpushed and unpulled commits,
but that obviously isn't enough.  The prefix command ~magit-log-popup~,
on ~l~, features several suffix commands, which show a specific log in a
separate log buffer.

Like other popups, the log popup also features several arguments that
can be changed before invoking one of the suffix commands.  However in
case of the log popup these arguments correspond to those currently in
use in the current repository's log buffer.  When the log popup is
invoked while no log buffer exists for the current repository yet,
then the default value of ~magit-log-arguments~ is used instead.

For information about the various arguments, see [[info:gitman#git-log]].

The log popup also features several reflog commands.  See [[*Reflog]].

- Key: l, magit-log-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: l l, magit-log-current

  Show log for the current branch.  When ~HEAD~ is detached or with a
  prefix argument, show log for one or more revs read from the
  minibuffer.

- Key: l o, magit-log

  Show log for one or more revs read from the minibuffer.  The user
  can input any revision or revisions separated by a space, or even
  ranges, but only branches, tags, and a representation of the
  commit at point are available as completion candidates.

- Key: l h, magit-log-head

  Show log for ~HEAD~.

- Key: l L, magit-log-branches

  Show log for all local branches and ~HEAD~.

- Key: l b, magit-log-all-branches

  Show log for all local and remote branches and ~HEAD~.

- Key: l a, magit-log-all

  Show log for all references and ~HEAD~.

The following related commands are not available from the popup.

- Key: Y, magit-cherry

  Show commits in a branch that are not merged in the upstream branch.

- Key: M-x magit-log-buffer-file, magit-log-buffer-file

  Show log for the file visited in the current buffer.

*** Refreshing logs

The prefix command ~magit-log-refresh-popup~, on ~L~, can be used to
change the log arguments used in the current buffer, without changing
which log is shown.  This works in dedicated log buffers, but also in
the status buffer.

- Key: L, magit-log-refresh-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: L g, magit-log-refresh

  This suffix command sets the local log arguments for the current
  buffer.

- Key: L s, magit-log-set-default-arguments

  This suffix command sets the default log arguments for buffers of
  the same type as that of the current buffer.  Other existing buffers
  of the same type are not affected because their local values have
  already been initialized.

- Key: L w, magit-log-save-default-arguments

  This suffix command sets the default log arguments for buffers of
  the same type as that of the current buffer, and saves the value for
  future sessions.  Other existing buffers of the same type are not
  affected because their local values have already been initialized.

- Key: L t, magit-toggle-margin

  Show or hide the margin.

*** Log Buffer

- Key: L, magit-log-refresh-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.  See [[*Refreshing
  logs]].

- Key: q, magit-log-bury-buffer

  Bury the current buffer or the revision buffer in the same frame.
  Like ~magit-mode-bury-buffer~ (which see) but with a negative prefix
  argument instead bury the revision buffer, provided it is displayed
  in the current frame.

- Key: C-c C-b, magit-go-backward

  Move backward in current buffer's history.

- Key: C-c C-f, magit-go-forward

  Move forward in current buffer's history.

- Key: SPC, magit-diff-show-or-scroll-up

  Update the commit or diff buffer for the thing at point.

  Either show the commit or stash at point in the appropriate buffer,
  or if that buffer is already being displayed in the current frame
  and contains information about that commit or stash, then instead
  scroll the buffer up.  If there is no commit or stash at point, then
  prompt for a commit.

- Key: DEL, magit-diff-show-or-scroll-down

  Update the commit or diff buffer for the thing at point.

  Either show the commit or stash at point in the appropriate buffer,
  or if that buffer is already being displayed in the current frame
  and contains information about that commit or stash, then instead
  scroll the buffer down.  If there is no commit or stash at point,
  then prompt for a commit.

- Key: =, magit-log-toggle-commit-limit

  Toggle the number of commits the current log buffer is limited to.
  If the number of commits is currently limited, then remove that
  limit.  Otherwise set it to 256.

- Key: +, magit-log-double-commit-limit

  Double the number of commits the current log buffer is limited to.

- Key: =, magit-log-half-commit-limit

  Half the number of commits the current log buffer is limited to.

- User Option: magit-log-auto-more

  Insert more log entries automatically when moving past the last
  entry.  Only considered when moving past the last entry with
  ~magit-goto-*-section~ commands.

- User Option: magit-log-show-margin

  Whether to initially show the margin in log buffers.

  When non-nil the author name and date are initially displayed in the
  margin of log buffers.  The margin can be shown or hidden in the
  current buffer using the command ~magit-toggle-margin~.

  When a log buffer contains a verbose log, then the margin is never
  displayed.  In status buffers this option is ignored, but it is
  possible to show the margin using the mentioned command.

- User Option: magit-log-show-refname-after-summary

  Whether to show the refnames after the commit summaries.  This is
  useful if you use really long branch names.

*** Select from log

When the user has to select a recent commit that is reachable from
~HEAD~, using regular completion would be inconvenient (because most
humans cannot remember hashes or "HEAD~5", at least not without double
checking).  Instead a log buffer is used to select the commit, which
has the advantage that commits are presented in order and with the
commit message.  The following additional key bindings are available
when a log is used for selection:

- Key: C-c C-c, magit-log-select-pick

  Select the commit at point and act on it.  Call
  ~magit-log-select-pick-function~ with the selected commit as
  argument.

- Key: C-c C-k, magit-log-select-quit

  Abort selecting a commit, don't act on any commit.

This feature is used by rebase and squash commands.

*** Reflog

Also see [[info:gitman#git-reflog]].

These reflog commands are available from the log popup.  See [[*Logging]].

- Key: l r, magit-reflog-current

  Display the reflog of the current branch.

- Key: l O, magit-reflog-other

  Display the reflog of a branch.

- Key: l H, magit-reflog-head

  Display the ~HEAD~ reflog.

** Diffing

The status buffer contains diffs for the staged and unstaged commits,
but that obviously isn't enough.  The prefix command ~magit-diff-popup~,
on ~d~, features several suffix commands, which show a specific diff in
a separate diff buffer.

Like other popups, the diff popup also features several arguments that
can be changed before invoking one of the suffix commands.  However in
case of the diff popup these arguments correspond to those currently
in use in the current repository's diff buffer.  When the diff popup
is invoked while no diff buffer exists for the current repository yet,
then the default value of ~magit-diff-arguments~ is used instead.

Also see [[info:gitman#git-diff]].

- Key: d, magit-diff-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: d d, magit-diff-dwim

  Show changes for the thing at point.

- Key: d r, magit-diff

  Show differences between two commits.

  RANGE should be a range (A..B or A...B) but can also be a single
  commit.  If one side of the range is omitted, then it defaults to
  HEAD.  If just a commit is given, then changes in the working tree
  relative to that commit are shown.

  If the region is active, use the revisions on the first and last
  line of the region.  With a prefix argument, instead of diffing the
  revisions, choose a revision to view changes along, starting at the
  common ancestor of both revisions (i.e., use a "..."  range).

- Key: d w, magit-diff-worktree

  Show changes between the current working tree and the ~HEAD~ commit.
  With a prefix argument show changes between the working tree and a
  commit read from the minibuffer.

- Key: d s, magit-diff-staged

  Show changes between the index and the ~HEAD~ commit.  With a prefix
  argument show changes between the index and a commit read from the
  minibuffer.

- Key: d u, magit-diff-unstaged

  Show changes between the working tree and the index.

- Key: d p, magit-diff-paths

  Show changes between any two files on disk.

All of the above suffix commands update the repository's diff buffer.
The diff popup also features two commands which show differences in
another buffer:

- Key: d c, magit-show-commit

  Show the commit at point.  If there is no commit at point or with a
  prefix argument, prompt for a commit.

- Key: d t, magit-stash-show

  Show all diffs of a stash in a buffer.

*** Refreshing diffs

The prefix command ~magit-diff-refresh-popup~, on ~D~, can be used to
change the diff arguments used in the current buffer, without changing
which diff is shown.  This works in dedicated diff buffers, but also
in the status buffer.

- Key: D, magit-diff-refresh-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: D g, magit-diff-refresh

  This suffix command sets the local diff arguments for the current
  buffer.

- Key: D s, magit-diff-set-default-arguments

  This suffix command sets the default diff arguments for buffers of
  the same type as that of the current buffer.  Other existing buffers
  of the same type are not affected because their local values have
  already been initialized.

- Key: D w, magit-diff-save-default-arguments

  This suffix command sets the default diff arguments for buffers of
  the same type as that of the current buffer, and saves the value for
  future sessions.  Other existing buffers of the same type are not
  affected because their local values have already been initialized.

- Key: D t, magit-diff-toggle-refine-hunk

  This command toggles hunk refinement on or off.

- Key: D r, magit-diff-switch-range-type

  This command converts the diff range type from "revA..revB" to
  "revB...revA", or vice versa.

- Key: D f, magit-diff-flip-revs

  This command swaps revisions in the diff range from "revA..revB"
  to "revB..revA", or vice versa.

In addition to the above popup, which allows changing any of the
supported arguments, there also exist some commands which change a
particular argument.

- Key: -, magit-diff-less-context

  This command decreases the context for diff hunks by COUNT lines.

- Key: +, magit-diff-more-context

  This command increases the context for diff hunks by COUNT lines.

- Key: 0, magit-diff-default-context

  This command resets the context for diff hunks to the default height.

The following commands quickly change what diff is being displayed
without having to using one of the diff popups.

- Key: C-c C-d, magit-diff-while-committing

  While committing, this command shows the changes that are about to
  be committed.  While amending, invoking the command again toggles
  between showing just the new changes or all the changes that will be
  committed.

  This binding is available in the diff buffer as well as the commit
  message buffer.

- Key: C-c C-b, magit-go-backward

  This command moves backward in current buffer's history.

- Key: C-c C-f, magit-go-forward

  This command moves forward in current buffer's history.

*** Diff buffer

- Key: RET, magit-diff-visit-file

  From a diff, visit the corresponding file at the appropriate
  position.

  When the file is already being displayed in another window of the
  same frame, then just select that window and adjust point.  With a
  prefix argument also display in another window.

  If the diff shows changes in the worktree, the index, or ~HEAD~, then
  visit the actual file.  Otherwise when the diff is about an older
  commit, then visit the respective blob using ~magit-find-file~.  Also
  see ~magit-diff-visit-file-worktree~, which, as the name suggests,
  always visits the actual file.

- Key: C-<return>, magit-diff-visit-file-worktree

  From a diff, visit the corresponding file at the appropriate position.

  When the file is already being displayed in another window of the
  same frame, then just select that window and adjust point.  With
  a prefix argument also display in another window.

  The actual file in the worktree is visited. The positions in the
  hunk headers get less useful the "older" the changes are, and as a
  result, jumping to the appropriate position gets less reliable.

  Also see ~magit-diff-visit-file-worktree~, which visits the respective
  blob, unless the diff shows changes in the worktree, the index, or
  ~HEAD~.

- Key: j, magit-jump-to-diffstat-or-diff

  Jump to the diffstat or diff.  When point is on a file inside the
  diffstat section, then jump to the respective diff section.
  Otherwise, jump to the diffstat section or a child thereof.

- Key: SPC, scroll-up

  Scroll text upward.

- Key: DEL, scroll-down

  Scroll text downward.

*** Diff options

- User Option: magit-diff-refine-hunk

  Whether to show word-granularity differences within diff hunks.

  - ~nil~ never show fine differences.
  - ~t~ show fine differences for the current diff hunk only.
  - ~all~ show fine differences for all displayed diff hunks.

- User Option: magit-diff-paint-whitespace

  Specify where to highlight whitespace errors.

  See ~magit-highlight-trailing-whitespace~,
  ~magit-highlight-indentation~.  The symbol ~t~ means in all diffs,
  ~status~ means only in the status buffer, and nil means nowhere.

- User Option: magit-diff-highlight-trailing

  Whether to highlight whitespace at the end of a line in diffs.  Used
  only when ~magit-diff-paint-whitespace~ is non-nil.

- User Option: magit-diff-highlight-indentation

  Highlight the "wrong" indentation style.  Used only when
  ~magit-diff-paint-whitespace~ is non-nil.

  The value is a list of cons cells.  The car is a regular expression,
  and the cdr is the value that applies to repositories whose
  directory matches the regular expression.  If more than one element
  matches, then the *last* element in the list applies.  The default
  value should therefore come first in the list.

  If the value is ~tabs~, highlight indentation with tabs.  If the value
  is an integer, highlight indentation with at least that many spaces.
  Otherwise, highlight neither.

*** Revision buffer

- User Option: magit-revision-insert-related-refs

  Whether to show related refs in revision buffers.

- User Option: magit-revision-show-gravatar

  Whether to show gravatar images in revision buffers.

  If non-nil, then the value has to be a cons-cell which specifies
  where the gravatar images for the author and/or the committer are
  inserted inside the text that was previously inserted according
  to ~magit-revision-header-format~.

  Both cells are regular expressions.  The car specifies where to
  insert the author gravatar image.  The top halve of the image is
  inserted right after the matched text, the bottom halve on the
  next line at the same offset.  The cdr specifies where to insert
  the committer image, accordingly.  Either the car or the cdr may
  be nil.

** Ediffing

- Key: e, magit-ediff-dwim

  Compare, stage, or resolve using Ediff.

  This command tries to guess what file, and what commit or range the
  user wants to compare, stage, or resolve using Ediff.  It might only
  be able to guess either the file, or range/commit, in which case
  the user is asked about the other.  It might not always guess right,
  in which case the appropriate ~magit-ediff-*~ command has to be used
  explicitly.  If it cannot read the user's mind at all, then it asks
  the user for a command to run.

- Key: E, magit-ediff-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands in a popup
  buffer.

- Key: E r, magit-ediff-compare

  Compare two revisions of a file using Ediff.

  If the region is active, use the revisions on the first and last
  line of the region.  With a prefix argument, instead of diffing the
  revisions, choose a revision to view changes along, starting at the
  common ancestor of both revisions (i.e., use a "..."  range).

- Key: E m, magit-ediff-resolve

  Resolve outstanding conflicts in a file using Ediff, defaulting to
  the file at point.

  Provided that the value of ~merge.conflictstyle~ is ~diff3~, you can
  view the file's merge-base revision using ~/~ in the Ediff control
  buffer.

  In the rare event that you want to manually resolve all conflicts,
  including those already resolved by Git, use
  ~ediff-merge-revisions-with-ancestor~.

- Key: E s, magit-ediff-stage

  Stage and unstage changes to a file using Ediff, defaulting to the
  file at point.

- Key: E u, magit-ediff-show-unstaged

  Show unstaged changes to a file using Ediff.

- Key: E i, magit-ediff-show-staged

  Show staged changes to a file using Ediff.

- Key: E w, magit-ediff-show-working-tree

  Show changes in a file between HEAD and working tree using Ediff.

- Key: E c, magit-ediff-show-commit

  Show changes to a file introduced by a commit using Ediff.

- User Option: magit-ediff-dwim-show-on-hunks

  This option controls what command ~magit-ediff-dwim~ calls when
  point is on uncommitted hunks.  When nil, always run
  ~magit-ediff-stage~.  Otherwise, use ~magit-ediff-show-staged~ and
  ~magit-ediff-show-unstaged~ to show staged and unstaged changes,
  respectively.

- User Option: magit-ediff-quit-hook

  This hook is run after quitting an Ediff session that was created
  using a Magit command.  The hook functions are run inside the Ediff
  control buffer, and should not change the current buffer.

  This is similar to ~ediff-quit-hook~ but takes the needs of Magit into
  account.  The regular ~ediff-quit-hook~ is ignored by Ediff sessions
  that were created using a Magit command.

** References buffer

- Key: y, magit-show-refs-popup

  List and compare references in a dedicated buffer.  By default all
  refs are compared with ~HEAD~, but with a prefix argument this command
  instead acts as a prefix command and shows the following suffix
  commands along with the appropriate infix arguments in a popup
  buffer.

- Key: y y, magit-show-refs-head

  List and compare references in a dedicated buffer.  Refs are
  compared with ~HEAD~.

- Key: y c, magit-show-refs-current

  List and compare references in a dedicated buffer.  Refs are
  compared with the current branch or ~HEAD~ if it is detached.

- Key: y o, magit-show-refs

  List and compare references in a dedicated buffer.  Refs are
  compared with a branch read from the user.

- User Option: magit-refs-show-commit-count

  Whether to show commit counts in Magit-Refs mode buffers.

  - ~all~ Show counts for branches and tags.
  - ~branch~ Show counts for branches only.
  - ~nil~ Never show counts.

  The default is ~nil~ because anything else can be very expensive.

- User Option: magit-refs-show-margin

  Whether to initially show the margin in refs buffers.

  When non-nil the committer name and date are initially displayed in
  the margin of refs buffers.  The margin can be shown or hidden in
  the current buffer using the command ~magit-toggle-margin~.

The following variables control how individual refs are displayed.  If
you change one of these variables (especially the "%c" part), then you
should also change the others to keep things aligned.  The following
%-sequences are supported:

- ~%a~ Number of commits this ref has over the one we compare to.
- ~%b~ Number of commits the ref we compare to has over this one.
- ~%c~ Number of commits this ref has over the one we compare to.  For
  the ref which all other refs are compared this is instead "@", if
  it is the current branch, or "#" otherwise.
- ~%C~ For the ref which all other refs are compared this is "@", if it
  is the current branch, or "#" otherwise.  For all other refs " ".
- ~%h~ Hash of this ref's tip.
- ~%m~ Commit summary of the tip of this ref.
- ~%n~ Name of this ref.
- ~%u~ Upstream of this local branch and additional local vs. upstream
  information.
- ~%U~ Upstream of this local branch.

- Variable: magit-refs-local-branch-format

  Format used for local branches in refs buffers.

- Variable: magit-refs-remote-branch-format

  Format used for remote branches in refs buffers.

- Variable: magit-refs-tags-format

  Format used for tags in refs buffers.

- Variable: magit-refs-indent-cherry-lines

  Indentation of cherries in refs buffers.  This should be N-1 where N
  is taken from "%Nc" in the above format strings.

Everywhere in Magit ~RET~ visits the thing represented by the section
at point.  In almost all cases visiting is done by showing some
information in another buffer and *not* doing anything else.  In refs
buffers ~RET~ behaves differently, and because many users have grown
accustomed to that inconsistency we are keeping it that way.

- Key: RET, magit-visit-ref

  Everywhere except in refs buffers this command behaves exactly like
  ~magit-show-commit~; it shows the commit at point in another buffer.

  In refs buffers, when there is a local branch at point, then this
  command instead checks out that branch.  When there is a remote
  branch or a tag at point then the respective commit is checked out
  causing ~HEAD~ to be detached.

  When a prefix argument it used, then this command only *focuses* on
  the reference at point, i.e. the commit counts and cherries are
  updated to be relative to that reference, but nothing is checked
  out.

- User Option: magit-visit-ref-create

  When this is non-nil and ~magit-visit-ref~ is called inside a refs
  buffer, then it "visits" the remote branch at point by creating a
  new local branch which tracks that remote branch and then checking
  out the newly created branch.

  This is not enabled by default because one has to use an extremely
  loose definition of the verb "to visit" to be able to argue that
  creating and then checking out a new local branch is a form of
  visiting a remote branch.

*** References sections

The contents of references buffers is controlled using the hook
~magit-refs-sections-hook~.  See [[*Section hooks]] to learn about such hooks
and how to customize them.  All of the below functions are members of
the default value.  Note that it makes much less sense to customize
this hook than it does for the respective hook used for the status
buffer.

- User Option: magit-refs-sections-hook

  Hook run to insert sections into a references buffer.

- Function: magit-insert-local-branches

  Insert sections showing all local branches.

- Function: magit-insert-remote-branches

  Insert sections showing all remote-tracking branches.

- Function: magit-insert-tags

  Insert sections showing all tags.

** Bisecting

Also see [[info:gitman#git-bisect]].

- Key: B, magit-bisect-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands in a
  popup buffer.

When bisecting is not in progress, then the popup buffer features the
following commands.

- Key: B s, magit-bisect-start

  Start a bisect session.

  Bisecting a bug means to find the commit that introduced it.
  This command starts such a bisect session by asking for a known
  good and a bad commit.

- Key: B u, magit-bisect-run

  Bisect automatically by running commands after each step.

When bisecting is in progress, then the popup buffer features these
commands instead.

- Key: B b, magit-bisect-bad

  Mark the current commit as bad.  Use this after you have asserted
  that the commit does contain the bug in question.

- Key: B g, magit-bisect-good

  Mark the current commit as good.  Use this after you have asserted
  that the commit does not contain the bug in question.

- Key: B k, magit-bisect-skip

  Skip the current commit.  Use this if for some reason the current
  commit is not a good one to test.  This command lets Git choose a
  different one.

- Key: B r, magit-bisect-reset

  After bisecting, cleanup bisection state and return to original
  ~HEAD~.

** Visiting blobs

- Key: M-x magit-find-file, magit-find-file

  View FILE from REV.  Switch to a buffer visiting blob REV:FILE,
  creating one if none already exists.

- Key: M-x magit-find-file-other-window, magit-find-file-other-window

  View FILE from REV, in another window.  Like ~magit-find-file~, but
  create a new window or reuse an existing one.

** Blaming

Also see [[info:gitman#git-blame]].

- Key: M-x magit-blame, magit-blame

  Display edit history of FILE up to REVISION.

  Interactively blame the file being visited in the current buffer.
  If the buffer visits a revision of that file, then blame up to that
  revision.  Otherwise, blame the file's full history, including
  uncommitted changes.

  If Magit-Blame mode is already turned on then blame recursively, by
  visiting REVISION:FILE (using ~magit-find-file~), where revision is
  the revision before the revision that added the lines at point.

  ARGS is a list of additional arguments to pass to ~git blame~; only
  arguments available from ~magit-blame-popup~ should be used.

- Key: M-x magit-blame-popup, magit-blame-popup

  This prefix command shows the above suffix command along with the
  appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: RET, magit-show-commit

  Show the commit at point.  If there is no commit at point or with a
  prefix argument, prompt for a commit.

- Key: SPC, magit-diff-show-or-scroll-up

  Update the commit or diff buffer for the thing at point.

  Either show the commit or stash at point in the appropriate buffer,
  or if that buffer is already being displayed in the current frame
  and contains information about that commit or stash, then instead
  scroll the buffer up.  If there is no commit or stash at point, then
  prompt for a commit.

- Key: DEL, magit-diff-show-or-scroll-down

  Update the commit or diff buffer for the thing at point.

  Either show the commit or stash at point in the appropriate buffer,
  or if that buffer is already being displayed in the current frame
  and contains information about that commit or stash, then instead
  scroll the buffer down.  If there is no commit or stash at point,
  then prompt for a commit.

- Key: n, magit-blame-next-chunk

  Move to the next chunk.

- Key: N, magit-blame-next-chunk-same-commit

  Move to the next chunk from the same commit.

- Key: p, magit-blame-previous-chunk

  Move to the previous chunk.

- Key: P, magit-blame-previous-chunk-same-commit

  Move to the previous chunk from the same commit.

- Key: q, magit-blame-quit

  Turn off Magit-Blame mode.  If the buffer was created during a
  recursive blame, then also kill the buffer.

- Key: M-w, magit-blame-copy-hash

  Save the hash of the current chunk's commit to the kill ring.

- Key: t, magit-blame-toggle-headings

  Show or hide blame chunk headings.

- User Option: magit-blame-heading-format

  Format string used for blame headings.

- User Option: magit-blame-time-format

  Format string used for time strings in blame headings.

- User Option: magit-blame-show-headings

  Whether to initially show blame block headings.  The headings can
  also be toggled locally using command ~magit-blame-toggle-headings~.

- User Option: magit-blame-goto-chunk-hook

  Hook run by ~magit-blame-next-chunk~ and ~magit-blame-previous-chunk~.

* Manipulating
** Repository setup

- Key: M-x magit-init, magit-init

  This command initializes a repository and then shows the status
  buffer for the new repository.

  If the directory is below an existing repository, then the user has
  to confirm that a new one should be created inside.  If the
  directory is the root of the existing repository, then the user has
  to confirm that it should be reinitialized.

- Key: M-x magit-clone, magit-clone

  This command clones a repository and then shows the status buffer
  for the new repository.

  The user is queried for a remote url and a local directory.

- User Option: magit-clone-set-remote.pushDefault

  Whether to set the value of ~remote.pushDefault~ after cloning.

  If ~t~, then set without asking.  If ~nil~, then don't set.  If ~ask~,
  then ask the user every time she clones a repository.

** Staging and unstaging

Like Git, Magit can of course stage and unstage complete files.
Unlike Git, it also allows users to gracefully un-/stage
individual hunks and even just part of a hunk.  To stage individual
hunks and parts of hunks using Git directly, one has to use the very
modal and rather clumsy interface of a ~git add --interactive~ session.

With Magit, on the other hand, one can un-/stage individual hunks by
just moving point into the respective section inside a diff displayed
in the status buffer or a separate diff buffer and typing ~s~ or ~u~.  To
operate on just parts of a hunk, mark the changes that should be
un-/staged using the region and then press the same key that would be
used to un-/stage.  To stage multiple files or hunks at once use a
region that starts inside the heading of such a section and ends
inside the heading of a sibling section of the same type.

Besides staging and unstaging, Magit also provides several other
"apply variants" that can also operate on a file, multiple files at
once, a hunk, multiple hunks at once, and on parts of a hunk.  These
apply variants are described in the next section.

- Key: s, magit-stage

  Add the change at point to the staging area.

- Key: S, magit-stage-modified

  Stage all changes to files modified in the worktree.  Stage all new
  content of tracked files and remove tracked files that no longer
  exist in the working tree from the index also.  With a prefix
  argument also stage previously untracked (but not ignored) files.

- Key: u, magit-unstage

  Remove the change at point from the staging area.

- Key: U, magit-unstage-all

  Remove all changes from the staging area.

- Key: M-x magit-reset-index, magit-reset-index

  Reset the index to some commit.  The commit is read from the user
  and defaults to the commit at point.  If there is no commit at
  point, then it defaults to ~HEAD~.


To stage a smaller unit than a range of lines, similar to ~git add
--patch~ followed by ~e~ would do, then you can use ~magit-ediff-stage~ to
do so.

*** Staging from file-visiting buffers

Fine-grained un-/staging has to be done from the status or a diff
buffer, but it's also possible to un-/stage all changes made to the
file visited in the current buffer right from inside that buffer.

- Key: M-x magit-stage-file, magit-stage-file

  When invoked inside a file-visiting buffer, then stage all changes
  to that file.  In a Magit buffer, stage the file at point if any.
  Otherwise prompt for a file to be staged.  With a prefix argument
  always prompt the user for a file, even in a file-visiting buffer or
  when there is a file section at point.

- Key: M-x magit-unstage-file, magit-unstage-file

  When invoked inside a file-visiting buffer, then unstage all changes
  to that file.  In a Magit buffer, unstage the file at point if any.
  Otherwise prompt for a file to be unstaged.  With a prefix argument
  always prompt the user for a file, even in a file-visiting buffer or
  when there is a file section at point.

** Applying

Magit provides several "apply variants": stage, unstage, discard,
reverse, and "regular apply".  At least when operating on a hunk they
are all implemented using ~git apply~, which is why they are called
"apply variants".

- Stage.  Apply a change from the working tree to the index.  The change
  also remains in the working tree.

- Unstage.  Remove a change from the index.  The change remains in the
  working tree.

- Discard.  On a staged change, remove it from the working tree and the
  index.  On an unstaged change, remove it from the working tree only.

- Reverse.  Reverse a change in the working tree.  Both committed and
  staged changes can be reversed.  Unstaged changes cannot be
  reversed.  Discard them instead.

- Apply.  Apply a change to the working tree.  Both committed and staged
  changes can be applied.  Unstaged changes cannot be applied - as
  they already have been applied.

The previous section described the staging and unstaging commands.
What follows are the commands which implement the remaining apply
variants.

- Key: a, magit-apply

  Apply the change at point to the working tree.

- Key: k, magit-discard

  Remove the change at point from the working tree.

- Key: v, magit-reverse

  Reverse the change at point in the working tree.

With a prefix argument all apply variants attempt a 3-way merge when
appropriate (i.e. when ~git apply~ is used internally).

** Committing

When the user initiates a commit, Magit calls ~git commit~ without any
arguments, so Git has to get it from the user.  It creates the file
~.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG~ and then opens that file in an editor.  Magit
arranges for that editor to be the Emacsclient.  Once the user
finishes the editing session, the Emacsclient exits and Git creates the
commit using the file's content as message.

*** Initiating a commit

Also see [[info:gitman#git-commit]].

- Key: c, magit-commit-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: c c, magit-commit

  Create a new commit on ~HEAD~.  With a prefix argument amend to the
  commit at ~HEAD~ instead.

- Key: c a, magit-commit-amend

  Amend the last commit.

- Key: c e, magit-commit-extend

  Amend the last commit, without editing the message.  With a prefix
  argument keep the committer date, otherwise change it.  The option
  ~magit-commit-extend-override-date~ can be used to inverse the meaning
  of the prefix argument.

  Non-interactively respect the optional OVERRIDE-DATE argument and
  ignore the option.

- Key: c w, magit-commit-reword

  Reword the last commit, ignoring staged changes.  With a prefix
  argument keep the committer date, otherwise change it.  The option
  ~magit-commit-reword-override-date~ can be used to inverse the meaning
  of the prefix argument.

  Non-interactively respect the optional OVERRIDE-DATE argument and
  ignore the option.

- Key: c f, magit-commit-fixup

  Create a fixup commit.

  With a prefix argument the target commit has to be confirmed.
  Otherwise the commit at point may be used without confirmation
  depending on the value of option ~magit-commit-squash-confirm~.

- Key: c F, magit-commit-instant-fixup

  Create a fixup commit and instantly rebase.

- Key: c s, magit-commit-squash

  Create a squash commit, without editing the squash message.

  With a prefix argument the target commit has to be confirmed.
  Otherwise the commit at point may be used without confirmation
  depending on the value of option ~magit-commit-squash-confirm~.

- Key: c S, magit-commit-instant-squash

  Create a squash commit and instantly rebase.

- Key: c A, magit-commit-augment

  Create a squash commit, editing the squash message.

  With a prefix argument the target commit has to be confirmed.
  Otherwise the commit at point may be used without confirmation
  depending on the value of option ~magit-commit-squash-confirm~.

- User Option: magit-commit-ask-to-stage

  Whether to ask to stage everything when committing and nothing is
  staged.

- User Option: magit-commit-extend-override-date

  Whether using ~magit-commit-extend~ changes the committer date.

- User Option: magit-commit-reword-override-date

  Whether using ~magit-commit-reword~ changes the committer date.

- User Option: magit-commit-squash-confirm

  Whether the commit targeted by squash and fixup has to be confirmed.
  When non-nil then the commit at point (if any) is used as default
  choice.  Otherwise it has to be confirmed.  This option only affects
  ~magit-commit-squash~ and ~magit-commit-fixup~.  The "instant" variants
  always require confirmation because making an error while using
  those is harder to recover from.

*** Editing commit messages

After initiating a commit as described in the previous section, two new
buffers appear.  One shows the changes that are about to committed,
while the other is used to write the message.  All regular editing
commands are available in the commit message buffer.  This section
only describes the additional commands.

Commit messages are edited in an edit session - in the background Git
is waiting for the editor, in our case the Emacsclient, to save the
commit message in a file (in most cases ~.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG~) and then
return.  If the Emacsclient returns with a non-zero exit status then
Git does not create the commit.  So the most important commands are
those for finishing and aborting the commit.

- Key: C-c C-c, with-editor-finish

  Finish the current editing session by returning with exit code 0.
  Git then creates the commit using the message it finds in the file.

- Key: C-c C-k, with-editor-cancel

  Cancel the current editing session by returning with exit code 1.
  Git then cancels the commit, but leaves the file untouched.

In addition to being used by Git, these messages may also be stored in
a ring that persists until Emacs is closed.  By default the message is
stored at the beginning and the end of an edit session (regardless of
whether the session is finished successfully or was canceled).  It is
sometimes useful to bring back messages from that ring.

- Key: C-s M-s, git-commit-save-message

  Save the current buffer content to the commit message ring.

- Key: M-p, git-commit-prev-message

  Cycle backward through the commit message ring, after saving the
  current message to the ring.  With a numeric prefix ARG, go back
  ARG comments.

- Key: M-n, git-commit-next-message

  Cycle forward through the commit message ring, after saving the
  current message to the ring.  With a numeric prefix ARG, go back
  ARG comments.

By default the diff for the changes that are about to be committed are
automatically shown when invoking the commit.  When amending to an
existing commit it may be useful to show either the changes that are
about to be added to that commit or to show those changes together
with those that are already committed.

- Key: C-c C-d, magit-diff-while-committing

  While committing, show the changes that are about to be committed.
  While amending, invoking the command again toggles between showing
  just the new changes or all the changes that will be committed.

- Key: C-c C-w, magit-pop-revision-stack

  This command inserts a representation of a revision into the current
  buffer.  It can be used inside buffers used to write commit messages
  but also in other buffers such as buffers used to edit emails or
  ChangeLog files.

  By default this command pops the revision which was last added to
  the ~magit-revision-stack~ and inserts it into the current buffer
  according to ~magit-pop-revision-stack-format~.  Revisions can be put
  on the stack using ~magit-copy-section-value~ and
  ~magit-copy-buffer-revision~.

  If the stack is empty or with a prefix argument it instead reads a
  revision in the minibuffer.  By using the minibuffer history this
  allows selecting an item which was popped earlier or to insert an
  arbitrary reference or revision without first pushing it onto the
  stack.

  When reading the revision from the minibuffer, then it might not
  be possible to guess the correct repository.  When this command
  is called inside a repository (e.g. while composing a commit
  message), then that repository is used.  Otherwise (e.g. while
  composing an email) then the repository recorded for the top
  element of the stack is used (even though we insert another
  revision).  If not called inside a repository and with an empty
  stack, or with two prefix arguments, then read the repository in
  the minibuffer too.

- User Option: magit-pop-revision-stack-format

  This option controls how the command ~magit-pop-revision-stack~
  inserts a revision into the current buffer.

  The entries on the stack have the format ~(HASH TOPLEVEL)~ and this
  option has the format ~(POINT-FORMAT EOB-FORMAT INDEX-REGEXP)~, all
  of which may be nil or a string (though either one of EOB-FORMAT
  or POINT-FORMAT should be a string, and if INDEX-REGEXP is
  non-nil, then the two formats should be too).

  First INDEX-REGEXP is used to find the previously inserted entry,
  by searching backward from point.  The first submatch must match
  the index number.  That number is incremented by one, and becomes
  the index number of the entry to be inserted.  If you don't want
  to number the inserted revisions, then use nil for INDEX-REGEXP.

  If INDEX-REGEXP is non-nil then both POINT-FORMAT and EOB-FORMAT
  should contain \"%N\", which is replaced with the number that was
  determined in the previous step.

  Both formats, if non-nil and after removing %N, are then expanded
  using `git show --format=FORMAT ...' inside TOPLEVEL.

  The expansion of POINT-FORMAT is inserted at point, and the
  expansion of EOB-FORMAT is inserted at the end of the buffer (if the
  buffer ends with a comment, then it is inserted right before that).

Some projects use pseudo headers in commit messages.  Magit colorizes
such headers and provides some commands to insert such headers.

- User Option: git-commit-known-pseudo-headers

  A list of Git pseudo headers to be highlighted.

- Key: C-c C-a, git-commit-ack

  Insert a header acknowledging that you have looked at the commit.

- Key: C-c C-r, git-commit-review

  Insert a header acknowledging that you have reviewed the commit.

- Key: C-c C-s, git-commit-signoff

  Insert a header to sign off the commit.

- Key: C-c C-t, git-commit-test

  Insert a header acknowledging that you have tested the commit.

- Key: C-c C-o, git-commit-cc

  Insert a header mentioning someone who might be interested.

- Key: C-c C-p, git-commit-reported

  Insert a header mentioning the person who reported the issue being
  fixed by the commit.

- Key: C-c C-i, git-commit-suggested

  Insert a header mentioning the person who suggested the change.

~git-commit-mode~ is a minor mode that is only used to establish
the above key bindings.  This allows using an arbitrary major mode
when editing the commit message.  It's even possible to use a
different major mode in different repositories, which is useful when
different projects impose different commit message conventions.

- User Option: git-commit-major-mode

  The value of this option is the major mode used to edit Git commit
  messages.

Because ~git-commit-mode~ is a minor mode, we don't use its mode hook
to setup the buffer, except for the key bindings.  All other setup
happens in the function ~git-commit-setup~, which among other things runs
the hook ~git-commit-setup-hook~.  The following functions are suitable
for that hook.

- User Option: git-commit-setup-hook

  Hook run at the end of ~git-commit-setup~.

- Function: magit-revert-buffers &optional force

  Revert unmodified file-visiting buffers of the current repository.

  If either ~magit-revert-buffers~ is non-nil and ~inhibit-magit-revert~
  is nil, or if optional FORCE is non-nil, then revert all unmodified
  buffers that visit files being tracked in the current repository.

- Function: git-commit-save-message

  Save the current buffer content to the commit message ring.

- Function: git-commit-setup-changelog-support

  After this function is called, ChangeLog entries are treated as
  paragraphs.

- Function: git-commit-turn-on-auto-fill

  Turn on ~auto-fill-mode~ and set ~fill-column~ to the value of
  ~git-commit-fill-column~.

- Function: git-commit-turn-on-flyspell

  Turn on Flyspell mode.  Also prevent comments from being checked and
  finally check current non-comment text.

- Function: git-commit-propertize-diff

  Propertize the diff shown inside the commit message buffer.  Git
  inserts such diffs into the commit message template when the
  ~--verbose~ argument is used.  Magit's commit popup by default does
  not offer that argument because the diff that is shown in a separate
  buffer is more useful.  But some users disagree, which is why this
  function exists.

- Function: with-editor-usage-message

  Show usage information in the echo area.

Magit also helps with writing *good* commit messages by complaining when
certain rules are violated.

- User Option: git-commit-summary-max-length

  The intended maximal length of the summary line of commit messages.
  Characters beyond this column are colorized to indicate that this
  preference has been violated.

- User Option: git-commit-fill-column

  Column beyond which automatic line-wrapping should happen in commit
  message buffers.

- User Option: git-commit-finish-query-functions

  List of functions called to query before performing commit.

  The commit message buffer is current while the functions are called.
  If any of them returns nil, then the commit is not performed and the
  buffer is not killed.  The user should then fix the issue and try
  again.

  The functions are called with one argument.  If it is non-nil then
  that indicates that the user used a prefix argument to force
  finishing the session despite issues.  Functions should usually
  honor this wish and return non-nil.

- Function: git-commit-check-style-conventions

  Check for violations of certain basic style conventions.  For each
  violation ask the user if she wants to proceed anyway.  This makes
  sure the summary line isn't too long and that the second line is
  empty.

To show no diff while committing remove ~magit-commit-diff~ from
~server-switch-hook~.

** Branching

The upstream branch of some local branch is the branch into which the
commits on that local branch should eventually be merged, usually
something like ~origin/master~.  For the ~master~ branch itself the
upstream branch and the branch it is being pushed to, are usually the
same remote branch.  But for a feature branch the upstream branch and
the branch it is being pushed to should differ.

Feature branches too should /eventually/ end up in a remote branch such
as ~origin/master~ or ~origin/maint~.  Such a branch should therefore be
used as the upstream.  But feature branches shouldn't be pushed
directly to such branches.  Instead a feature branch ~my-feature~ is
usually pushed to ~my-fork/my-feature~ or ~origin/my-feature~.  After the
new feature has been reviewed, the maintainer merges the feature into
~master~.  And finally ~master~ (not ~my-feature~ itself) is pushed to
~origin/master~.

But new features seldom are perfect on the first try, and so feature
branches usually have to be improved and re-pushed many times.
Pushing should therefore be easy to do, and for that reason some users
have concluded that the remote branch to which a feature branch is
being pushed should be set as the upstream.  Luckily Git has long ago
gained support for a push-remote which can be configured separately
from the upstream branch, using the variables ~branch.<name>.pushRemote~
and ~remote.pushDefault~, so we no longer have to choose which of the
two remotes should be used as "the remote".

Each of the fetching, pulling, and pushing popups features three
commands which act on the current branch and some other branch.  Of
these, ~p~ is bound to a command which acts on the push-remote, ~u~ is
bound to a command which acts on the upstream, and ~e~ is bound to a
command which acts on any other branch.  The status buffer shows
unpushed and unpulled for both the push-remote and the upstream.

It's fairly simple to configure these two remotes.  The values of all
the variables that are related to fetching, pulling, and pushing (as
well as some other branch-related variables) can be inspected and
changed in the branching popup.  It is also possible to set the
push-remote and/or upstream while pushing (see [[*Pushing]]).

- Key: b, magit-branch-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands in a popup
  buffer.  It also displays the values of the following variables and
  allows changing their values.

The following variables are used to configure a specific branch.  The
values are being displayed for the current branch (if any).  To change
the value for another branch use a prefix argument.

- Variable: branch.NAME.merge

  Together with ~branch.NAME.remote~ this variable defines the upstream
  branch of the local branch named NAME.  The value of this variable
  is the full reference of the upstream /branch/.

- Variable: branch.NAME.remote

  Together with ~branch.NAME.merge~ this variable defines the upstream
  branch of the local branch named NAME.  The value of this variable
  is the name of the upstream /remote/.

- Variable: branch.NAME.rebase

  This variable controls whether pulling into the branch named NAME is
  done by rebasing or by merging the fetched branch.

  - When ~true~ then pulling is done by rebasing.
  - When ~false~ then pulling is done by merging.
  - When undefined then the value of ~pull.rebase~ is used.  The default
    of that variable is ~false~.

- Variable: branch.NAME.pushRemote

  This variable specifies the remote that the branch named NAME is
  usually pushed to.  The value has to be the name of an existing
  remote.

  It is not possible to specify the name of /branch/ to push the local
  branch to.  The name of the remote branch is always the same as the
  name of the local branch.

  If this variable is undefined but ~remote.pushDefault~ is defined,
  then the value of the latter is used.  By default ~remote.pushDefault~
  is undefined.

- Variable: branch.NAME.description

  This variable can be used to describe the branch named NAME.  That
  description is used e.g. when turning the branch into a series of
  patches.

The following variables specify defaults which are used if the above
branch-specific variables are not set.

- Variable: pull.rebase

  This variable specifies whether pulling is done by rebasing or by
  merging.  It can be overwritten using ~branch.NAME.rebase~.

  - When ~true~ then pulling is done by rebasing.
  - When ~false~ (the default) then pulling is done by merging.

  Since it is never a good idea to merge the upstream branch into a
  feature or hotfix branch and most branches are such branches, you
  should consider setting this to ~true~, and ~branch.master.rebase~ to
  ~false~.

- Variable: remote.pushDefault

  This variable specifies what remote the local branches are usually
  pushed to.  This can be overwritten per branch using
  ~branch.NAME.pushRemote~.

The following variables are used during the creation of a branch and
control whether the various branch-specific variables are
automatically set at this time.

- Variable: branch.autoSetupMerge

  This variable specifies under what circumstances creating a branch
  NAME should result in the variables ~branch.NAME.merge~ and
  ~branch.NAME.remote~ being set according to the starting point used to
  create the branch.  If the starting point isn't a branch, then these
  variables are never set.

  - When ~always~ then the variables are set regardless of whether the
    starting point is a local or a remote branch.
  - When ~true~ (the default) then the variables are set when the starting
    point is a remote branch, but not when it is a local branch.
  - When ~false~ then the variables are never set.

- Variable: branch.autoSetupRebase

  This variable specifies whether creating a branch NAME should result
  in the variable ~branch.NAME.rebase~ being set to ~true~.

  - When ~always~ then the variable is set regardless of whether the
    starting point is a local or a remote branch.
  - When ~local~ then the variable are set when the starting point is a
    local branch, but not when it is a remote branch.
  - When ~remote~ then the variable are set when the starting point is a
    remote branch, but not when it is a local branch.
  - When ~never~ (the default) then the variable is never set.

Note that the respective commands always change the repository-local
values.  If you want to change the global value, which is used when
the local value is undefined, then you have to do so on the command
line, e.g.:

#+BEGIN_SRC shell
  git config --global remote.autoSetupMerge always
#+END_SRC

For more information about these variables you should also see
info:gitman#git-config.  Also see [[info:gitman#git-branch]],
[[info:gitman#git-checkout]], and [[*Pushing]].

- Key: b b, magit-checkout

  Checkout a revision read in the minibuffer and defaulting to the
  branch or arbitrary revision at point.  If the revision is a local
  branch then that becomes the current branch.  If it is something
  else then ~HEAD~ becomes detached.  Checkout fails if the working tree
  or the staging area contain changes.

- Key: b n, magit-branch

  Create a new branch.  The user is asked for a branch or arbitrary
  revision to use as the starting point of the new branch.  When a
  branch name is provided, then that becomes the upstream branch of
  the new branch.  The name of the new branch is also read in the
  minibuffer.

  Also see option ~magit-branch-prefer-remote-upstream~.

- Key: b c, magit-branch-and-checkout

  This command creates a new branch like ~magit-branch~, but then also
  checks it out.

  Also see option ~magit-branch-prefer-remote-upstream~.

- Key: b s, magit-branch-spinoff

  This command creates and checks out a new branch starting at and
  tracking the current branch.  That branch in turn is reset to the
  last commit it shares with its upstream.  If the current branch has
  no upstream or no unpushed commits, then the new branch is created
  anyway and the previously current branch is not touched.

  This is useful to create a feature branch after work has already
  began on the old branch (likely but not necessarily "master").

  If the current branch is a member of the value of option
  ~magit-branch-prefer-remote-upstream~ (which see), then the current
  branch will be used as the starting point as usual, but the upstream
  of the starting-point may be used as the upstream of the new branch,
  instead of the starting-point itself.

- Key: b x, magit-branch-reset

  This command resets a branch, defaulting to the branch at point, to
  the tip of another branch or any other commit.

  When resetting to another branch, then that branch is also set as
  the upstream of the branch being reset.

  When the branch being reset is the current branch, then a hard reset
  is performed.  If there are any uncommitted changes, then the user
  has to confirming the reset because those changes would be lost.

  This is useful when you have started work on a feature branch but
  realize it's all crap and want to start over.

- Key: b d, magit-branch-delete

  Delete one or multiple branches.  If the region marks multiple
  branches, then offer to delete those.  Otherwise, prompt for a single
  branch to be deleted, defaulting to the branch at point.

- Key: b r, magit-branch-rename

  Rename a branch.  The branch and the new name are read in the
  minibuffer.  With prefix argument the branch is renamed even if that
  name conflicts with an existing branch.

- User Option: magit-branch-read-upstream-first

  When creating a branch, whether to read the upstream branch before
  the name of the branch that is to be created.  The default is ~nil~,
  and I recommend you leave it at that.

- User Option: magit-branch-prefer-remote-upstream

  This option specifies whether remote upstreams are favored over
  local upstreams when creating new branches.

  When a new branch is created, Magit offers the branch, commit, or
  stash as the default starting point of the new branch.  If there is
  no such thing at point, then it falls back to offer the current
  branch as starting-point.  The user may then accept that default or
  pick something else.

  If the chosen starting-point is a branch, then it may also be set
  as the upstream of the new branch, depending on the value of the
  Git variable `branch.autoSetupMerge'.  By default this is done
  for remote branches, but not for local branches.

  You might prefer to always use some remote branch as upstream.
  If the chosen starting-point is (1) a local branch, (2) whose
  name is a member of the value of this option, (3) the upstream of
  that local branch is a remote branch with the same name, and (4)
  that remote branch can be fast-forwarded to the local branch,
  then the chosen branch is used as starting-point, but its own
  upstream is used as the upstream of the new branch.

  Assuming the chosen branch matches these conditions you would end
  up with with e.g.:

  #+BEGIN_SRC text
    feature --upstream--> origin/master
  #+END_SRC

  instead of

  #+BEGIN_SRC text
    feature --upstream--> master --upstream--> origin/master
  #+END_SRC

  Which you prefer is a matter of personal preference.  If you do
  prefer the former, then you should add branches such as ~master~,
  ~next~, and ~maint~ to the value of this options.

** Merging

Also see [[info:gitman#git-merge]].

- Key: m, magit-merge-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

When no merge is in progress, then the popup buffer features the
following commands.

- Key: m m, magit-merge

  Merge another branch or an arbitrary revision into the current
  branch.  The branch or revision to be merged is read in the
  minibuffer and defaults to the one at point.

  Unless there are conflicts or a prefix argument is used, the
  resulting merge commit uses a generic commit message, and the user
  does not get a chance to inspect or change it before the commit is
  created.  With a prefix argument this does not actually create the
  merge commit, which makes it possible to inspect how conflicts were
  resolved and to adjust the commit message.

- Key: m e, magit-merge-editmsg

  Merge another branch or an arbitrary revision into the current
  branch and open a commit message buffer, so that the user can make
  adjustments.  The commit is not actually created until the user
  finishes with ~C-c C-c~.

- Key: m n, magit-merge-nocommit

  Merge another branch or an arbitrary revision into the current
  branch, but do not actually create the commit.  The user can then
  further adjust the merge, even when automatic conflict resolution
  succeeded and/or adjust the commit message.

- Key: m p, magit-merge-preview

  Preview result of merging another branch or an arbitrary revision
  into the current branch.

When a merge is in progress, then the popup buffer features these
commands instead.

- Key: m m, magit-merge

  After resolving conflicts, proceed with the merge.  If there are
  still conflicts, then this fails.

- Key: m a, magit-merge-abort

  Abort the current merge operation.

** Rebasing

Also see [[info:gitman#git-rebase]].

- Key: r, magit-rebase-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

When no rebase is in progress, then the popup buffer features the
following commands.

- Key: r p, magit-rebase-onto-pushremote

  Rebase the current branch onto ~branch.<name>.pushRemote~.  If that
  variable is unset, then rebase onto ~remote.pushDefault~.

- Key: r u, magit-rebase-onto-upstream

  Rebase the current branch onto its upstream branch.

- Key: r e, magit-rebase

  Rebase the current branch onto a branch read in the minibuffer.  All
  commits that are reachable from head but not from the selected
  branch TARGET are being rebased."

- Key: r o, magit-rebase-subset

  Start a non-interactive rebase sequence with commits from START to
  ~HEAD~ onto NEWBASE.  START has to be selected from a list of recent
  commits.

Note that the popup also features the infix argument ~--interactive~.
This can be used to turn one of the above non-interactive rebase
variants into an interactive rebase.

For example if you want to clean up a feature branch and at the same
time rebase it onto ~master~, then you could use ~r-iu~.  But we recommend
that you instead do that in two steps.  First use ~ri~ to cleanup the
feature branch, and then in a second step ~ru~ to rebase it onto ~master~.
That way if things turn out to be more complicated than you thought
and/or you make a mistake and have to start over, then you only have
to redo half the work.

Explicitly enabling ~--interactive~ won't have an effect on the
following commands as they always use that argument anyway, even if it
is not enabled in the popup.

- Key: r i, magit-rebase-interactive

  Start an interactive rebase sequence.

- Key: r f, magit-rebase-autosquash

  Combine squash and fixup commits with their intended targets.

- Key: r m, magit-rebase-edit-commit

  Edit a single older commit using rebase.

- Key: r w, magit-rebase-reword-commit

  Reword a single older commit using rebase.

When a rebase is in progress, then the popup buffer features these
commands instead.

- Key: r r, magit-rebase-continue

  Restart the current rebasing operation.

- Key: r s, magit-rebase-skip

  Skip the current commit and restart the current rebase operation.

- Key: r e, magit-rebase-edit

  Edit the todo list of the current rebase operation.

- Key: r a, magit-rebase-abort

  Abort the current rebase operation, restoring the original branch.

*** Editing rebase sequences

- Key: C-c C-c, with-editor-finish

  Finish the current editing session by returning with exit code 0.
  Git then creates the commit using the message it finds in the file.

- Key: C-c C-k, with-editor-cancel

  Cancel the current editing session by returning with exit code 1.
  Git then cancels the commit, but leaves the file untouched.

- Key: RET, git-rebase-show-commit

  Show the commit on the current line in another buffer and select
  that buffer.

- Key: SPC, magit-diff-show-or-scroll-up

  Show the commit on the current line in another buffer without
  selecting that buffer.  If the revision buffer is already visible in
  another window of the current frame, then instead scroll that window
  up.

- Key: DEL, magit-diff-show-or-scroll-down

  Show the commit on the current line in another buffer without
  selecting that buffer.  If the revision buffer is already visible in
  another window of the current frame, then instead scroll that window
  down.

- Key: p, git-rebase-backward-line

  Move to previous line.

- Key: n, forward-line

  Move to next line.

- Key: M-p, git-rebase-move-line-up

  Move the current commit (or command) up.

- Key: M-n, git-rebase-move-line-down

  Move the current commit (or command) down.

- Key: r, git-rebase-reword

  Edit message of commit on current line.

- Key: e, git-rebase-edit

  Stop at the commit on the current line.

- Key: s, git-rebase-squash

  Meld commit on current line into previous commit, and edit message.

- Key: f, git-rebase-fixup

  Meld commit on current line into previous commit, discarding the
  current commit's message.

- Key: k, git-rebase-kill-line

  Kill the current action line.

- Key: c, git-rebase-pick

  Use commit on current line.

- Key: x, git-rebase-exec

  Insert a shell command to be run after the proceeding commit.

  If there already is such a command on the current line, then edit
  that instead.  With a prefix argument insert a new command even when
  there already is one on the current line.  With empty input remove
  the command on the current line, if any.

- Key: y, git-rebase-insert

  Read an arbitrary commit and insert it below current line.

- Key: C-x u, git-rebase-undo

  Undo some previous changes.  Like ~undo~ but works in read-only
  buffers.

- User Option: git-rebase-auto-advance

  Whether to move to next line after changing a line.

- User Option: git-rebase-show-instructions

  Whether to show usage instructions inside the rebase buffer.

- User Option: git-rebase-confirm-cancel

  Whether confirmation is required to cancel.
*** Rebase sequence log

While a rebase sequence is in progress, the status buffer features a
section which lists the commits that have already been applied as well
as the commits that still have to be applied.

The commits are split in two halves.  When rebase stops at a commit,
either because the user has to deal with a conflict or explicitly
requested that rebase stops at that commit, then point is placed on
the commit that separates the two groups, i.e. on ~HEAD~.  The commits
above it have not been applied yet, while it and the commits below it
have already been applied.  In between these two groups of applied and
yet-to-be applied commits, there sometimes is a commit which has been
dropped.

Each commit is prefixed with a word and these words are additionally
shown in different colors to indicate the status of the commits.

The following colors are used:

- Yellow commits have not been applied yet.

- Gray commits have already been applied.

- The blue commit is the ~HEAD~ commit.

- The green commit is the commit the rebase sequence stopped at.  If
  this is the same commit as ~HEAD~ (e.g. because you haven't done
  anything yet after rebase stopped at the commit, then this commit is
  shown in blue, not green.  There can only be a green and a blue
  commit at the same time, if you create one or more new commits after
  rebase stops at a commit.

- Red commits have been dropped.  They are shown for reference only,
  e.g. to make it easier to diff.

Of course these colors are subject to the color-theme in use.

The following words are used:

- Commits prefixed with ~pick~, ~reword~, ~edit~, ~squash~, and ~fixup~ have not
  been applied yet.  These words have the same meaning here as they do
  in the buffer used to edit the rebase sequence.  See [[*Editing rebase
  sequences]].

- The commit prefixed with ~onto~ is the commit on top of which all the
  other commits are being re-applied.  Like the commits that have
  already been re-applied, it is reachable from ~HEAD~, but unlike those
  it has not actually been re-applied during the current session - it
  wasn't touched at all.

- Commits prefixed with ~done~ have already been re-applied.  Not all
  commits that have already been applied are prefixed with this word,
  though.

- When a commit is prefixed with ~void~, then that indicates that Magit
  knows for sure that all the changes in that commit have been applied
  using several new commits.  This commit is no longer reachable from
  ~HEAD~, and it also isn't one of the commits that will be applied when
  resuming the session.

- When a commit is prefixed with ~join~, then that indicates that the
  rebase sequence stopped at that commit due to a conflict - you now
  have to join (merge) the changes with what has already been
  applied.  In a sense this is the commit rebase stopped at, but while
  its effect is already in the index and in the worktree (with
  conflict markers), the commit itself has not actually been applied
  yet (it isn't the ~HEAD~).  So it is shown in yellow, like the other
  commits that still have to be applied.

- When a commit is prefixed with ~goal~, ~same~, or ~work~, then that
  indicates that you reset to an earlier commit (and that this commit
  therefore is no longer reachable from ~HEAD~), but that it might still
  be possible to create a new commit with the exact same tree or at
  least the same patch-id, without manually editing any file.  Or at
  the very least that there are some uncommitted remaining, which
  may or may not originate from that commit.

  - When a commit is prefixed with ~goal~, then that indicates that it
    is still possible to create a commit with the exact same tree
    (the "goal") without manually editing a file, by simply committing
    the index (or, provided nothing is already staged, by staging all
    unstaged changes and then committing that).  This is the case when
    the original tree exists in the index or worktree in untainted
    form.

  - When a commit is prefixed with ~same~, then that indicates that it
    is no longer possible to create a commit with the exact same tree,
    but that it is still possible to create a commit with the same
    patch-id.  This would be the case if you created a new commit with
    other changes, but the changes from the original commit still
    exist in the index and/or working tree in untainted form.

  - When a commit is prefixed with ~work~, then that indicates that you
    are working with the changes from that commit after resetting to
    an earlier commit.  There are changes in the index and/or working
    tree and some of them likely originate from that commit.

- When a commit is prefixed with ~poof~ or ~gone~, then that indicates
  that you reset to an earlier commit (and that this commit therefore
  is no longer reachable from ~HEAD~), and that there are no
  uncommitted changes remaining which might allow you to create a new
  commit with the same tree or at least the same patch-id.

  - When a commit is prefixed with ~poof~, then that indicates that it
    is no longer reachable from ~HEAD~, but that it has been replaced
    with one or more commits, which together have the exact same
    effect.

  - When a commit is prefixed with ~gone~, then that indicates that it
    is no longer reachable from ~HEAD~ and that we also cannot determine
    whether its changes are still in effect in one or more new
    commits.  They might be, but if so, then there must also be other
    changes which makes it impossible to know for sure.

Do not worry if you do not fully understand the above.  That's okay,
you will acquire a good enough understanding through practice.

For other sequence operations such as cherry-picking, a similar section
is displayed, but they lack some of the features described above, due
to limitations in the git commands used to implement them.  Most
importantly these sequences only support "picking" a commit but not
other actions such as "rewording", and they do not keep track of the
commits which have already been applied.

** Cherry picking

Also see [[info:gitman#git-cherry-pick]].

- Key: A, magit-cherry-pick-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

When no cherry-pick or revert is in progress, then the popup buffer
features the following commands.

- Key: A A, magit-cherry-pick

  Cherry-pick a commit.  Prompt for a commit, defaulting to the commit
  at point.  If the region selects multiple commits, then pick all of
  them, without prompting.

- Key: A a, magit-cherry-apply

  Apply the changes in a commit to the working tree, but do not commit
  them.  Prompt for a commit, defaulting to the commit at point.  If
  the region selects multiple commits, then apply all of them, without
  prompting.

  This command also has a top-level binding, which can be invoked without
  using the popup by typing ~a~ at the top-level.

When a cherry-pick or revert is in progress, then the popup buffer
features these commands instead.

- Key: A A, magit-sequence-continue

  Resume the current cherry-pick or revert sequence.

- Key: A s, magit-sequence-skip

  Skip the stopped at commit during a cherry-pick or revert sequence.

- Key: A a, magit-sequence-abort

  Abort the current cherry-pick or revert sequence.  This discards all
  changes made since the sequence started.

*** Reverting

- Key: V, magit-revert-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

When no cherry-pick or revert is in progress, then the popup buffer
features the following commands.

- Key: V V, magit-revert

  Revert a commit by creating a new commit.  Prompt for a commit,
  defaulting to the commit at point.  If the region selects multiple
  commits, then revert all of them, without prompting.

- Key: V v, magit-revert-no-commit

  Revert a commit by applying it in reverse to the working tree.
  Prompt for a commit, defaulting to the commit at point.  If the
  region selects multiple commits, then revert all of them, without
  prompting.

When a cherry-pick or revert is in progress, then the popup buffer
features these commands instead.

- Key: V A, magit-sequence-continue

  Resume the current cherry-pick or revert sequence.

- Key: V s, magit-sequence-skip

  Skip the stopped at commit during a cherry-pick or revert sequence.

- Key: V a, magit-sequence-abort

  Abort the current cherry-pick or revert sequence.  This discards all
  changes made since the sequence started.

** Resetting

Also see [[info:gitman#git-reset]].

- Key: x, magit-reset

  Reset the head and index to some commit read from the user and
  defaulting to the commit at point.  The working tree is kept as-is.
  With a prefix argument also reset the working tree.

- Key: M-x magit-reset-index, magit-reset-index

  Reset the index to some commit read from the user and defaulting to
  the commit at point.  Keep the ~HEAD~ and working tree as-is, so if
  the commit refers to the ~HEAD~, then this effectively unstages all
  changes.

- Key: M-x magit-reset-head, magit-reset-head

  Reset the ~HEAD~ and index to some commit read from the user and
  defaulting to the commit at point.  The working tree is kept as-is.

- Key: M-x magit-reset-soft, magit-reset-soft

  Reset the ~HEAD~ to some commit read from the user and defaulting
  to the commit at point.  The index and the working tree are kept
  as-is.

- Key: M-x magit-reset-hard, magit-reset-hard

  Reset the ~HEAD~, index, and working tree to some commit read from the
  user and defaulting to the commit at point.

- Key: M-x magit-checkout-file, magit-checkout-file

  Update file in the working tree and index to the contents from a
  revision.

  Both the revision and file are read from the user.

** Stashing

Also see [[info:gitman#git-stash]].

- Key: z, magit-stash-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: z z, magit-stash

  Create a stash of the index and working tree.  Untracked files are
  included according to popup arguments.  One prefix argument is
  equivalent to ~--include-untracked~ while two prefix arguments are
  equivalent to ~--all~.

- Key: z i, magit-stash-index

  Create a stash of the index only.  Unstaged and untracked changes
  are not stashed.

- Key: z w, magit-stash-worktree

  Create a stash of the working tree only.  Untracked files are
  included according to popup arguments.  One prefix argument is
  equivalent to ~--include-untracked~ while two prefix arguments are
  equivalent to ~--all~.

- Key: z x, magit-stash-keep-index

  Create a stash of the index and working tree, keeping index intact.
  Untracked files are included according to popup arguments.  One
  prefix argument is equivalent to ~--include-untracked~ while two
  prefix arguments are equivalent to ~--all~.

- Key: z Z, magit-snapshot

  Create a snapshot of the index and working tree.  Untracked files
  are included according to popup arguments.  One prefix argument is
  equivalent to ~--include-untracked~ while two prefix arguments are
  equivalent to ~--all~.

- Key: z I, magit-snapshot-index

  Create a snapshot of the index only.  Unstaged and untracked changes
  are not stashed.

- Key: z W, magit-snapshot-worktree

  Create a snapshot of the working tree only.  Untracked files are
  included according to popup arguments.  One prefix argument is
  equivalent to ~--include-untracked~ while two prefix arguments are
  equivalent to ~--all~-.

- Key: z a, magit-stash-apply

  Apply a stash to the working tree.  Try to preserve the stash index.
  If that fails because there are staged changes, apply without
  preserving the stash index.

- Key: z p, magit-stash-pop

  Apply a stash to the working tree and remove it from stash list.
  Try to preserve the stash index.  If that fails because there are
  staged changes, apply without preserving the stash index and forgo
  removing the stash.

- Key: z d, magit-stash-drop

  Remove a stash from the stash list.  When the region is active, offer
  to drop all contained stashes.

- Key: z l, magit-stash-list

  List all stashes in a buffer.

- Key: z v, magit-stash-show

  Show all diffs of a stash in a buffer.

- Key: z b, magit-stash-branch

  Create and checkout a new BRANCH from STASH.

- Key: z f, magit-stash-format-patch

  Create a patch from STASH.

- Key: k, magit-stash-clear
  
  Remove all stashes saved in REF's reflog by deleting REF.

* Transferring
** Remotes

Also see [[info:gitman#git-remote]].

- Key: M, magit-remote-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: M a, magit-remote-add

  Add a remote and fetch it.  The remote name and url are read in the
  minibuffer.

- Key: M r, magit-remote-rename

  Rename a remote.  Both the old and the new names are read in the
  minibuffer.

- Key: M u, magit-remote-set-url

  Change the url of a remote.  Both the remote and the new url are
  read in the minibuffer.

- Key: M k, magit-remote-remove

  Delete a remote, read from the minibuffer.

- User Option: magit-remote-add-set-remote.pushDefault

  Whether to set the value of ~remote.pushDefault~ after adding a
  remote.

  If ~ask~, then always ask.  If ~ask-if-unset~, then ask, but only if the
  variable isn't set already.  If ~nil~, then don't ever set.  If the
  value is a string, then set without asking, provided the name of the
  name of the added remote is equal to that string and the variable
  isn't already set.

** Fetching

Also see [[info:gitman#git-fetch]].

- Key: f, magit-fetch-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: f p, magit-fetch-from-pushremote

  Fetch from the push-remote of the current branch.

- Key: f u, magit-fetch-from-upstream

  Fetch from the push-remote of the current branch.

- Key: f e, magit-fetch

  Fetch from another repository.

- Key: f a, magit-fetch-all

  Fetch from all remotes.

- Key: f m, magit-submodule-fetch

  Fetch all submodules.  With a prefix argument fetch all remotes of
  all submodules.

Instead of using one popup for fetching and another for pulling, you
could also use ~magit-pull-and-fetch-popup~.  See its doc-string for
more information.

** Pulling

Also see [[info:gitman#git-pull]].

- Key: F, magit-pull-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands in a popup
  buffer.

- Key: F p, magit-pull-from-pushremote

  Pull from the push-remote of the current branch.

- Key: F u, magit-pull-from-upstream

  Pull from the upstream of the current branch.

- Key: F e, magit-pull

  Pull from a branch read in the minibuffer.

Instead of using one popup for fetching and another for pulling, you
could also use ~magit-pull-and-fetch-popup~.  See its doc-string for
more information.

** Pushing

Also see [[info:gitman#git-push]].

- Key: P, magit-push-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: P p, magit-push-current-to-pushremote

  Push the current branch to ~branch.<name>.pushRemote~ or if that
  is unset to ~remote.pushDefault~.

  When ~magit-push-current-set-remote-if-missing~ is non-nil and the
  push-remote is not configured, then read the push-remote from the
  user, set it, and then push to it.  With a prefix argument the
  push-remote can be changed before pushed to it.

- Key: P u, magit-push-current-to-upstream

  Push the current branch to its upstream branch.

  When ~magit-push-current-set-remote-if-missing~ is non-nil and the
  push-remote is not configured, then read the upstram from the
  user, set it, and then push to it.  With a prefix argument the
  push-remote can be changed before pushed to it.

- Key: P e, magit-push-current

  Push the current branch to a branch read in the minibuffer.

- Key: P o, magit-push

  Push an arbitrary branch or commit somewhere.  Both the source and
  the target are read in the minibuffer.

- Key: P m, magit-push-matching

  Push all matching branches to another repository.  If multiple
  remotes exit, then read one from the user.  If just one exists, use
  that without requiring confirmation.

- Key: P t, magit-push-tags

  Push all tags to another repository.  If only one remote exists,
  then push to that.  Otherwise prompt for a remote, offering the
  remote configured for the current branch as default.

- Key: P T, magit-push-tag

  Push a tag to another repository.

Two more push commands exist, which by default are not available from
the push popup.  See their doc-strings for instructions on how to add
them to the popup.

- Command: magit-push-implicitly args

  Push somewhere without using an explicit refspec.

  This command simply runs ~git push -v [ARGS]~.  ARGS are the arguments
  specified in the popup buffer.  No explicit refspec arguments are
  used.  Instead the behavior depends on at least these Git variables:
  ~push.default~, ~remote.pushDefault~, ~branch.<branch>.pushRemote~,
  ~branch.<branch>.remote~, ~branch.<branch>.merge~, and
  ~remote.<remote>.push~.

- Command: magit-push-to-remote remote args

  Push to the remote REMOTE without using an explicit refspec.  The
  remote is read in the minibuffer.

  This command simply runs ~git push -v [ARGS] REMOTE~.  ARGS are the
  arguments specified in the popup buffer.  No refspec arguments are
  used.  Instead the behavior depends on at least these Git variables:
  ~push.default~, ~remote.pushDefault~, ~branch.<branch>.pushRemote~,
  ~branch.<branch>.remote~, ~branch.<branch>.merge~, and
  ~remote.<remote>.push~.

- User Option: magit-push-current-set-remote-if-missing

  This option controls whether missing remotes are configured before
  pushing.

  When ~nil~, then the command ~magit-push-current-to-pushremote~ and
  ~magit-push-current-to-upstream~ do not appear in the push popup if
  the push-remote resp. upstream is not configured.  If the user
  invokes one of these commands anyway, then it raises an error.

  When ~non-nil~, then these commands always appear in the push popup.
  But if the required configuration is missing, then they do appear in
  a way that indicates that this is the case.  If the user invokes one
  of them, then it asks for the necessary configuration, stores the
  configuration, and then uses it to push a first time.

  This option also affects whether the argument ~--set-upstream~ is
  available in the popup.  If the value is ~non-nil~, then that argument
  is redundant.  But note that changing the value of this option does
  not take affect immediately, the argument will only be added or
  removed after restarting Emacs.

** Creating and sending patches

- Key: W, magit-patch-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: W p, magit-format-patch

  Create patches for a set commits.  If the region marks commits, then
  create patches for those.  Otherwise prompt for a range or a single
  commit, defaulting to the commit at point.

- Key: W r, magit-request-pull

  Request that upstream pulls from your public repository.

** Applying patches

Also see [[info:gitman#git-am]].

- Key: w, magit-am-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: w w, magit-am-apply-patches

  Apply one or more patches.  If the region marks files, then apply
  those patches.  Otherwise read a file name in the minibuffer
  defaulting to the file at point.

- Key: w m, magit-am-apply-maildir

  Apply the patches from a maildir.

- Key: w w, magit-am-continue

  Resume the current patch applying sequence.

- Key: w s, magit-am-skip

  Skip the stopped at patch during a patch applying sequence.

- Key: w a, magit-am-abort

  Abort the current patch applying sequence.  This discards all
  changes made since the sequence started.

* Miscellaneous
** Tagging

Also see [[info:gitman#git-tag]].

- Key: t, magit-tag-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: t t, magit-tag

  Create a new tag with the given NAME at REV.  With a prefix argument
  annotate the tag.

- Key: t k, magit-tag-delete

  Delete one or more tags.  If the region marks multiple tags (and
  nothing else), then offer to delete those.  Otherwise, prompt for a
  single tag to be deleted, defaulting to the tag at point.

- Key: t p, magit-tag-prune

  Offer to delete tags missing locally from REMOTE, and vice versa.

** Notes

Also see [[info:gitman#git-notes]].

- Key: T, magit-notes-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: T T, magit-notes-edit

  Edit the note attached to a commit, defaulting to the commit at
  point.

  By default use the value of Git variable ~core.notesRef~ or
  "refs/notes/commits" if that is undefined.

- Key: T r, magit-notes-remove

  Remove the note attached to a commit, defaulting to the commit at
  point.

  By default use the value of Git variable ~core.notesRef~ or
  "refs/notes/commits" if that is undefined.

- Key: T p, magit-notes-prune

  Remove notes about unreachable commits.

- Key: T s, magit-notes-set-ref

  Set the current notes ref to a the value read from the user.  The
  ref is made current by setting the value of the Git variable
  ~core.notesRef~.  With a prefix argument change the global value
  instead of the value in the current repository.  When this is
  undefined, then "refs/notes/commit" is used.

  Other ~magit-notes-*~ commands, as well as the sub-commands of Git's
  ~note~ command, default to operate on that ref.

- Key: T S, magit-notes-set-display-refs

  Set notes refs to be display in addition to "core.notesRef".  This
  reads a colon separated list of notes refs from the user.  The
  values are stored in the Git variable ~notes.displayRef~.  With a
  prefix argument GLOBAL change the global values instead of the
  values in the current repository.

It is possible to merge one note ref into another.  That may result in
conflicts which have to resolved in the temporary worktree
".git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE".

- Key: T m, magit-notes-merge

  Merge the notes of a ref read from the user into the current notes
  ref.  The current notes ref is the value of Git variable
  ~core.notesRef~ or "refs/notes/commits" if that is undefined.

When a notes merge is in progress then the popup features the
following suffix commands, instead of those listed above.

- Key: T c, magit-notes-merge-commit

  Commit the current notes ref merge, after manually resolving
  conflicts.

- Key: T a, magit-notes-merge-abort

  Abort the current notes ref merge.

** Submodules

Also see [[info:gitman#git-submodule]].

- Key: o, magit-submodule-popup

  This prefix command shows the following suffix commands along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.

- Key: o a, magit-submodule-add

  Add the repository at URL as a submodule.  Optional PATH is the path
  to the submodule relative to the root of the super-project. If it is
  nil then the path is determined based on URL.

- Key: o b, magit-submodule-setup

  Clone and register missing submodules and checkout appropriate
  commits.

- Key: o i, magit-submodule-init

  Register submodules listed in ".gitmodules" into ".git/config".

- Key: o u, magit-submodule-update

  Clone missing submodules and checkout appropriate commits.  With a
  prefix argument also register submodules in ".git/config".

- Key: o s, magit-submodule-sync

  Update each submodule's remote URL according to ".gitmodules".

- Key: o f, magit-submodule-fetch

  Fetch submodule.  With a prefix argument fetch all remotes.

- Key: o i, magit-submodule-init

  Unregister the submodule at PATH.

** Common commands

These are some of the commands that can be used in all buffers whose
major-modes derive from ~magit-mode~.  There are other common commands
beside the ones below, but these didn't fit well anywhere else.

- Key: M-w, magit-copy-section-value

  This command saves the value of the current section to the
  ~kill-ring~, and, provided that the current section is a commit,
  branch, or tag section, it also pushes the (referenced) revision to
  the ~magit-revision-stack~.

  When the current section is a branch or a tag, and a prefix argument
  is used, then it saves the revision at its tip to the ~kill-ring~
  instead of the reference name.

- Key: C-w, magit-copy-buffer-revision

  This command save the revision being displayed in the current buffer
  to the ~kill-ring~ and also pushes it to the ~magit-revision-stack~.  It
  is mainly intended for use in ~magit-revision-mode~ buffers, the only
  buffers where it is always unambiguous exactly which revision should
  be saved.

  Most other Magit buffers usually show more than one revision, in
  some way or another, so this command has to select one of them, and
  that choice might not always be the one you think would have been
  the best pick.

Outside of Magit ~M-w~ and ~C-w~ are usually bound to ~kill-ring-save~ and
~kill-region~, and these commands would also be useful in Magit buffers.
Therefore when the region is active, then both of these commands
behave like ~kill-ring-save~ instead of as described above.

** Wip modes

Git keeps *committed* changes around long enough for users to recover
changes they have accidentally deleted.  It does so by not garbage
collecting any committed but no longer referenced objects for a
certain period of time, by default 30 days.

But Git does *not* keep track of *uncommitted* changes in the working tree
and not even the index (the staging area).  Because Magit makes it so
convenient to modify uncommitted changes, it also makes it easy to
shoot yourself in the foot in the process.

For that reason Magit provides three global modes that save *tracked*
files to work-in-progress references after or before certain actions.
(Untracked files are never saved and these modes also only work after
the first commit has been created).

Two separate work-in-progress references are used to track the state
of the index and of the working tree: "refs/wip/index/<branchref>" and
"refs/wip/wtree/<branchref>", where ~<branchref>~ is the full ref of the
current branch, e.g. "refs/heads/master".  When the ~HEAD~ is detached
then "HEAD" is in place of ~<branchref>~.

Checking out another branch (or detaching ~HEAD~) causes the use of
different wip refs for subsequent changes, but the old refs are not
deleted.

Creating a commit and then making a change causes the wip refs to be
recreated to fork from the new commit.  But the old commits on the wip
refs are not lost.  They are still available from the reflog.  To make
it easier to see when the fork point of a wip ref was changed, an
additional commit with the message "restart autosaving" is created on
it (~xxO~ commits below are such boundary commits).

Starting with

#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
      BI0---BI1    refs/wip/index/refs/heads/master
     /
A---B              refs/heads/master
     \
      BW0---BW1    refs/wip/wtree/refs/heads/master
#+END_EXAMPLE

and committing the staged changes and editing and saving a file would
result in

#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
      BI0---BI1        refs/wip/index/refs/heads/master
     /
A---B---C              refs/heads/master
     \   \
      \   CW0---CW1    refs/wip/wtree/refs/heads/master
       \
        BW0---BW1      refs/wip/wtree/refs/heads/master@{2}
#+END_EXAMPLE

The fork-point of the index wip ref is not changed until some change
is being staged.  Likewise just checking out a branch or creating a
commit does not change the fork-point of the working tree wip ref.  The
fork-points are not adjusted until there actually is a change that
should be committed to the respective wip ref.

To view the log for the a branch and its wip refs use the commands
~magit-wip-log~ and ~magit-wip-log-current~.  You should use ~--graph~ when
using these commands.  Alternatively you can use the reflog to show
all commits that ever existed on a wip ref.  You can then recover lost
changes from the commits shown in the log or reflog.

- Command: magit-wip-log

  This command shows the log for a branch and its wip refs.

  With a negative prefix argument only the worktree wip ref is shown.
  The absolute numeric value of the prefix argument controls how many
  "branches" of each wip ref are shown.

- Command: magit-wip-log-current

  This command shows the log for the current branch and its wip refs.

  With a negative prefix argument only the worktree wip ref is shown.
  The absolute numeric value of the prefix argument controls how many
  "branches" of each wip ref are shown.

There exists a total of three global modes that save to the wip refs,
which might seem excessive, but allows fine tuning of when exactly
changes are being committed to the wip refs.  Enabling all modes makes
it less likely that a change slips through the cracks.

Setting the below variable directly does not take effect; either
customize them or call the respective mode function.

- User Option: magit-wip-after-save-mode

  When this mode is enabled, then saving a buffer that visits a file
  tracked in a Git repository causes its current state to be committed
  to the working tree wip ref for the current branch.

- User Option: magit-wip-after-apply-mode

  When this mode is enabled, then applying (i.e. staging, unstaging,
  discarding, reversing, and regularly applying) a change to a file
  tracked in a Git repository causes its current state to be committed
  to the index and/or working tree wip refs for the current branch.

If you only ever edit files using Emacs and only ever interact with
Git using Magit, then the above two modes should be enough to protect
each and every change from accidental loss.  In practice nobody does
that.  So an additional mode exists that does commit to the wip refs
before making changes that could cause the loss of earlier changes.

- User Option: magit-wip-before-change-mode

  When this mode is enabled, then certain commands commit the existing
  changes to the files they are about to make changes to.

Note that even if you enable all three modes this won't give you
perfect protection.  The most likely scenario for losing changes
despite the use of these modes is making a change outside Emacs and
then destroying it also outside Emacs.  In such a scenario, Magit,
being an Emacs package, didn't get the opportunity to keep you from
shooting yourself in the foot.

When you are unsure whether Magit did commit a change to the wip refs,
then you can explicitly request that all changes to all tracked files
are being committed.

- Key: M-x magit-wip-commit, magit-wip-commit

  This command commits all changes to all tracked files to the index
  and working tree work-in-progress refs.  Like the modes described above,
  it does not commit untracked files, but it does check all tracked
  files for changes.  Use this command when you suspect that the modes
  might have overlooked a change made outside Emacs/Magit.

- User Option: magit-wip-after-save-local-mode-lighter

  Mode-line lighter for ~magit-wip-after-save-local-mode~.

- User Option: magit-wip-after-apply-mode-lighter

  Mode-line lighter for ~magit-wip-after-apply-mode~.

- User Option: magit-wip-before-change-mode-lighter

  Mode-line lighter for ~magit-wip-before-change-mode~.

- User Option: magit-wip-namespace

  The namespace used for work-in-progress refs.  It has to end with a
  slash.  The wip refs are named "<namespace>index/<branchref>" and
  "<namespace>wtree/<branchref>".  When snapshots are created while
  the ~HEAD~ is detached then "HEAD" is used in place of ~<branchref>~.

** Minor mode for buffers visiting files

The ~magit-file-mode~ enables certain Magit features in file-visiting
buffers belonging to a Git repository.  It should be enabled globally
using ~global-magit-file-mode~.  Currently this mode only establishes a
few key bindings, but this might be extended in the future.

- User Option: global-magit-file-mode

  Whether to establish certain Magit key bindings in all file-visiting
  buffers belonging to a Git repository.  This establishes the
  bindings suggested in [[*Getting started]] (but only for file-visiting
  buffers), and additionally binds ~C-c M-g~ to ~magit-file-popup~.

- Key: C-c M-g, magit-file-popup

  This prefix command shows a popup buffer featuring suffix commands
  that operate on the file being visited in the current buffer.

- Key: C-c M-g s, magit-stage-file

  Stage all changes to the file being visited in the current buffer.

- Key: C-c M-g u, magit-unstage-file

  Unstage all changes to the file being visited in the current buffer.

- Key: C-c M-g l, magit-log-buffer-file

  This command shows the log for the file of blob that the current
  buffer visits.  Renames are followed when a prefix argument is used
  or when ~--follow~ is part of ~magit-log-arguments~.

- Key: C-c M-g b, magit-blame-popup

  This prefix command shows the ~magit-blame~ suffix command along with
  the appropriate infix arguments in a popup buffer.  See [[*Initiating
  a commit]].

- Key: C-c M-g p, magit-blob-previous

  Visit the previous blob which modified the current file.

- Key: C-c M-g c, magit-commit-popup

  This prefix command shows suffix commands along with the appropriate
  infix arguments in a popup buffer.  See [[*Initiating a commit]].

** Minor mode for buffers visiting blobs

The ~magit-blob-mode~ enables certain Magit features in blob-visiting
buffers.  Such buffers can be created using ~magit-find-file~ and some
of the commands mentioned below, which also take care of turning on
this minor mode.  Currently this mode only establishes a few key
bindings, but this might be e

- Key: p, magit-blob-previous

  Visit the previous blob which modified the current file.

- Key: n, magit-blob-next

  Visit the next blob which modified the current file.

- Key: q, magit-kill-this-buffer

  Kill the current buffer.

* Customizing

Both Git and Emacs are highly customizable.  Magit is both a Git
porcelain as well as an Emacs package, so it makes sense to customize
it using both Git variables as well as Emacs options.  However this
flexibility doesn't come without problems, including but not limited
to the following.

- Some Git variables automatically have an effect in Magit without
  requiring any explicit support.  Sometimes that is desirable - in
  other cases, it breaks Magit.

  When a certain Git setting breaks Magit but you want to keep using
  that setting on the command line, then that can be accomplished by
  overriding the value for Magit only by appending something like
  ~("-c" "some.variable=compatible-value")~ to
  ~magit-git-global-arguments~.

- Certain settings like ~fetch.prune=true~ are respected by Magit
  commands (because they simply call the respective Git command) but
  their value is not reflected in the respective popup buffers.  In
  this case the ~--prune~ argument in ~magit-fetch-popup~ might be active
  or inactive depending on the value of ~magit-fetch-arguments~ only,
  but that doesn't keep the Git variable from being honored by the
  suffix commands anyway.  So pruning might happen despite the the
  ~--prune~ arguments being displayed in a way that seems to indicate
  that no pruning will happen.

I intend to address these and similar issues in a future release.

** Per-repository configuration

Magit can be configured on a per-repository level using both Git
variables as well as Emacs options.

To set a Git variable for one repository only, simply set it in
~/path/to/repo/.git/config~ instead of ~$HOME/.gitconfig~ or
~/etc/gitconfig~.  See [[info:gitman#git-config]].

Similarly, Emacs options can be set for one repository only by editing
~/path/to/repo/.dir-locals.el~.  See [[info:emacs#Directory Variables]].
For example to disable automatic refreshes of file-visiting buffers in
just one huge repository use this:

- ~/path/to/huge/repo/.dir-locals.el~

  #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
    ((nil . ((magit-refresh-buffers . nil))
  #+END_SRC

If you want to apply the same settings to several, but not all,
repositories then keeping the repository-local config files in sync
would quickly become annoying.  To avoid that you can create config
files for certain classes of repositories (e.g. "huge repositories")
and then include those files in the per-repository config files.
For example:

- ~/path/to/huge/repo/.git/config~

  #+BEGIN_SRC conf
    [include]
            path = /path/to/huge-gitconfig
  #+END_SRC

- ~/path/to/huge-gitconfig~

  #+BEGIN_SRC conf
    [status]
            showUntrackedFiles = no
  #+END_SRC

- ~$HOME/.emacs.d/init.el~

  #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
    (dir-locals-set-class-variables 'huge-git-repository
       '((nil . ((magit-refresh-buffers . nil)))))

    (dir-locals-set-directory-class
       "/path/to/huge/repo/" 'huge-git-repository)
  #+END_SRC

** Essential settings

The next two sections list and discuss several variables that many
users might want to customize, for safety and/or performance reasons.

*** Safety

This section discusses various variables that you might want to
change (or *not* change) for safety reasons.

Git keeps *committed* changes around long enough for users to recover
changes they have accidentally been deleted.  It does not do the same
for *uncommitted* changes in the working tree and not even the index
(the staging area).  Because Magit makes it so easy to modify
uncommitted changes, it also makes it easy to shoot yourself in the
foot in the process.  For that reason Magit provides three global
modes that save *tracked* files to work-in-progress references after or
before certain actions.  See [[*Wip modes]].

These modes are not enabled by default because of performance
concerns.  Instead a lot of potentially destructive commands require
confirmation every time they are used.  In many cases this can be
disabled by adding a symbol to ~magit-no-confirm~ (see [[*Completion and
confirmation]]).  If you enable the various wip modes then you should
add ~safe-with-wip~ to this list.

Similarly it isn't necessary to require confirmation before moving a
file to the system trash - if you trashed a file by mistake then you
can recover it from the there.  Option ~magit-delete-by-moving-to-trash~
controls whether the system trash is used, which is the case by default.
Nevertheless, ~trash~ isn't a member of ~magit-no-confirm~ - you
might want to change that.

By default buffers visiting files are automatically reverted when the
visited file changes on disk.  This isn't as risky as it might seem,
but to make an informed decision you should see [[*Risk of Reverting
Automatically]].

*** Performance

After Magit has run ~git~ for side-effects, it also refreshes the
current Magit buffer and the respective status buffer.  This is
necessary because otherwise outdated information might be displayed
without the user noticing.  Magit buffers are updated by recreating
their content from scratch, which makes updating simpler and less
error-prone, but also more costly.  Keeping it simple and just
re-creating everything from scratch is an old design decision and
departing from that will require major refactoring.

I plan to do that in time for the next major release.  I also intend
to create logs and diffs asynchronously, which should also help a lot
but also requires major refactoring.

Meanwhile you can tell Magit to only automatically refresh the current
Magit buffer, but not the status buffer.  If you do that, then the
status buffer is only refreshed automatically if it itself is the
current buffer.

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (setq magit-refresh-status-buffer nil)
#+END_SRC

You should also check whether any third-party packages have added
anything to ~magit-refresh-buffer-hook~ and ~magit-status-refresh-hook~,
and if so whether those additions impacts performance significantly.

If you have enabled any features that are disabled by default, then
you should check whether they impact performance significantly.  It's
likely that they were not enabled by default because it is known that
they reduce performance at least in large repositories.

If performance is only slow inside certain unusually large
repositories, then you might want to disable certain features on a
per-repository or per-repository-class basis only.  See
[[*Per-repository configuration]].

**** Microsoft Windows Performance
:PROPERTIES:
:NONODE:     t
:END:

In order to update the status buffer, ~git~ has to be run a few dozen
times.  That is only problematic on Microsoft Windows, because that
operating system is exceptionally slow at starting processes.  Sadly
this is an issue that can only be fixed by Microsoft itself, and they
don't appear to particularly interested in doing so.

Beside the subprocess issue, there also exist other Window-specific
performance issues, some of which can be worked around.  The
maintainers of "Git for Windows" try to reduce their effect, and in
order to benefit from the latest performance tweaks, should always
use the latest release.  Magit too tries to work around some
Windows-specific issues.

But all these efforts might not be enough, forcing users to make some
changes themselves.  For example, according to
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4485059, setting the following Git
variables might also help:

#+BEGIN_SRC shell-script
  git config --global core.preloadindex true
  git config --global core.fscache true
  git config --global gc.auto 256
#+END_SRC

You should also check whether an anti-virus program is slowing things
down.

**** Log Performance
:PROPERTIES:
:NONODE:     t
:END:

When showing logs, Magit limits the number of commits initially shown
in the hope that this avoids unnecessary work.  When using ~--graph~ is
used, then this unfortunately does not have the desired effect for
large histories.  Junio, Git's maintainer, said on the git mailing
list (http://www.spinics.net/lists/git/msg232230.html): "~--graph~ wants
to compute the whole history and the max-count only affects the output
phase after ~--graph~ does its computation".

In other words, it's not that Git is slow at outputting the
differences, or that Magit is slow at parsing the output - the problem
is that Git first goes outside and has a smoke.

We actually work around this issue by limiting the number of commits
not only by using ~-<N>~ but by also using a range.  But unfortunately
that's not always possible.

In repositories with more than a few thousand commits ~--graph~ should
never be a member of ~magit-log-section-arguments~.  That variable is
used in the status buffer which is refreshed every time you run any
Magit command.

Using ~--color --graph~ is even slower.  Magit uses code that is part of
Emacs to turn control characters into faces.  That code is pretty slow
and this is quite noticeable when showing a log with many branches and
merges.  For that reason ~--color~ is not enabled by default anymore.
Consider leaving it at that.

**** Diff Performance
:PROPERTIES:
:NONODE:     t
:END:

- ~magit-diff-highlight-hunk-body~, ~magit-diff-highlight-indentation~,
  ~magit-diff-highlight-trailing~, and ~magit-diff-paint-whitespace~

- ~magit-diff-refine-hunk~

**** Refs Buffer Performance
:PROPERTIES:
:NONODE:     t
:END:

When refreshing the "references buffer" is slow, then that's usually
because several hundred refs are being displayed.  The best way to
address that is to display fewer refs, obviously.

If you are not, or only mildly, interested in seeing the list of tags,
then start by not displaying them:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (remove-hook 'magit-refs-sections-hook 'magit-insert-tags)
#+END_SRC

Then you should also make sure that the listed remote branches
actually all exist.  You can do so by pruning branches which no longer
exist using ~f-pa~.

* Plumbing

The following sections describe how to use several of Magit's core
abstractions to extend Magit itself or implement a separate extension.

A few of the low-level features used by Magit have been factored out
into separate libraries/packages, so that they can be used by other
packages, without having to depend on Magit.  These libraries are
described in separate manuals, see [[info:with-editor]] and
[[info:magit-popup]].

** Calling Git

Magit provides many specialized functions for calling Git.  All of
these functions are defined in either ~magit-git.el~ or ~magit-process.el~
and have one of the prefixes ~magit-run-~, ~magit-call-~, ~magit-start-~,
or ~magit-git-~ (which is also used for other things).

All of these functions accept an indefinite number of arguments, which
are strings that specify command line arguments for git (or in some
cases an arbitrary executable).  These arguments are flattened before
being passed on to the executable; so instead of strings they can also
be lists of strings and arguments that are ~nil~ are silently dropped.
Some of these functions also require a single mandatory argument
before these command line arguments.

Roughly speaking these functions run Git either to get some value or
for side-effect.  The functions that return a value are useful to
collect the information necessary to populate a Magit buffer, while
the others are used to implement Magit commands.

The functions in the value-only group always run synchronously, and
they never trigger a refresh.  The function in the side-effect group
can be further divided into subgroups depending on whether they run
Git synchronously or asynchronously, and depending on whether they
trigger a refresh when the executable has finished.

*** Getting a value from Git

These functions run Git in order to get a value, either its exit
status or its output.  Of course you could also use them to run Git
commands that have side-effects, but that should be avoided.

- Function: magit-git-exit-code &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns its exit code.

- Function: magit-git-success &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns ~t~ if the exit code is ~0~, ~nil~
  otherwise.

- Function: magit-git-failure &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns ~t~ if the exit code is ~1~, ~nil~
  otherwise.

- Function: magit-git-true &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns ~t~ if the first line printed by
  git is the string "true", ~nil~ otherwise.

- Function: magit-git-false &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns ~t~ if the first line printed by
  git is the string "false", ~nil~ otherwise.

- Function: magit-git-insert &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and inserts its output at point.

- Function: magit-git-string &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns the first line of its output.  If
  there is no output or if it begins with a newline character, then
  this returns ~nil~.

- Function: magit-git-lines &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns its output as a list of lines.
  Empty lines anywhere in the output are omitted.

- Function: magit-git-items &rest args

  Executes git with ARGS and returns its null-separated output as a
  list.  Empty items anywhere in the output are omitted.

  If the value of option ~magit-git-debug~ is non-nil and git exits with
  a non-zero exit status, then warn about that in the echo area and
  add a section containing git's standard error in the current
  repository's process buffer.

When an error occurs when using one of the above functions, then that
is usually due to a bug, i.e. the use of an argument which is not
actually supported.  Such errors are usually not reported, but when
they occur we need to be able to debug them.

- User Option: magit-git-debug

  Whether to report errors that occur when using ~magit-git-insert~,
  ~magit-git-string~, ~magit-git-lines~, or ~magit-git-items~.  This does
  not actually raise an error.  Instead a message is shown in the echo
  area, and git's standard error is insert into a new section in the
  current repository's process buffer.

- Function: magit-git-str &rest args

  This is a variant of ~magit-git-string~ that ignores the option
  ~magit-git-debug~.  It is mainly intended to be used while handling
  errors in functions that do respect that option.  Using such a
  function while handing an error could cause yet another error and
  therefore lead to an infinite recursion.  You probably won't ever
  need to use this function.

*** Calling Git for effect

These functions are used to run git to produce some effect.  Most
Magit commands that actually run git do so by using such a function.

Because we do not need to consume git's output when using these
functions, their output is instead logged into a per-repository
buffer, which can be shown using ~$~ from a Magit buffer or ~M-x
magit-process~ elsewhere.

These functions can have an effect in two distinct ways.  Firstly,
running git may change something, i.e. create or push a new commit.
Secondly, that change may require that Magit buffers are refreshed to
reflect the changed state of the repository.  But refreshing isn't
always desirable, so only some of these functions do perform such a
refresh after git has returned.

Sometimes it is useful to run git asynchronously.  For example, when
the user has just initiated a push, then there is no reason to make
her wait until that has completed.  In other cases it makes sense to
wait for git to complete before letting the user do something else.
For example after staging a change it is useful to wait until after
the refresh because that also automatically moves to the next change.

- Function: magit-call-git &rest args

  Calls git synchronously with ARGS.

- Function: magit-call-process program &rest args

  Calls PROGRAM synchronously with ARGS.

- Function: magit-run-git &rest args

  Calls git synchronously with ARGS and then refreshes.

- Function: magit-run-git-with-input input &rest args

  Calls git synchronously with ARGS and sends it INPUT on standard
  input.

  INPUT should be a buffer or the name of an existing buffer.  The
  content of that buffer is used as the process' standard input.
  After the process returns a refresh is performed.

  As a special case, INPUT may also be nil.  In that case the content
  of the current buffer is used as standard input and *no* refresh is
  performed.

  This function actually runs git asynchronously.  But then it waits
  for the process to return, so the function itself is synchronous.

- Function: magit-run-git-with-logfile file &rest args

  Calls git synchronously with ARGS.  The process' output is saved in
  FILE.  This is rarely useful and so this function might be removed
  in the future.

  This function actually runs git asynchronously.  But then it waits
  for the process to return, so the function itself is synchronous.

- Function: magit-git &rest args

  Calls git synchronously with ARGS for side-effects only.  This
  function does not refresh the buffer.

- Function: magit-git-wash washer &rest args

  Execute Git with ARGS, inserting washed output at point.  Actually
  first insert the raw output at point.  If there is no output call
  ~magit-cancel-section~.  Otherwise temporarily narrow the buffer to
  the inserted text, move to its beginning, and then call function
  WASHER with no argument.

And now for the asynchronous variants.

- Function: magit-run-git-async &rest args

  Start Git, prepare for refresh, and return the process object.
  ARGS is flattened and then used as arguments to Git.

  Display the command line arguments in the echo area.

  After Git returns some buffers are refreshed: the buffer that was
  current when this function was called (if it is a Magit buffer and
  still alive), as well as the respective Magit status buffer.
  Unmodified buffers visiting files that are tracked in the current
  repository are reverted if ~magit-revert-buffers~ is non-nil.

- Function: magit-run-git-with-editor &rest args

  Export GIT_EDITOR and start Git.  Also prepare for refresh and
  return the process object.  ARGS is flattened and then used as
  arguments to Git.

  Display the command line arguments in the echo area.

  After Git returns some buffers are refreshed: the buffer that was
  current when this function was called (if it is a Magit buffer and
  still alive), as well as the respective Magit status buffer.

- Function: magit-start-git &rest args

  Start Git, prepare for refresh, and return the process object.

  If INPUT is non-nil, it has to be a buffer or the name of an
  existing buffer.  The buffer content becomes the processes
  standard input.

  Option ~magit-git-executable~ specifies the Git executable and option
  ~magit-git-global-arguments~ specifies constant arguments.  The
  remaining arguments ARGS specify arguments to Git.  They are
  flattened before use.

  After Git returns, some buffers are refreshed: the buffer that was
  current when this function was called (if it is a Magit buffer and
  still alive), as well as the respective Magit status buffer.
  Unmodified buffers visiting files that are tracked in the current
  repository are reverted if ~magit-revert-buffers~ is non-nil.

- Function: magit-start-process &rest args

  Start PROGRAM, prepare for refresh, and return the process object.

  If optional argument INPUT is non-nil, it has to be a buffer or
  the name of an existing buffer.  The buffer content becomes the
  processes standard input.

  The process is started using ~start-file-process~ and then setup to
  use the sentinel ~magit-process-sentinel~ and the filter
  ~magit-process-filter~.  Information required by these functions is
  stored in the process object.  When this function returns the
  process has not started to run yet so it is possible to override the
  sentinel and filter.

  After the process returns, ~magit-process-sentinel~ refreshes the
  buffer that was current when ~magit-start-process~ was called (if it
  is a Magit buffer and still alive), as well as the respective Magit
  status buffer.  Unmodified buffers visiting files that are tracked
  in the current repository are reverted if ~magit-revert-buffers~ is
  non-nil.

- Variable: magit-this-process

  The child process which is about to start.  This can be used to
  change the filter and sentinel.

- Variable: magit-process-raise-error

  When this is non-nil, then ~magit-process-sentinel~ raises an error if
  git exits with a non-zero exit status.  For debugging purposes.

** Section plumbing
*** Creating sections

- Macro: magit-insert-section &rest args

  Insert a section at point.

  TYPE is the section type, a symbol.  Many commands that act on the
  current section behave differently depending on that type.  Also if
  a variable ~magit-TYPE-section-map~ exists, then use that as the
  text-property ~keymap~ of all text belonging to the section (but this
  may be overwritten in subsections).

  Optional VALUE is the value of the section, usually a string that is
  required when acting on the section.

  When optional HIDE is non-nil collapse the section body by default,
  i.e. when first creating the section, but not when refreshing the
  buffer.  Otherwise, expand it by default.  This can be overwritten using
  ~magit-section-set-visibility-hook~.  When a section is recreated
  during a refresh, then the visibility of predecessor is inherited
  and HIDE is ignored (but the hook is still honored).

  BODY is any number of forms that actually insert the section's
  heading and body.  Optional NAME, if specified, has to be a symbol,
  which is then bound to the struct of the section being inserted.

  Before BODY is evaluated the ~start~ of the section object is set to
  the value of ~point~ and after BODY was evaluated its ~end~ is set to
  the new value of ~point~; BODY is responsible for moving ~point~
  forward.

  If it turns out inside BODY that the section is empty, then
  ~magit-cancel-section~ can be used to abort and remove all traces of
  the partially inserted section.  This can happen when creating a
  section by washing Git's output and Git didn't actually output
  anything this time around.

- Function: magit-insert-heading &rest args

  Insert the heading for the section currently being inserted.

  This function should only be used inside ~magit-insert-section~.

  When called without any arguments, then just set the ~content~ slot of
  the object representing the section being inserted to a marker at
  ~point~.  The section should only contain a single line when this
  function is used like this.

  When called with arguments ARGS, which have to be strings, then
  insert those strings at point.  The section should not contain any
  text before this happens and afterwards it should again only contain
  a single line.  If the ~face~ property is set anywhere inside any of
  these strings, then insert all of them unchanged.  Otherwise use the
  ~magit-section-heading~ face for all inserted text.

  The ~content~ property of the section struct is the end of the heading
  (which lasts from ~start~ to ~content~) and the beginning of the body
  (which lasts from ~content~ to ~end~).  If the value of ~content~ is nil,
  then the section has no heading and its body cannot be collapsed.
  If a section does have a heading then its height must be exactly one
  line, including a trailing newline character.  This isn't enforced;
  you are responsible for getting it right.  The only exception is
  that this function does insert a newline character if necessary.

- Function: magit-cancel-section

  Cancel the section currently being inserted.  This exits the
  innermost call to ~magit-insert-section~ and removes all traces of
  what has already happened inside that call.

- Function: magit-define-section-jumper sym title &optional value

  Define an interactive function to go to section SYM.  TITLE is the
  displayed title of the section.

*** Section selection

- Function: magit-current-section

  Return the section at point.

- Function: magit-region-sections

  Return a list of the selected sections.

  When the region is active and constitutes a valid section selection,
  then return a list of all selected sections.  This is the case when
  the region begins in the heading of a section and ends in the
  heading of a sibling of that first section.  When the selection is
  not valid then return nil.  Most commands that can act on the
  selected sections, then instead just act on the current section, the
  one point is in.

  When the region looks like it would in any other buffer then the
  selection is invalid.  When the selection is valid then the region
  uses the ~magit-section-highlight~.  This does not apply to diffs where
  things get a bit more complicated, but even here if the region looks
  like it usually does, then that's not a valid selection as far as
  this function is concerned.

- Function: magit-region-values &rest types

  Return a list of the values of the selected sections.

  Also see ~magit-region-sections~ whose doc-string explains when a
  region is a valid section selection.  If the region is not active
  or is not a valid section selection, then return nil.  If optional
  TYPES is non-nil then the selection not only has to be valid; the
  types of all selected sections additionally have to match one of
  TYPES, or nil is returned.

*** Matching sections

- Key: M-x magit-describe-section, magit-describe-section

  Show information about the section at point.  This command is
  intended for debugging purposes.

- Function: magit-section-ident

  Return an unique identifier for SECTION.  The return value has the
  form ~((TYPE . VALUE)...)~.

- Function: magit-get-section

  Return the section identified by IDENT.  IDENT has to be a list as
  returned by ~magit-section-ident~.

- Function: magit-section-match condition &optional section

  Return ~t~ if SECTION matches CONDITION.  SECTION defaults to the
  section at point.

  Conditions can take the following forms:
  - ~(CONDITION...)~

    matches if any of the CONDITIONs matches.

  - ~[TYPE...]~

    matches if the first TYPE matches the type of the section at
    point, the second matches that of its parent, and so on.

  - ~[* TYPE...]~

    matches sections that match [TYPE...] and also recursively all
    their child sections.

  - ~TYPE~

    matches TYPE regardless of its parents.

  Each TYPE is a symbol.  Note that is not necessary to specify all
  TYPEs up to the root section as printed by ~magit-describe-type~,
  unless of course your want to be that precise.

- Function: magit-section-when condition &rest body

  If the section at point matches CONDITION evaluate BODY.

  If the section matches evaluate BODY forms sequentially and return
  the value of the last one, or if there are no BODY forms return the
  value of the section.  If the section does not match return nil.

  See ~magit-section-match~ for the forms CONDITION can take.

- Function: magit-section-case &rest clauses

  Choose among clauses on the type of the section at point.

  Each clause looks like (CONDITION BODY...).  The type of the
  section is compared against each CONDITION; the BODY forms of the
  first match are evaluated sequentially and the value of the last
  form is returned.  Inside BODY the symbol ~it~ is bound to the
  section at point.  If no clause succeeds or if there is no
  section at point return nil.

  See ~magit-section-match~ for the forms CONDITION can take.
  Additionally a CONDITION of t is allowed in the final clause and
  matches if no other CONDITION match, even if there is no section at
  point.

- Variable: magit-root-section

  The root section in the current buffer.  All other sections are
  descendants of this section.  The value of this variable is set by
  ~magit-insert-section~ and you should never modify it.

For diff related sections a few additional tools exist.

- Function: magit-diff-type &optional section

  Return the diff type of SECTION.

  The returned type is one of the symbols ~staged~, ~unstaged~, ~committed~,
  or ~undefined~.  This type serves a similar purpose as the general
  type common to all sections (which is stored in the ~type~ slot of the
  corresponding ~magit-section~ struct) but takes additional information
  into account.  When the SECTION isn't related to diffs and the
  buffer containing it also isn't a diff-only buffer, then return nil.

  Currently the type can also be one of ~tracked~ and ~untracked~, but
  these values are not handled explicitly in every place they should
  be.  A possible fix could be to just return nil here.

  The section has to be a ~diff~ or ~hunk~ section, or a section whose
  children are of type ~diff~.  If optional SECTION is nil, return the
  diff type for the current section.  In buffers whose major mode is
  ~magit-diff-mode~ SECTION is ignored and the type is determined using
  other means.  In ~magit-revision-mode~ buffers the type is always
  ~committed~.

- Function: magit-diff-scope &optional section strict

  Return the diff scope of SECTION or the selected section(s).

  A diff's "scope" describes what part of a diff is selected, it is a
  symbol, one of ~region~, ~hunk~, ~hunks~, ~file~, ~files~, or ~list~.  Do not
  confuse this with the diff "type", as returned by ~magit-diff-type~.

  If optional SECTION is non-nil, then return the scope of that,
  ignoring the sections selected by the region.  Otherwise return the
  scope of the current section, or if the region is active and selects
  a valid group of diff related sections, the type of these sections,
  i.e. ~hunks~ or ~files~.  If SECTION (or if the current section that
  is nil) is a ~hunk~ section and the region starts and ends inside
  the body of a that section, then the type is ~region~.

  If optional STRICT is non-nil then return nil if the diff type of
  the section at point is ~untracked~ or the section at point is not
  actually a ~diff~ but a ~diffstat~ section.

** Refreshing buffers

All commands that create a new Magit buffer or change what is being
displayed in an existing buffer do so by calling ~magit-mode-setup~.
Among other things, that function sets the buffer local values of
~default-directory~ (to the top-level of the repository),
~magit-refresh-function~, and ~magit-refresh-args~.

Buffers are refreshed by calling the function that is the local value
of ~magit-refresh-function~ (a function named ~magit-*-refresh-buffer~,
where ~*~ may be something like ~diff~) with the value of
~magit-refresh-args~ as arguments.

- Macro: magit-mode-setup buffer switch-func mode refresh-func &optional refresh-args

  This function displays and selects BUFFER, turns on MODE, and
  refreshes a first time.

  This function displays and optionally selects BUFFER by calling
  ~magit-mode-display-buffer~ with BUFFER, MODE and SWITCH-FUNC as
  arguments.  Then it sets the local value of ~magit-refresh-function~
  to REFRESH-FUNC and that of ~magit-refresh-args~ to REFRESH-ARGS.
  Finally it creates the buffer content by calling REFRESH-FUNC with
  REFRESH-ARGS as arguments.

  All arguments are evaluated before switching to BUFFER.

- Function: magit-mode-display-buffer buffer mode &optional switch-function

  This function display BUFFER in some window and select it.  BUFFER
  may be a buffer or a string, the name of a buffer.  The buffer is
  returned.

  Unless BUFFER is already displayed in the selected frame, store the
  previous window configuration as a buffer local value, so that it
  can later be restored by ~magit-mode-bury-buffer~.

  The buffer is displayed and selected using SWITCH-FUNCTION.  If that
  is ~nil~ then ~pop-to-buffer~ is used if the current buffer's major mode
  derives from ~magit-mode~.  Otherwise ~switch-to-buffer~ is used.

- Variable: magit-refresh-function

  The value of this buffer-local variable is the function used to
  refresh the current buffer.  It is called with ~magit-refresh-args~ as
  arguments.

- Variable: magit-refresh-args

  The list of arguments used by ~magit-refresh-function~ to refresh the
  current buffer.  ~magit-refresh-function~ is called with these
  arguments.

  The value is usually set using ~magit-mode-setup~, but in some cases
  it's also useful to provide commands which can change the value.  For
  example, the ~magit-diff-refresh-popup~ can be used to change any of
  the arguments used to display the diff, without having to specify
  again which differences should be shown.  ~magit-diff-more-context~,
  ~magit-diff-less-context~, and ~magit-diff-default-context~ change just
  the ~-U<N>~ argument.  In both case this is done by changing the value
  of this variable and then calling this ~magit-refresh-function~.

** Conventions
*** Confirmation and completion

Dangerous operations that may lead to data loss have to be confirmed
by default.  With a multi-section selection, this is done using
questions that can be answered with "yes" or "no".  When the region isn't
active, or if it doesn't constitute a valid section selection, then
such commands instead read a single item in the minibuffer.  When the
value of the current section is among the possible choices, then that
is presented as default choice.  To confirm the action on a single
item, the user has to answer ~RET~ (instead of "yes"), and to abort, ~C-g~
(instead of "no").  But alternatively the user may also select another
item, just like if the command had been invoked with no suitable
section at point at all.

*** Theming Faces

The default theme uses blue for local branches, green for remote
branches, and goldenrod (brownish yellow) for tags.  When creating a
new theme, you should probably follow that example.  If your theme
already uses other colors, then stick to that.

In older releases these reference faces used to have a background
color and a box around them.  The basic default faces no longer do so,
to make Magit buffers much less noisy, and you should follow that
example at least with regards to boxes.  (Boxes were used in the past
to work around a conflict between the highlighting overlay and text
property backgrounds.  That's no longer necessary because highlighting no
longer causes other background colors to disappear.)  Alternatively
you can keep the background color and/or box, but then have to take
special care to adjust ~magit-branch-current~ accordingly.  By default
it looks mostly like ~magit-branch-local~, but with a box (by default
the former is the only face that uses a box, exactly so that it sticks
out).  If the former also uses a box, then you have to make sure that
it differs in some other way from the latter.

The most difficult faces to theme are those related to diffs,
headings, highlighting, and the region.  There are faces that fall
into all four groups - expect to spend some time getting this right.

The ~region~ face in the default theme, in both the light and dark
variants, as well as in many other themes, distributed with Emacs or
by third-parties, is very ugly.  It is common to use a background
color that really sticks out, which is ugly but if that were the only
problem then it would be acceptable.  Unfortunately many themes also
set the foreground color, which ensures that all text within the
region is readable.  Without doing that there might be cases where
some foreground color is too close to the region background color to
still be readable.  But it also means that text within the region
loses all syntax highlighting.

I consider the work that went into getting the ~region~ face right to be
a good indicator for the general quality of a theme.  My
recommendation for the ~region~ face is this: use a background color
slightly different from the background color of the ~default~ face, and
do not set the foreground color at all.  So for a light theme you
might use a light (possibly tinted) gray as the background color of
~default~ and a somewhat darker gray for the background of ~region~.
That should usually be enough to not collide with the foreground color
of any other face.  But if some other faces also set a light gray as
background color, then you should also make sure it doesn't collide
with those (in some cases it might be acceptable though).

Magit only uses the ~region~ face when the region is "invalid" by its
own definition.  In a Magit buffer the region is used to either select
multiple sibling sections, so that commands which support it act on
all of these sections instead of just the current section, or to
select lines within a single hunk section.  In all other cases, the
section is considered invalid and Magit won't act on it.  But such
invalid sections happen, either because the user has not moved point
enough yet to make it valid or because she wants to use a non-magit
command to act on the region, e.g. ~kill-region~.

So using the regular ~region~ face for invalid sections is a feature.  It
tells the user that Magit won't be able to act on it.  It's acceptable
if that face looks a bit odd and even (but less so) if it collides
with the background colors of section headings and other things that
have a background color.

Magit highlights the current section.  If a section has subsections,
then all of them are highlighted.  This is done using faces that have
"highlight" in their names.  For most sections, ~magit-section-highlight~
is used for both the body and the heading.  Like the ~region~ face, it
should only set the background color to something similar to that of
~default~.  The highlight background color must be different from both
the ~region~ background color and the ~default~ background color.

For diff related sections Magit uses various faces to
highlight different parts of the selected section(s).  Note that hunk
headings, unlike all other section headings, by default have a
background color, because it is useful to have very visible separators
between hunks.  That face ~magit-diff-hunk-heading~, should be different
from both ~magit-diff-hunk-heading-highlight~ and
~magit-section-highlight~, as well as from ~magit-diff-context~ and
~magit-diff-context-highlight~.  By default we do that by changing the
foreground color.  Changing the background color would lead to
complications, and there are already enough we cannot get around.
(Also note that it is generally a good idea for section headings to
always be bold, but only for sections that have subsections).

When there is a valid region selecting diff-related sibling sections,
i.e. multiple files or hunks, then the bodies of all these sections
use the respective highlight faces, but additionally the headings
instead use one of the faces ~magit-diff-file-heading-selection~ or
~magit-diff-hunk-heading-selection~.  These faces have to be different
from the regular highlight variants to provide explicit visual
indication that the region is active.

When theming diff related faces, start by setting the option
~magit-diff-refine-hunk~ to ~all~.  You might personally prefer to only
refine the current hunk or not use hunk refinement at all, but some of
the users of your theme want all hunks to be refined, so you have to
cater to that.

(Also turn on ~magit-diff-highlight-indentation~,
~magit-diff-highlight-trailing~, and ~magit-diff-paint-whitespace~; and
insert some whitespace errors into the code you use for testing.)

For e.g. "added lines" you have to adjust three faces:
~magit-diff-added~, ~magit-diff-added-highlight~, and
~smerge-refined-added~.  Make sure that the latter works well with both
of the former, as well as ~smerge-other~ and ~diff-added~.  Then do the
same for the removed lines, context lines, lines added by us, and
lines added by them.  Also make sure the respective added, removed,
and context faces use approximately the same saturation for both the
highlighted and unhighlighted variants.  Also make sure the file and
diff headings work nicely with context lines (e.g. make them look
different).  Line faces should set both the foreground and the
background color.  For example, for added lines use two different
greens.

It's best if the foreground color of both the highlighted and the
unhighlighted variants are the same, so you will need to have to find
a color that works well on the highlight and unhighlighted background,
the refine background, and the highlight context background.  When
there is an hunk internal region, then the added- and removed-lines
background color is used only within that region.  Outside the region
the highlighted context background color is used.  This makes it
easier to see what is being staged.  With an hunk internal region the
hunk heading is shown using ~magit-diff-hunk-heading-selection~, and so
are the thin lines that are added around the lines that fall within
the region.  The background color of that has to be distinct enough
from the various other involved background colors.

Nobody said this would be easy.  If your theme restricts itself to a
certain set of colors, then you should make an exception here.
Otherwise it would be impossible to make the diffs look good in each
and every variation.  Actually you might want to just stick to the
default definitions for these faces.  You have been warned.  Also
please note that if you do not get this right, this will in some cases
look to users like bugs in Magit - so please do it right or not at
all.

* FAQ
:PROPERTIES:
:APPENDIX:   t
:END:

Below you find a list of frequently asked questions.  For a list of
frequently *and recently* asked questions, i.e. questions that haven't
made it into the manual yet, see https://github.com/magit/magit/wiki/FAQ.

** Magit is slow

See [[*Performance]].

** I changed several thousand files at once and now Magit is unusable

Magit is *currently* not expected to work under such conditions. It sure
would be nice if it did, and v2.5 will hopefully be a big step into
that direction.  But it might take until v3.1 to accomplish fully
satisfactory performance, because that requires some heavy refactoring.

But for now we recommend you use the command line to complete this one
commit.  Also see [[*Performance]].

** I am having problems committing

That likely means that Magit is having problems finding an appropriate
emacsclient executable.  See [[info:with-editor#Configuring With-Editor]]
and [[info:with-editor#Debugging]].

** I don't understand how branching and pushing work

Please see [[*Branching]] and http://emacsair.me/2016/01/17/magit-2.4

** I don't like the key binding in v2.4

Please see http://emacsair.me/2016/01/17/restore-old-bindings.

** I cannot install the pre-requisites for Magit v2

An Elpa archive featuring obsolete Magit v1.4.2 and its dependencies
is available from http://magit.vc/elpa/v1.  But note that v1.4.2 is
obsolete and no longer maintained.

** I am using an Emacs release older than v24.4

At least Emacs v24.4 is required.  There is no way around it, if you
want to use Magit v2.

If you own the machine you work on, then consider updating to the
latest release provided by your distribution.  If it doesn't feature a
recent enough release, then you will have to use a backport package or
build Emacs from source.

Installing Emacs from source is quite simple. See the instructions at
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/tree/INSTALL and
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/tree/INSTALL.REPO to get an
idea of that this involves.  But when you perform the installation
then use the instructions for the release you are actually installing.

Unfortunately these instructions do not cover the hardest part (which
is the hardest part exactly because it is not covered there):
installing the build time dependencies.

For that you'll need to perform a web search and find an appropriate
tutorial for your distribution.  If you think you should not have had
to do that yourself, then consider informing me about the resources
that helped you figure what to do for your specific setup, so that I
can post a link here.  That way those coming after you have it easier.

An Elpa archive featuring obsolete Magit v1.4.2 and its dependencies
is available from http://magit.vc/elpa/v1.

** I am using a Git release older than v1.9.4

At least Git v1.9.4 is required.  There is no way around it, if you
want to use Magit v2.

If you own the machine, then consider updating to the latest release
provided by your distribution.  If it doesn't feature a recent enough
release, then you will have to use a backport package or build Git
from source.

Installing Git from source is quite simple. See the instructions at
https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/INSTALL to get an idea of that
this involves.  But when you perform the installation then use the
instructions for the release you are actually installing.

An Elpa archive featuring obsolete Magit v1.4.2 and its dependencies
is available from http://magit.vc/elpa/v1.

** I am using MS Windows and cannot push with Magit

It's almost certain that Magit is only incidental to this issue.  It
is much more likely that this is a configuration issue, even if you
can push on the command line.

Detailed setup instructions can be found at
https://github.com/magit/magit/wiki/Pushing-with-Magit-from-Windows.

** How to install the gitman info manual?

Git's manpages can be exported as an info manual called ~gitman~.
Magit's own info manual links to nodes in that manual instead of the
actual manpages because texinfo sadly doesn't support linking to
manpages.

Unfortunately many distributions do not install the ~gitman~ manual by
default.  Some distributions may provide a separate package containing
the info manual.  Please let me know the name of that package for your
distribution, so that I can mention here.

If the distribution you are using does not offer a package that
contains the ~gitman~ manual, then you have to install it manually.
Clone Git's own Git repository, checkout the tag corresponding to the
Git release you have installed, and follow the instructions in
~INSTALL~.  The relevant make targets are ~info~ and ~install-info~.

Alternatively you may add this advice to your ~init.el~ file.

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (defadvice Info-follow-nearest-node (around gitman activate)
    "When encountering a cross reference to the `gitman' info
  manual, then instead of following that cross reference show
  the actual manpage using the function `man'."
    (let ((node (Info-get-token
                 (point) "\\*note[ \n\t]+"
                 "\\*note[ \n\t]+\\([^:]*\\):\\(:\\|[ \n\t]*(\\)?")))
      (if (and node (string-match "^(gitman)\\(.+\\)" node))
          (progn (require 'man)
                 (man (match-string 1 node)))
        ad-do-it)))
#+END_SRC

Or if you are using MS Windows and ~man~ is not available, use this
variation with used the Emacs Lisp implementation provided by the
~woman~ package.

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (defadvice Info-follow-nearest-node (around gitman activate)
    "When encountering a cross reference to the `gitman' info
  manual, then instead of following that cross reference show
  the actual manpage using the function `woman'."
    (let ((node (Info-get-token
                 (point) "\\*note[ \n\t]+"
                 "\\*note[ \n\t]+\\([^:]*\\):\\(:\\|[ \n\t]*(\\)?")))
      (if (and node (string-match "^(gitman)\\(.+\\)" node))
          (progn (require 'woman)
                 (woman (match-string 1 node)))
        ad-do-it)))
#+END_SRC

Did I mention that texinfo cross reference are just awful?  (This is
just one of many issues.)

** How can I show Git's output?

To show the output of recently run git commands, press ~$~ (or, if that
isn't available, ~M-x magit-process-buffer~).  This will show a buffer
containing a section per git invocation; as always press ~TAB~ to expand
or collapse them.

By default git's output is only inserted into the process buffer if it
is run for side-effects.  When the output is consumed in some way then
also inserting it into the process buffer would be to expensive.  For
debugging purposes it's possible to do so anyway by setting
~magit-git-debug~ to ~t~.

** Expanding a file to show the diff causes it to disappear

This is probably caused by a change of a ~diff.*~ Git variable.  You
probably set that variable for a reason, and should therefore
only undo that setting in Magit by customizing
~magit-git-global-arguments~.

** Point is wrong in the COMMIT_EDITMSG buffer

Neither Magit nor `git-commit` fiddle with point in the buffer used to
write commit messages, so something else must be doing it.

You have probably globally enabled a mode which does restore point in
file-visiting buffers.  It might be a bit surprising, but when you
write a commit message, then you are actually editing a file.

So you have to figure out which package is doing.  ~saveplace~,
~pointback~, and ~session~ are likely candidates.  These snippets might
help:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (setq session-name-disable-regexp "\\(?:\\`'\\.git/[A-Z_]+\\'\\)")

  (with-eval-after-load 'pointback
    (lambda ()
      (when (or git-commit-mode git-rebase-mode)
	(pointback-mode -1))))
#+END_SRC

** Can Magit be used as ediff-version-control-package?

No, it cannot.  For that to work the functions ~ediff-magit-internal~
and ~ediff-magit-merge-internal~ would have to be implemented, and they
are not.  These two functions are only used by the three commands
~ediff-revision~, ~ediff-merge-revisions-with-ancestor~, and
~ediff-merge-revisions~.

These commands only delegate the task of populating buffers with
certain revisions to the "internal" functions.  The equally important
task of determining which revisions are to be compared/merged is not
delegated.  Instead this is done without any support whatsoever, from
the version control package/system - meaning that the user has to
enter the revisions explicitly.  Instead of implementing
~ediff-magit-internal~ we provide ~magit-ediff-compare~, which handles
both tasks like it is 2005.

The other commands ~ediff-merge-revisions~ and
~ediff-merge-revisions-with-ancestor~ are normally not what you want
when using a modern version control system like Git.  Instead of
letting the user resolve only those conflicts which Git could not
resolve on its own, they throw away all work done by Git and then
expect the user to manually merge all conflicts, including those that
had already been resolved.  That made sense back in the days when
version control systems couldn't merge (or so I have been told), but
not anymore.  Once in a blue moon you might actually want to see all
conflicts, in which case you *can* use these commands, which then use
~ediff-vc-merge-internal~.  So we don't actually have to implement
~ediff-magit-merge-internal~.  Instead we provide the more useful
command ~magit-ediff-resolve~ which only shows yet-to-be resolved
conflicts.

** How to show diffs for gpg-encrypted files?

Git supports showing diffs for encrypted files, but has to be told to
do so.  Since Magit just uses Git to get the diffs, configuring Git
also affects the diffs displayed inside Magit.

#+BEGIN_SRC shell-script
  git config --global diff.gpg.textconv "gpg --no-tty --decrypt"
  echo "*.gpg filter=gpg diff=gpg" > .gitattributes
#+END_SRC

** Emacs 24.5 hangs when loading Magit

This is actually triggered by loading Tramp.  See
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=20015 for details. You
can work around the problem by setting
~tramp-ssh-controlmaster-options~. Changing your DNS server (e.g. to
Google's ~8.8.8.8~) may also be sufficient to work around the issue.

** Symbol's value as function is void --some

Update ~dash~, restart Emacs, and then it will be defined.

** Where is the branch manager

~y~ is bound to the command that shows the "refs buffer", the successor
of the "branch manager".

* Keystroke Index
:PROPERTIES:
:APPENDIX:   t
:INDEX:      ky
:COOKIE_DATA: recursive
:END:
* Command Index
:PROPERTIES:
:APPENDIX:   t
:INDEX:      cp
:END:
* Function Index
:PROPERTIES:
:APPENDIX:   t
:INDEX:      fn
:END:
* Variable Index
:PROPERTIES:
:APPENDIX:   t
:INDEX:      vr
:END:

#  LocalWords:  ARG ARGS CONDITIONs ChangeLog DNS Dired Ediff Ediffing
#  LocalWords:  Elpa Emacsclient FUNC Flyspell Git Git's Gitk HOOK's
#  LocalWords:  IDENT Ido Junio LocalWords Magit Magit's Magitian Magitians
#  LocalWords:  Melpa Propertize REF REF's RET Reflog SPC SYM Spacemacs
#  LocalWords:  Submodules TODO TYPEs Theming Unpulled Unpushed Unstaged
#  LocalWords:  Untracked WORKTREE Wip ack args async autoloads autosaving
#  LocalWords:  autosquash backport basename branchref builtin
#  LocalWords:  cdr changelog committer config customizable diff's diffstat
#  LocalWords:  dwim ediff ediffing editmsg emacsclient filename fixup
#  LocalWords:  flyspell func git's gitk gitman gitmodule gitmodules goto
#  LocalWords:  gpg gui ident ido init inserter inserters keymap keymaps
#  LocalWords:  logfile magit maildir manpage manpages minibuffer multi mv
#  LocalWords:  namespace newbase nocommit notesRef popup popups posix prev
#  LocalWords:  propertize rebase rebased rebasing reflog repo signoff str
#  LocalWords:  struct subcommand submodule submodule's submodules subprocess
#  LocalWords:  sym texinfo theming todo topdir un unhighlighted unpulled
#  LocalWords:  unpushed unstage unstaged unstages unstaging untracked url
#  LocalWords:  versa whitespace wip workflow worktree wtree