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GITFORMAT-BUNDLE(5)               Git Manual               GITFORMAT-BUNDLE(5)
NAME
       gitformat-bundle - The bundle file format
SYNOPSIS
       *.bundle
       *.bdl
DESCRIPTION
       The Git bundle format is a format that represents both refs and Git
       objects. A bundle is a header in a format similar to git-show-ref(1)
       followed by a pack in *.pack format.
       The format is created and read by the git-bundle(1) command, and
       supported by e.g. git-fetch(1) and git-clone(1).
FORMAT
       We will use ABNF notation to define the Git bundle format. See
       gitprotocol-common(5) for the details.
       A v2 bundle looks like this:
           bundle    = signature *prerequisite *reference LF pack
           signature = "# v2 git bundle" LF
           prerequisite = "-" obj-id SP comment LF
           comment      = *CHAR
           reference    = obj-id SP refname LF
           pack         = ... ; packfile
       A v3 bundle looks like this:
           bundle    = signature *capability *prerequisite *reference LF pack
           signature = "# v3 git bundle" LF
           capability   = "@" key ["=" value] LF
           prerequisite = "-" obj-id SP comment LF
           comment      = *CHAR
           reference    = obj-id SP refname LF
           key          = 1*(ALPHA / DIGIT / "-")
           value        = *(%01-09 / %0b-FF)
           pack         = ... ; packfile
SEMANTICS
       A Git bundle consists of several parts.
       o   "Capabilities", which are only in the v3 format, indicate
           functionality that the bundle requires to be read properly.
       o   "Prerequisites" list the objects that are NOT included in the
           bundle and the reader of the bundle MUST already have, in order to
           use the data in the bundle. The objects stored in the bundle may
           refer to prerequisite objects and anything reachable from them
           (e.g. a tree object in the bundle can reference a blob that is
           reachable from a prerequisite) and/or expressed as a delta against
           prerequisite objects.
       o   "References" record the tips of the history graph, iow, what the
           reader of the bundle CAN "git fetch" from it.
       o   "Pack" is the pack data stream "git fetch" would send, if you fetch
           from a repository that has the references recorded in the
           "References" above into a repository that has references pointing
           at the objects listed in "Prerequisites" above.
       In the bundle format, there can be a comment following a prerequisite
       obj-id. This is a comment and it has no specific meaning. The writer of
       the bundle MAY put any string here. The reader of the bundle MUST
       ignore the comment.
   Note on shallow clones and Git bundles
       Note that the prerequisites do not represent a shallow-clone boundary.
       The semantics of the prerequisites and the shallow-clone boundaries are
       different, and the Git bundle v2 format cannot represent a shallow
       clone repository.
CAPABILITIES
       Because there is no opportunity for negotiation, unknown capabilities
       cause git bundle to abort.
       o   object-format specifies the hash algorithm in use, and can take the
           same values as the extensions.objectFormat configuration value.
       o   filter specifies an object filter as in the --filter option in git-
           rev-list(1). The resulting pack-file must be marked as a .promisor
           pack-file after it is unbundled.
GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.43.5                        05/31/2024               GITFORMAT-BUNDLE(5)