git send-pack [--all] [--dry-run] [--force] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>] [--verbose] [--thin] [<host>:]<directory> [<ref>...]
Usually you would want to use git-push, which is a higher-level wrapper of this command, instead. See git-push(1).
Invokes git-receive-pack on a possibly remote repository, and updates it from the current repository, sending named refs.
--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>
--exec=<git-receive-pack>
--all
--dry-run
--force
--verbose
--thin
<host>
<directory>
<ref>...
There are three ways to specify which refs to update on the remote end.
With --all flag, all refs that exist locally are transferred to the remote side. You cannot specify any <ref> if you use this flag.
Without --all and without any <ref>, the heads that exist both on the local side and on the remote side are updated.
When one or more <ref> are specified explicitly, it can be either a single pattern, or a pair of such pattern separated by a colon ":" (this means that a ref name cannot have a colon in it). A single pattern <name> is just a shorthand for <name>:<name>.
Each pattern pair consists of the source side (before the colon) and the destination side (after the colon). The ref to be pushed is determined by finding a match that matches the source side, and where it is pushed is determined by using the destination side. The rules used to match a ref are the same rules used by git-rev-parse to resolve a symbolic ref name. See git-rev-parse(1).
Without --force, the <src> ref is stored at the remote only if <dst> does not exist, or <dst> is a proper subset (i.e. an ancestor) of <src>. This check, known as "fast forward check", is performed in order to avoid accidentally overwriting the remote ref and lose other peoples' commits from there.
With --force, the fast forward check is disabled for all refs.
Optionally, a <ref> parameter can be prefixed with a plus + sign to disable the fast-forward check only on that ref.
Written by Linus Torvalds <m[blue]torvalds@osdl.orgm[][1]>
Documentation by Junio C Hamano.
Part of the git(1) suite