database

SYNOPSIS
       git fsck [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]
                [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found] [<object>*]


DESCRIPTION
       Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.

OPTIONS
       <object>
           An object to treat as the head of an unreachability trace.

           If no objects are given, git fsck defaults to using the index file,
           all SHA1 references in .git/refs/*, and all reflogs (unless
           --no-reflogs is given) as heads.

       --unreachable
           Print out objects that exist but that aren't readable from any of
           the reference nodes.

       --root
           Report root nodes.

       --tags
           Report tags.

       --cache
           Consider any object recorded in the index also as a head node for
           an unreachability trace.

       --no-reflogs
           Do not consider commits that are referenced only by an entry in a
           reflog to be reachable. This option is meant only to search for
           commits that used to be in a ref, but now aren't, but are still in
           that corresponding reflog.

       --full
           Check not just objects in GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY ($GIT_DIR/objects),
           but also the ones found in alternate object pools listed in
           GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES or
           $GIT_DIR/objects/info/alternates, and in packed git archives found
           in $GIT_DIR/objects/pack and corresponding pack subdirectories in
           alternate object pools. This is now default; you can turn it off
           with --no-full.

       --strict
           Enable more strict checking, namely to catch a file mode recorded
           with g+w bit set, which was created by older versions of git.
           Existing repositories, including the Linux kernel, git itself, and
           sparse repository have old objects that triggers this check, but it
           is recommended to check new projects with this flag.

       --unreachable flag it will also print out objects that exist but that
       aren't readable from any of the specified head nodes.

       So for example

           git fsck --unreachable HEAD \
                   $(git for-each-ref --format="%(objectname)" refs/heads)

       will do quite a lot of verification on the tree. There are a few extra
       validity tests to be added (make sure that tree objects are sorted
       properly etc), but on the whole if git fsck is happy, you do have a
       valid tree.

       Any corrupt objects you will have to find in backups or other archives
       (i.e., you can just remove them and do an rsync with some other site in
       the hopes that somebody else has the object you have corrupted).

       Of course, "valid tree" doesn't mean that it wasn't generated by some
       evil person, and the end result might be crap. git is a revision
       tracking system, not a quality assurance system ;)

EXTRACTED DIAGNOSTICS
       expect dangling commits - potential heads - due to lack of head
       information
           You haven't specified any nodes as heads so it won't be possible to
           differentiate between un-parented commits and root nodes.

       missing sha1 directory <dir>
           The directory holding the sha1 objects is missing.

       unreachable <type> <object>
           The <type> object <object>, isn't actually referred to directly or
           indirectly in any of the trees or commits seen. This can mean that
           there's another root node that you're not specifying or that the
           tree is corrupt. If you haven't missed a root node then you might
           as well delete unreachable nodes since they can't be used.

       missing <type> <object>
           The <type> object <object>, is referred to but isn't present in the
           database.

       dangling <type> <object>
           The <type> object <object>, is present in the database but never
           directly used. A dangling commit could be a root node.

       warning: git-fsck: tree <tree> has full pathnames in it
           And it shouldn't...

       sha1 mismatch <object>
           The database has an object who's sha1 doesn't match the database
           value. This indicates a serious data integrity problem.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY
       Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list
       <git@vger.kernel.org[2]>.

GIT
       part of the git(1) suite

NOTES
        1. torvalds@osdl.org
           mailto:torvalds@osdl.org

        2. git@vger.kernel.org
           mailto:git@vger.kernel.org