diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/user-manual.txt | 46 |
1 files changed, 18 insertions, 28 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt index 9e6179834..5f4e0a6e4 100644 --- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt +++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt @@ -3161,43 +3161,33 @@ contrast, running "git prune" while somebody is actively changing the repository is a *BAD* idea). [[birdview-on-the-source-code]] -A birdview on Git's source code ------------------------------ +A birds-eye view of Git's source code +------------------------------------- -While Git's source code is quite elegant, it is not always easy for -new developers to find their way through it. A good idea is to look -at the contents of the initial commit: -_e83c5163316f89bfbde7d9ab23ca2e25604af290_ (also known as _v0.99~954_). +It is not always easy for new developers to find their way through Git's +source code. This section gives you a little guidance to show where to +start. -Tip: you can see what files are in there with +A good place to start is with the contents of the initial commit, with: ---------------------------------------------------- -$ git show e83c5163316f89bfbde7d9ab23ca2e25604af290: +$ git checkout e83c5163 ---------------------------------------------------- -and look at those files with something like - ------------------------------------------------------------ -$ git show e83c5163316f89bfbde7d9ab23ca2e25604af290:cache.h ------------------------------------------------------------ - -Be sure to read the README in that revision _after_ you are familiar with -the terminology (<<glossary>>), since the terminology has changed a little -since then. For example, we call the things "commits" now, which are -described in that README as "changesets". +The initial revision lays the foundation for almost everything git has +today, but is small enough to read in one sitting. -Actually a lot of the structure as it is now can be explained by that -initial commit. +Note that terminology has changed since that revision. For example, the +README in that revision uses the word "changeset" to describe what we +now call a <<def_commit_object,commit>>. -For example, we do not call it "cache" any more, but "index", however, the +Also, we do not call it "cache" any more, but "index", however, the file is still called `cache.h`. Remark: Not much reason to change it now, especially since there is no good single name for it anyway, because it is basically _the_ header file which is included by _all_ of Git's C sources. -If you grasp the ideas in that initial commit (it is really small and you -can get into it really fast, and it will help you recognize things in the -much larger code base we have now), you should go on skimming `cache.h`, -`object.h` and `commit.h` in the current version. +If you grasp the ideas in that initial commit, you should check out a +more recent version and skim `cache.h`, `object.h` and `commit.h`. In the early days, Git (in the tradition of UNIX) was a bunch of programs which were extremely simple, and which you used in scripts, piping the @@ -3320,11 +3310,11 @@ Two things are interesting here: negative numbers in case of different errors -- and 0 on success. - the variable `sha1` in the function signature of `get_sha1()` is `unsigned - char *`, but is actually expected to be a pointer to `unsigned + char \*`, but is actually expected to be a pointer to `unsigned char[20]`. This variable will contain the 160-bit SHA-1 of the given - commit. Note that whenever a SHA-1 is passed as "unsigned char *", it + commit. Note that whenever a SHA-1 is passed as `unsigned char \*`, it is the binary representation, as opposed to the ASCII representation in - hex characters, which is passed as "char *". + hex characters, which is passed as `char *`. You will see both of these things throughout the code. |