|  | gitprotocol-http(5) | 
|  | =================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | NAME | 
|  | ---- | 
|  | gitprotocol-http - Git HTTP-based protocols | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | SYNOPSIS | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | [verse] | 
|  | <over-the-wire-protocol> | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | DESCRIPTION | 
|  | ----------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Git supports two HTTP based transfer protocols.  A "dumb" protocol | 
|  | which requires only a standard HTTP server on the server end of the | 
|  | connection, and a "smart" protocol which requires a Git aware CGI | 
|  | (or server module).  This document describes both protocols. | 
|  |  | 
|  | As a design feature smart clients can automatically upgrade "dumb" | 
|  | protocol URLs to smart URLs.  This permits all users to have the | 
|  | same published URL, and the peers automatically select the most | 
|  | efficient transport available to them. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | URL Format | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | URLs for Git repositories accessed by HTTP use the standard HTTP | 
|  | URL syntax documented by RFC 1738, so they are of the form: | 
|  |  | 
|  | http://<host>:<port>/<path>?<searchpart> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Within this documentation the placeholder `$GIT_URL` will stand for | 
|  | the http:// repository URL entered by the end-user. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers SHOULD handle all requests to locations matching `$GIT_URL`, as | 
|  | both the "smart" and "dumb" HTTP protocols used by Git operate | 
|  | by appending additional path components onto the end of the user | 
|  | supplied `$GIT_URL` string. | 
|  |  | 
|  | An example of a dumb client requesting a loose object: | 
|  |  | 
|  | $GIT_URL:     http://example.com:8080/git/repo.git | 
|  | URL request:  http://example.com:8080/git/repo.git/objects/d0/49f6c27a2244e12041955e262a404c7faba355 | 
|  |  | 
|  | An example of a smart request to a catch-all gateway: | 
|  |  | 
|  | $GIT_URL:     http://example.com/daemon.cgi?svc=git&q= | 
|  | URL request:  http://example.com/daemon.cgi?svc=git&q=/info/refs&service=git-receive-pack | 
|  |  | 
|  | An example of a request to a submodule: | 
|  |  | 
|  | $GIT_URL:     http://example.com/git/repo.git/path/submodule.git | 
|  | URL request:  http://example.com/git/repo.git/path/submodule.git/info/refs | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST strip a trailing `/`, if present, from the user supplied | 
|  | `$GIT_URL` string to prevent empty path tokens (`//`) from appearing | 
|  | in any URL sent to a server.  Compatible clients MUST expand | 
|  | `$GIT_URL/info/refs` as `foo/info/refs` and not `foo//info/refs`. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Authentication | 
|  | -------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Standard HTTP authentication is used if authentication is required | 
|  | to access a repository, and MAY be configured and enforced by the | 
|  | HTTP server software. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Because Git repositories are accessed by standard path components | 
|  | server administrators MAY use directory based permissions within | 
|  | their HTTP server to control repository access. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients SHOULD support Basic authentication as described by RFC 2617. | 
|  | Servers SHOULD support Basic authentication by relying upon the | 
|  | HTTP server placed in front of the Git server software. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers SHOULD NOT require HTTP cookies for the purposes of | 
|  | authentication or access control. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients and servers MAY support other common forms of HTTP based | 
|  | authentication, such as Digest authentication. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | SSL | 
|  | --- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients and servers SHOULD support SSL, particularly to protect | 
|  | passwords when relying on Basic HTTP authentication. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Session State | 
|  | ------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Git over HTTP protocol (much like HTTP itself) is stateless | 
|  | from the perspective of the HTTP server side.  All state MUST be | 
|  | retained and managed by the client process.  This permits simple | 
|  | round-robin load-balancing on the server side, without needing to | 
|  | worry about state management. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST NOT require state management on the server side in | 
|  | order to function correctly. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers MUST NOT require HTTP cookies in order to function correctly. | 
|  | Clients MAY store and forward HTTP cookies during request processing | 
|  | as described by RFC 2616 (HTTP/1.1).  Servers SHOULD ignore any | 
|  | cookies sent by a client. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | General Request Processing | 
|  | -------------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Except where noted, all standard HTTP behavior SHOULD be assumed | 
|  | by both client and server.  This includes (but is not necessarily | 
|  | limited to): | 
|  |  | 
|  | If there is no repository at `$GIT_URL`, or the resource pointed to by a | 
|  | location matching `$GIT_URL` does not exist, the server MUST NOT respond | 
|  | with `200 OK` response.  A server SHOULD respond with | 
|  | `404 Not Found`, `410 Gone`, or any other suitable HTTP status code | 
|  | which does not imply the resource exists as requested. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If there is a repository at `$GIT_URL`, but access is not currently | 
|  | permitted, the server MUST respond with the `403 Forbidden` HTTP | 
|  | status code. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers SHOULD support both HTTP 1.0 and HTTP 1.1. | 
|  | Servers SHOULD support chunked encoding for both request and response | 
|  | bodies. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients SHOULD support both HTTP 1.0 and HTTP 1.1. | 
|  | Clients SHOULD support chunked encoding for both request and response | 
|  | bodies. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers MAY return ETag and/or Last-Modified headers. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MAY revalidate cached entities by including If-Modified-Since | 
|  | and/or If-None-Match request headers. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers MAY return `304 Not Modified` if the relevant headers appear | 
|  | in the request and the entity has not changed.  Clients MUST treat | 
|  | `304 Not Modified` identical to `200 OK` by reusing the cached entity. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MAY reuse a cached entity without revalidation if the | 
|  | Cache-Control and/or Expires header permits caching.  Clients and | 
|  | servers MUST follow RFC 2616 for cache controls. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Discovering References | 
|  | ---------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | All HTTP clients MUST begin either a fetch or a push exchange by | 
|  | discovering the references available on the remote repository. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Dumb Clients | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | HTTP clients that only support the "dumb" protocol MUST discover | 
|  | references by making a request for the special info/refs file of | 
|  | the repository. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Dumb HTTP clients MUST make a `GET` request to `$GIT_URL/info/refs`, | 
|  | without any search/query parameters. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: GET $GIT_URL/info/refs HTTP/1.0 | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: 200 OK | 
|  | S: | 
|  | S: 95dcfa3633004da0049d3d0fa03f80589cbcaf31	refs/heads/maint | 
|  | S: d049f6c27a2244e12041955e262a404c7faba355	refs/heads/master | 
|  | S: 2cb58b79488a98d2721cea644875a8dd0026b115	refs/tags/v1.0 | 
|  | S: a3c2e2402b99163d1d59756e5f207ae21cccba4c	refs/tags/v1.0^{} | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Content-Type of the returned info/refs entity SHOULD be | 
|  | `text/plain; charset=utf-8`, but MAY be any content type. | 
|  | Clients MUST NOT attempt to validate the returned Content-Type. | 
|  | Dumb servers MUST NOT return a return type starting with | 
|  | `application/x-git-`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Cache-Control headers MAY be returned to disable caching of the | 
|  | returned entity. | 
|  |  | 
|  | When examining the response clients SHOULD only examine the HTTP | 
|  | status code.  Valid responses are `200 OK`, or `304 Not Modified`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The returned content is a UNIX formatted text file describing | 
|  | each ref and its known value.  The file SHOULD be sorted by name | 
|  | according to the C locale ordering.  The file SHOULD NOT include | 
|  | the default ref named `HEAD`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | info_refs   =  *( ref_record ) | 
|  | ref_record  =  any_ref / peeled_ref | 
|  |  | 
|  | any_ref     =  obj-id HTAB refname LF | 
|  | peeled_ref  =  obj-id HTAB refname LF | 
|  | obj-id HTAB refname "^{}" LF | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smart Clients | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | HTTP clients that support the "smart" protocol (or both the | 
|  | "smart" and "dumb" protocols) MUST discover references by making | 
|  | a parameterized request for the info/refs file of the repository. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The request MUST contain exactly one query parameter, | 
|  | `service=$servicename`, where `$servicename` MUST be the service | 
|  | name the client wishes to contact to complete the operation. | 
|  | The request MUST NOT contain additional query parameters. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: GET $GIT_URL/info/refs?service=git-upload-pack HTTP/1.0 | 
|  |  | 
|  | dumb server reply: | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: 200 OK | 
|  | S: | 
|  | S: 95dcfa3633004da0049d3d0fa03f80589cbcaf31	refs/heads/maint | 
|  | S: d049f6c27a2244e12041955e262a404c7faba355	refs/heads/master | 
|  | S: 2cb58b79488a98d2721cea644875a8dd0026b115	refs/tags/v1.0 | 
|  | S: a3c2e2402b99163d1d59756e5f207ae21cccba4c	refs/tags/v1.0^{} | 
|  |  | 
|  | smart server reply: | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: 200 OK | 
|  | S: Content-Type: application/x-git-upload-pack-advertisement | 
|  | S: Cache-Control: no-cache | 
|  | S: | 
|  | S: 001e# service=git-upload-pack\n | 
|  | S: 0000 | 
|  | S: 004895dcfa3633004da0049d3d0fa03f80589cbcaf31 refs/heads/maint\0multi_ack\n | 
|  | S: 003fd049f6c27a2244e12041955e262a404c7faba355 refs/heads/master\n | 
|  | S: 003c2cb58b79488a98d2721cea644875a8dd0026b115 refs/tags/v1.0\n | 
|  | S: 003fa3c2e2402b99163d1d59756e5f207ae21cccba4c refs/tags/v1.0^{}\n | 
|  | S: 0000 | 
|  |  | 
|  | The client may send Extra Parameters (see | 
|  | linkgit:gitprotocol-pack[5]) as a colon-separated string | 
|  | in the Git-Protocol HTTP header. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Uses the `--http-backend-info-refs` option to | 
|  | linkgit:git-upload-pack[1]. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Dumb Server Response | 
|  | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | 
|  | Dumb servers MUST respond with the dumb server reply format. | 
|  |  | 
|  | See the prior section under dumb clients for a more detailed | 
|  | description of the dumb server response. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smart Server Response | 
|  | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | 
|  | If the server does not recognize the requested service name, or the | 
|  | requested service name has been disabled by the server administrator, | 
|  | the server MUST respond with the `403 Forbidden` HTTP status code. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Otherwise, smart servers MUST respond with the smart server reply | 
|  | format for the requested service name. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Cache-Control headers SHOULD be used to disable caching of the | 
|  | returned entity. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Content-Type MUST be `application/x-$servicename-advertisement`. | 
|  | Clients SHOULD fall back to the dumb protocol if another content | 
|  | type is returned.  When falling back to the dumb protocol clients | 
|  | SHOULD NOT make an additional request to `$GIT_URL/info/refs`, but | 
|  | instead SHOULD use the response already in hand.  Clients MUST NOT | 
|  | continue if they do not support the dumb protocol. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST validate the status code is either `200 OK` or | 
|  | `304 Not Modified`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST validate the first five bytes of the response entity | 
|  | matches the regex `^[0-9a-f]{4}#`.  If this test fails, clients | 
|  | MUST NOT continue. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST parse the entire response as a sequence of pkt-line | 
|  | records. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST verify the first pkt-line is `# service=$servicename`. | 
|  | Servers MUST set $servicename to be the request parameter value. | 
|  | Servers SHOULD include an LF at the end of this line. | 
|  | Clients MUST ignore an LF at the end of the line. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers MUST terminate the response with the magic `0000` end | 
|  | pkt-line marker. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The returned response is a pkt-line stream describing each ref and | 
|  | its known value.  The stream SHOULD be sorted by name according to | 
|  | the C locale ordering.  The stream SHOULD include the default ref | 
|  | named `HEAD` as the first ref.  The stream MUST include capability | 
|  | declarations behind a NUL on the first ref. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The returned response contains "version 1" if "version=1" was sent as an | 
|  | Extra Parameter. | 
|  |  | 
|  | smart_reply     =  PKT-LINE("# service=$servicename" LF) | 
|  | "0000" | 
|  | *1("version 1") | 
|  | ref_list | 
|  | "0000" | 
|  | ref_list        =  empty_list / non_empty_list | 
|  |  | 
|  | empty_list      =  PKT-LINE(zero-id SP "capabilities^{}" NUL cap-list LF) | 
|  |  | 
|  | non_empty_list  =  PKT-LINE(obj-id SP name NUL cap_list LF) | 
|  | *ref_record | 
|  |  | 
|  | cap-list        =  capability *(SP capability) | 
|  | capability      =  1*(LC_ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "_") | 
|  | LC_ALPHA        =  %x61-7A | 
|  |  | 
|  | ref_record      =  any_ref / peeled_ref | 
|  | any_ref         =  PKT-LINE(obj-id SP name LF) | 
|  | peeled_ref      =  PKT-LINE(obj-id SP name LF) | 
|  | PKT-LINE(obj-id SP name "^{}" LF | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smart Service git-upload-pack | 
|  | ----------------------------- | 
|  | This service reads from the repository pointed to by `$GIT_URL`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST first perform ref discovery with | 
|  | `$GIT_URL/info/refs?service=git-upload-pack`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: POST $GIT_URL/git-upload-pack HTTP/1.0 | 
|  | C: Content-Type: application/x-git-upload-pack-request | 
|  | C: | 
|  | C: 0032want 0a53e9ddeaddad63ad106860237bbf53411d11a7\n | 
|  | C: 0032have 441b40d833fdfa93eb2908e52742248faf0ee993\n | 
|  | C: 0000 | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: 200 OK | 
|  | S: Content-Type: application/x-git-upload-pack-result | 
|  | S: Cache-Control: no-cache | 
|  | S: | 
|  | S: ....ACK %s, continue | 
|  | S: ....NAK | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST NOT reuse or revalidate a cached response. | 
|  | Servers MUST include sufficient Cache-Control headers | 
|  | to prevent caching of the response. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers SHOULD support all capabilities defined here. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST send at least one "want" command in the request body. | 
|  | Clients MUST NOT reference an id in a "want" command which did not | 
|  | appear in the response obtained through ref discovery unless the | 
|  | server advertises capability `allow-tip-sha1-in-want` or | 
|  | `allow-reachable-sha1-in-want`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | compute_request   =  want_list | 
|  | have_list | 
|  | request_end | 
|  | request_end       =  "0000" / "done" | 
|  |  | 
|  | want_list         =  PKT-LINE(want SP cap_list LF) | 
|  | *(want_pkt) | 
|  | want_pkt          =  PKT-LINE(want LF) | 
|  | want              =  "want" SP id | 
|  | cap_list          =  capability *(SP capability) | 
|  |  | 
|  | have_list         =  *PKT-LINE("have" SP id LF) | 
|  |  | 
|  | TODO: Document this further. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Negotiation Algorithm | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  | The computation to select the minimal pack proceeds as follows | 
|  | (C = client, S = server): | 
|  |  | 
|  | 'init step:' | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Use ref discovery to obtain the advertised refs. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Place any object seen into set `advertised`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Build an empty set, `common`, to hold the objects that are later | 
|  | determined to be on both ends. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Build a set, `want`, of the objects from `advertised` that the client | 
|  | wants to fetch, based on what it saw during ref discovery. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Start a queue, `c_pending`, ordered by commit time (popping newest | 
|  | first).  Add all client refs.  When a commit is popped from | 
|  | the queue its parents SHOULD be automatically inserted back. | 
|  | Commits MUST only enter the queue once. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 'one compute step:' | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Send one `$GIT_URL/git-upload-pack` request: | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: 0032want <want-#1>............................... | 
|  | C: 0032want <want-#2>............................... | 
|  | .... | 
|  | C: 0032have <common-#1>............................. | 
|  | C: 0032have <common-#2>............................. | 
|  | .... | 
|  | C: 0032have <have-#1>............................... | 
|  | C: 0032have <have-#2>............................... | 
|  | .... | 
|  | C: 0000 | 
|  |  | 
|  | The stream is organized into "commands", with each command | 
|  | appearing by itself in a pkt-line.  Within a command line, | 
|  | the text leading up to the first space is the command name, | 
|  | and the remainder of the line to the first LF is the value. | 
|  | Command lines are terminated with an LF as the last byte of | 
|  | the pkt-line value. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Commands MUST appear in the following order, if they appear | 
|  | at all in the request stream: | 
|  |  | 
|  | * "want" | 
|  | * "have" | 
|  |  | 
|  | The stream is terminated by a pkt-line flush (`0000`). | 
|  |  | 
|  | A single "want" or "have" command MUST have one hex formatted | 
|  | object name as its value.  Multiple object names MUST be sent by sending | 
|  | multiple commands. Object names MUST be given using the object format | 
|  | negotiated through the `object-format` capability (default SHA-1). | 
|  |  | 
|  | The `have` list is created by popping the first 32 commits | 
|  | from `c_pending`.  Fewer can be supplied if `c_pending` empties. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If the client has sent 256 "have" commits and has not yet | 
|  | received one of those back from `s_common`, or the client has | 
|  | emptied `c_pending` it SHOULD include a "done" command to let | 
|  | the server know it won't proceed: | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: 0009done | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: Parse the git-upload-pack request: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Verify all objects in `want` are directly reachable from refs. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The server MAY walk backwards through history or through | 
|  | the reflog to permit slightly stale requests. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If no "want" objects are received, send an error: | 
|  | TODO: Define error if no "want" lines are requested. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If any "want" object is not reachable, send an error: | 
|  | TODO: Define error if an invalid "want" is requested. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Create an empty list, `s_common`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If "have" was sent: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Loop through the objects in the order supplied by the client. | 
|  |  | 
|  | For each object, if the server has the object reachable from | 
|  | a ref, add it to `s_common`.  If a commit is added to `s_common`, | 
|  | do not add any ancestors, even if they also appear in `have`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: Send the git-upload-pack response: | 
|  |  | 
|  | If the server has found a closed set of objects to pack or the | 
|  | request ends with "done", it replies with the pack. | 
|  | TODO: Document the pack based response | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: PACK... | 
|  |  | 
|  | The returned stream is the side-band-64k protocol supported | 
|  | by the git-upload-pack service, and the pack is embedded into | 
|  | stream 1.  Progress messages from the server side MAY appear | 
|  | in stream 2. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Here a "closed set of objects" is defined to have at least | 
|  | one path from every "want" to at least one "common" object. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If the server needs more information, it replies with a | 
|  | status continue response: | 
|  | TODO: Document the non-pack response | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: Parse the upload-pack response: | 
|  | TODO: Document parsing response | 
|  |  | 
|  | 'Do another compute step.' | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smart Service git-receive-pack | 
|  | ------------------------------ | 
|  | This service reads from the repository pointed to by `$GIT_URL`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST first perform ref discovery with | 
|  | `$GIT_URL/info/refs?service=git-receive-pack`. | 
|  |  | 
|  | C: POST $GIT_URL/git-receive-pack HTTP/1.0 | 
|  | C: Content-Type: application/x-git-receive-pack-request | 
|  | C: | 
|  | C: ....0a53e9ddeaddad63ad106860237bbf53411d11a7 441b40d833fdfa93eb2908e52742248faf0ee993 refs/heads/maint\0 report-status | 
|  | C: 0000 | 
|  | C: PACK.... | 
|  |  | 
|  | S: 200 OK | 
|  | S: Content-Type: application/x-git-receive-pack-result | 
|  | S: Cache-Control: no-cache | 
|  | S: | 
|  | S: .... | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST NOT reuse or revalidate a cached response. | 
|  | Servers MUST include sufficient Cache-Control headers | 
|  | to prevent caching of the response. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Servers SHOULD support all capabilities defined here. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Clients MUST send at least one command in the request body. | 
|  | Within the command portion of the request body clients SHOULD send | 
|  | the id obtained through ref discovery as old_id. | 
|  |  | 
|  | update_request  =  command_list | 
|  | "PACK" <binary-data> | 
|  |  | 
|  | command_list    =  PKT-LINE(command NUL cap_list LF) | 
|  | *(command_pkt) | 
|  | command_pkt     =  PKT-LINE(command LF) | 
|  | cap_list        =  *(SP capability) SP | 
|  |  | 
|  | command         =  create / delete / update | 
|  | create          =  zero-id SP new_id SP name | 
|  | delete          =  old_id SP zero-id SP name | 
|  | update          =  old_id SP new_id SP name | 
|  |  | 
|  | TODO: Document this further. | 
|  |  | 
|  | REFERENCES | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1738.txt[RFC 1738: Uniform Resource Locators (URL)] | 
|  | https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt[RFC 2616: Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1] | 
|  |  | 
|  | SEE ALSO | 
|  | -------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | linkgit:gitprotocol-pack[5] | 
|  | linkgit:gitprotocol-capabilities[5] | 
|  |  | 
|  | GIT | 
|  | --- | 
|  | Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |