# git-push(1) Manual Page

## NAME

git-push - Update remote refs along with associated objects

## SYNOPSIS

    git push [--all | --mirror | --tags] [--follow-tags] [-n | --dry-run] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>]
               [--repo=<repository>] [-f | --force] [--prune] [-v | --verbose] [-u | --set-upstream]
               [--force-with-lease[=<refname>[:<expect>]]]
               [--no-verify] [<repository> [<refspec>…]]

## DESCRIPTION

Updates remote refs using local refs, while sending objects necessary to complete the given refs.

You can make interesting things happen to a repository every time you push into it, by setting up hooks there. See documentation for git-receive-pack(1).

When the command line does not specify where to push with the `<repository>` argument, `branch.*.remote` configuration for the current branch is consulted to determine where to push. If the configuration is missing, it defaults to origin.

When the command line does not specify what to push with `<refspec>...` arguments or `--all`, `--mirror`, `--tags` options, the command finds the default `<refspec>` by consulting `remote.*.push` configuration, and if it is not found, honors `push.default` configuration to decide what to push (See gitlink:git-config[1] for the meaning of `push.default`).

## OPTIONS

<repository>

  The "remote" repository that is destination of a push operation. This parameter can be either a URL (see the section GIT URLS below) or the name of a remote (see the section REMOTES below).

<refspec>…

  Specify what destination ref to update with what source object. The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus `+`, followed by the source object <src>, followed by a colon `:`, followed by the destination ref <dst>.

  The <src> is often the name of the branch you would want to push, but it can be any arbitrary "SHA-1 expression", such as `master~4` or `HEAD` (see gitrevisions(7)).

  The <dst> tells which ref on the remote side is updated with this push. Arbitrary expressions cannot be used here, an actual ref must be named. If `git push [<repository>]` without any `<refspec>` argument is set to update some ref at the destination with `<src>` with `remote.<repository>.push` configuration variable, `:<dst>` part can be omitted---such a push will update a ref that `<src>` normally updates without any `<refspec>` on the command line. Otherwise, missing `:<dst>` means to update the same ref as the `<src>`.

  The object referenced by <src> is used to update the <dst> reference on the remote side. By default this is only allowed if <dst> is not a tag (annotated or lightweight), and then only if it can fast-forward <dst>. By having the optional leading `+`, you can tell Git to update the <dst> ref even if it is not allowed by default (e.g., it is not a fast-forward.) This does not attempt to merge <src> into <dst>. See EXAMPLES below for details.

  `tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`.

  Pushing an empty <src> allows you to delete the <dst> ref from the remote repository.

  The special refspec `:` (or `+:` to allow non-fast-forward updates) directs Git to push "matching" branches: for every branch that exists on the local side, the remote side is updated if a branch of the same name already exists on the remote side.

--all

  Push all branches (i.e. refs under `refs/heads/`); cannot be used with other <refspec>.

--prune

  Remove remote branches that don’t have a local counterpart. For example a remote branch `tmp` will be removed if a local branch with the same name doesn’t exist any more. This also respects refspecs, e.g. `git push --prune remote refs/heads/*:refs/tmp/*` would make sure that remote `refs/tmp/foo` will be removed if `refs/heads/foo` doesn’t exist.

--mirror

  Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all refs under `refs/` (which includes but is not limited to `refs/heads/`, `refs/remotes/`, and `refs/tags/`) be mirrored to the remote repository. Newly created local refs will be pushed to the remote end, locally updated refs will be force updated on the remote end, and deleted refs will be removed from the remote end. This is the default if the configuration option `remote.<remote>.mirror` is set.

-n
--dry-run

  Do everything except actually send the updates.

--porcelain

  Produce machine-readable output. The output status line for each ref will be tab-separated and sent to stdout instead of stderr. The full symbolic names of the refs will be given.

--delete

  All listed refs are deleted from the remote repository. This is the same as prefixing all refs with a colon.

--tags

  All refs under `refs/tags` are pushed, in addition to refspecs explicitly listed on the command line.

--follow-tags

  Push all the refs that would be pushed without this option, and also push annotated tags in `refs/tags` that are missing from the remote but are pointing at commit-ish that are reachable from the refs being pushed.

--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>
--exec=<git-receive-pack>

  Path to the git-receive-pack program on the remote end. Sometimes useful when pushing to a remote repository over ssh, and you do not have the program in a directory on the default $PATH.

--[no-]force-with-lease
--force-with-lease=<refname>
--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>

  Usually, "git push" refuses to update a remote ref that is not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it.

  This option bypasses the check, but instead requires that the current value of the ref to be the expected value. "git push" fails otherwise.

  Imagine that you have to rebase what you have already published. You will have to bypass the "must fast-forward" rule in order to replace the history you originally published with the rebased history. If somebody else built on top of your original history while you are rebasing, the tip of the branch at the remote may advance with her commit, and blindly pushing with `--force` will lose her work.

  This option allows you to say that you expect the history you are updating is what you rebased and want to replace. If the remote ref still points at the commit you specified, you can be sure that no other people did anything to the ref (it is like taking a "lease" on the ref without explicitly locking it, and you update the ref while making sure that your earlier "lease" is still valid).

  `--force-with-lease` alone, without specifying the details, will protect all remote refs that are going to be updated by requiring their current value to be the same as the remote-tracking branch we have for them, unless specified with a `--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>` option that explicitly states what the expected value is.

  `--force-with-lease=<refname>`, without specifying the expected value, will protect the named ref (alone), if it is going to be updated, by requiring its current value to be the same as the remote-tracking branch we have for it.

  `--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>` will protect the named ref (alone), if it is going to be updated, by requiring its current value to be the same as the specified value <expect> (which is allowed to be different from the remote-tracking branch we have for the refname, or we do not even have to have such a remote-tracking branch when this form is used).

  Note that all forms other than `--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>` that specifies the expected current value of the ref explicitly are still experimental and their semantics may change as we gain experience with this feature.

  "--no-force-with-lease" will cancel all the previous --force-with-lease on the command line.

-f
--force

  Usually, the command refuses to update a remote ref that is not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it. Also, when `--force-with-lease` option is used, the command refuses to update a remote ref whose current value does not match what is expected.

  This flag disables these checks, and can cause the remote repository to lose commits; use it with care.

  Note that `--force` applies to all the refs that are pushed, hence using it with `push.default` set to `matching` or with multiple push destinations configured with `remote.*.push` may overwrite refs other than the current branch (including local refs that are strictly behind their remote counterpart). To force a push to only one branch, use a `+` in front of the refspec to push (e.g `git push origin +master` to force a push to the `master` branch). See the `<refspec>...` section above for details.

--repo=<repository>

  This option is only relevant if no <repository> argument is passed in the invocation. In this case, git push derives the remote name from the current branch: If it tracks a remote branch, then that remote repository is pushed to. Otherwise, the name "origin" is used. For this latter case, this option can be used to override the name "origin". In other words, the difference between these two commands

      git push public         #1
      git push --repo=public  #2

  is that #1 always pushes to "public" whereas #2 pushes to "public" only if the current branch does not track a remote branch. This is useful if you write an alias or script around git push.

-u
--set-upstream

  For every branch that is up to date or successfully pushed, add upstream (tracking) reference, used by argument-less git-pull(1) and other commands. For more information, see branch.<name>.merge in git-config(1).

--[no-]thin

  These options are passed to git-send-pack(1). A thin transfer significantly reduces the amount of sent data when the sender and receiver share many of the same objects in common. The default is --thin.

-q
--quiet

  Suppress all output, including the listing of updated refs, unless an error occurs. Progress is not reported to the standard error stream.

-v
--verbose

  Run verbosely.

--progress

  Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.

--recurse-submodules=check|on-demand

  Make sure all submodule commits used by the revisions to be pushed are available on a remote-tracking branch. If check is used Git will verify that all submodule commits that changed in the revisions to be pushed are available on at least one remote of the submodule. If any commits are missing the push will be aborted and exit with non-zero status. If on-demand is used all submodules that changed in the revisions to be pushed will be pushed. If on-demand was not able to push all necessary revisions it will also be aborted and exit with non-zero status.

--[no-]verify

  Toggle the pre-push hook (see githooks(5)). The default is --verify, giving the hook a chance to prevent the push. With --no-verify, the hook is bypassed completely.

## GIT URLS

In general, URLs contain information about the transport protocol, the address of the remote server, and the path to the repository. Depending on the transport protocol, some of this information may be absent.

Git supports ssh, git, http, and https protocols (in addition, ftp, and ftps can be used for fetching and rsync can be used for fetching and pushing, but these are inefficient and deprecated; do not use them).

The native transport (i.e. git:// URL) does no authentication and should be used with caution on unsecured networks.

The following syntaxes may be used with them:

- ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

- git://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

- http[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

- ftp[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

- rsync://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/

An alternative scp-like syntax may also be used with the ssh protocol:

- [user@]host.xz:path/to/repo.git/

This syntax is only recognized if there are no slashes before the first colon. This helps differentiate a local path that contains a colon. For example the local path `foo:bar` could be specified as an absolute path or `./foo:bar` to avoid being misinterpreted as an ssh url.

The ssh and git protocols additionally support ~username expansion:

- ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/

- git://host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/

- [user@]host.xz:/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/

For local repositories, also supported by Git natively, the following syntaxes may be used:

- /path/to/repo.git/

- file:///path/to/repo.git/

These two syntaxes are mostly equivalent, except when cloning, when the former implies --local option. See git-clone(1) for details.

When Git doesn’t know how to handle a certain transport protocol, it attempts to use the remote-<transport> remote helper, if one exists. To explicitly request a remote helper, the following syntax may be used:

- <transport>::<address>

where <address> may be a path, a server and path, or an arbitrary URL-like string recognized by the specific remote helper being invoked. See gitremote-helpers(1) for details.

If there are a large number of similarly-named remote repositories and you want to use a different format for them (such that the URLs you use will be rewritten into URLs that work), you can create a configuration section of the form:

            [url "<actual url base>"]
                    insteadOf = <other url base>

For example, with this:

            [url "git://git.host.xz/"]
                    insteadOf = host.xz:/path/to/
                    insteadOf = work:

a URL like "work:repo.git" or like "host.xz:/path/to/repo.git" will be rewritten in any context that takes a URL to be "git://git.host.xz/repo.git".

If you want to rewrite URLs for push only, you can create a configuration section of the form:

            [url "<actual url base>"]
                    pushInsteadOf = <other url base>

For example, with this:

            [url "ssh://example.org/"]
                    pushInsteadOf = git://example.org/

a URL like "git://example.org/path/to/repo.git" will be rewritten to "ssh://example.org/path/to/repo.git" for pushes, but pulls will still use the original URL.

## REMOTES

The name of one of the following can be used instead of a URL as `<repository>` argument:

- a remote in the Git configuration file: `$GIT_DIR/config`,

- a file in the `$GIT_DIR/remotes` directory, or

- a file in the `$GIT_DIR/branches` directory.

All of these also allow you to omit the refspec from the command line because they each contain a refspec which git will use by default.

### Named remote in configuration file

You can choose to provide the name of a remote which you had previously configured using git-remote(1), git-config(1) or even by a manual edit to the `$GIT_DIR/config` file. The URL of this remote will be used to access the repository. The refspec of this remote will be used by default when you do not provide a refspec on the command line. The entry in the config file would appear like this:

            [remote "<name>"]
                    url = <url>
                    pushurl = <pushurl>
                    push = <refspec>
                    fetch = <refspec>

The `<pushurl>` is used for pushes only. It is optional and defaults to `<url>`.

### Named file in `$GIT_DIR/remotes`

You can choose to provide the name of a file in `$GIT_DIR/remotes`. The URL in this file will be used to access the repository. The refspec in this file will be used as default when you do not provide a refspec on the command line. This file should have the following format:

            URL: one of the above URL format
            Push: <refspec>
            Pull: <refspec>

`Push:` lines are used by git push and `Pull:` lines are used by git pull and git fetch. Multiple `Push:` and `Pull:` lines may be specified for additional branch mappings.

### Named file in `$GIT_DIR/branches`

You can choose to provide the name of a file in `$GIT_DIR/branches`. The URL in this file will be used to access the repository. This file should have the following format:

            <url>#<head>

`<url>` is required; `#<head>` is optional.

Depending on the operation, git will use one of the following refspecs, if you don’t provide one on the command line. `<branch>` is the name of this file in `$GIT_DIR/branches` and `<head>` defaults to `master`.

git fetch uses:

            refs/heads/<head>:refs/heads/<branch>

git push uses:

            HEAD:refs/heads/<head>

## OUTPUT

The output of "git push" depends on the transport method used; this section describes the output when pushing over the Git protocol (either locally or via ssh).

The status of the push is output in tabular form, with each line representing the status of a single ref. Each line is of the form:

     <flag> <summary> <from> -> <to> (<reason>)

If --porcelain is used, then each line of the output is of the form:

     <flag> \t <from>:<to> \t <summary> (<reason>)

The status of up-to-date refs is shown only if --porcelain or --verbose option is used.

flag

  A single character indicating the status of the ref:

  (space)

    for a successfully pushed fast-forward;

  `+`

    for a successful forced update;

  `-`

    for a successfully deleted ref;

  `*`

    for a successfully pushed new ref;

  `!`

    for a ref that was rejected or failed to push; and

  `=`

    for a ref that was up to date and did not need pushing.

summary

  For a successfully pushed ref, the summary shows the old and new values of the ref in a form suitable for using as an argument to `git log` (this is `<old>..<new>` in most cases, and `<old>...<new>` for forced non-fast-forward updates).

  For a failed update, more details are given:

  rejected

    Git did not try to send the ref at all, typically because it is not a fast-forward and you did not force the update.

  remote rejected

    The remote end refused the update. Usually caused by a hook on the remote side, or because the remote repository has one of the following safety options in effect: `receive.denyCurrentBranch` (for pushes to the checked out branch), `receive.denyNonFastForwards` (for forced non-fast-forward updates), `receive.denyDeletes` or `receive.denyDeleteCurrent`. See git-config(1).

  remote failure

    The remote end did not report the successful update of the ref, perhaps because of a temporary error on the remote side, a break in the network connection, or other transient error.

from

  The name of the local ref being pushed, minus its `refs/<type>/` prefix. In the case of deletion, the name of the local ref is omitted.

to

  The name of the remote ref being updated, minus its `refs/<type>/` prefix.

reason

  A human-readable explanation. In the case of successfully pushed refs, no explanation is needed. For a failed ref, the reason for failure is described.

## Note about fast-forwards

When an update changes a branch (or more in general, a ref) that used to point at commit A to point at another commit B, it is called a fast-forward update if and only if B is a descendant of A.

In a fast-forward update from A to B, the set of commits that the original commit A built on top of is a subset of the commits the new commit B builds on top of. Hence, it does not lose any history.

In contrast, a non-fast-forward update will lose history. For example, suppose you and somebody else started at the same commit X, and you built a history leading to commit B while the other person built a history leading to commit A. The history looks like this:

          B
         /
     ---X---A

Further suppose that the other person already pushed changes leading to A back to the original repository from which you two obtained the original commit X.

The push done by the other person updated the branch that used to point at commit X to point at commit A. It is a fast-forward.

But if you try to push, you will attempt to update the branch (that now points at A) with commit B. This does not fast-forward. If you did so, the changes introduced by commit A will be lost, because everybody will now start building on top of B.

The command by default does not allow an update that is not a fast-forward to prevent such loss of history.

If you do not want to lose your work (history from X to B) or the work by the other person (history from X to A), you would need to first fetch the history from the repository, create a history that contains changes done by both parties, and push the result back.

You can perform "git pull", resolve potential conflicts, and "git push" the result. A "git pull" will create a merge commit C between commits A and B.

          B---C
         /   /
     ---X---A

Updating A with the resulting merge commit will fast-forward and your push will be accepted.

Alternatively, you can rebase your change between X and B on top of A, with "git pull --rebase", and push the result back. The rebase will create a new commit D that builds the change between X and B on top of A.

          B   D
         /   /
     ---X---A

Again, updating A with this commit will fast-forward and your push will be accepted.

There is another common situation where you may encounter non-fast-forward rejection when you try to push, and it is possible even when you are pushing into a repository nobody else pushes into. After you push commit A yourself (in the first picture in this section), replace it with "git commit --amend" to produce commit B, and you try to push it out, because forgot that you have pushed A out already. In such a case, and only if you are certain that nobody in the meantime fetched your earlier commit A (and started building on top of it), you can run "git push --force" to overwrite it. In other words, "git push --force" is a method reserved for a case where you do mean to lose history.

## Examples

`git push`

  Works like `git push <remote>`, where <remote> is the current branch’s remote (or `origin`, if no remote is configured for the current branch).

`git push origin`

  Without additional configuration, pushes the current branch to the configured upstream (`remote.origin.merge` configuration variable) if it has the same name as the current branch, and errors out without pushing otherwise.

  The default behavior of this command when no <refspec> is given can be configured by setting the `push` option of the remote, or the `push.default` configuration variable.

  For example, to default to pushing only the current branch to `origin` use `git config remote.origin.push HEAD`. Any valid <refspec> (like the ones in the examples below) can be configured as the default for `git push origin`.

`git push origin :`

  Push "matching" branches to `origin`. See <refspec> in the OPTIONS section above for a description of "matching" branches.

`git push origin master`

  Find a ref that matches `master` in the source repository (most likely, it would find `refs/heads/master`), and update the same ref (e.g. `refs/heads/master`) in `origin` repository with it. If `master` did not exist remotely, it would be created.

`git push origin HEAD`

  A handy way to push the current branch to the same name on the remote.

`git push mothership master:satellite/master dev:satellite/dev`

  Use the source ref that matches `master` (e.g. `refs/heads/master`) to update the ref that matches `satellite/master` (most probably `refs/remotes/satellite/master`) in the `mothership` repository; do the same for `dev` and `satellite/dev`.

  This is to emulate `git fetch` run on the `mothership` using `git push` that is run in the opposite direction in order to integrate the work done on `satellite`, and is often necessary when you can only make connection in one way (i.e. satellite can ssh into mothership but mothership cannot initiate connection to satellite because the latter is behind a firewall or does not run sshd).

  After running this `git push` on the `satellite` machine, you would ssh into the `mothership` and run `git merge` there to complete the emulation of `git pull` that were run on `mothership` to pull changes made on `satellite`.

`git push origin HEAD:master`

  Push the current branch to the remote ref matching `master` in the `origin` repository. This form is convenient to push the current branch without thinking about its local name.

`git push origin master:refs/heads/experimental`

  Create the branch `experimental` in the `origin` repository by copying the current `master` branch. This form is only needed to create a new branch or tag in the remote repository when the local name and the remote name are different; otherwise, the ref name on its own will work.

`git push origin :experimental`

  Find a ref that matches `experimental` in the `origin` repository (e.g. `refs/heads/experimental`), and delete it.

`git push origin +dev:master`

  Update the origin repository’s master branch with the dev branch, allowing non-fast-forward updates. This can leave unreferenced commits dangling in the origin repository. Consider the following situation, where a fast-forward is not possible:

                  o---o---o---A---B  origin/master
                           \
                            X---Y---Z  dev

  The above command would change the origin repository to

                            A---B  (unnamed branch)
                           /
                  o---o---o---X---Y---Z  master

  Commits A and B would no longer belong to a branch with a symbolic name, and so would be unreachable. As such, these commits would be removed by a `git gc` command on the origin repository.

## GIT

Part of the git(1) suite