Fossil

  <h2>Command Line Interface Reference</h2>

  This is an easy introduction to the fossil command line interface
  (cli).  It assumes some familiarity with using the command line, and
  with Source Code Maintenence (SCM) systems&#8212;but not <i>too</i>
  with Source Code Maintenence (SCM) systems—but not <i>too</i>
  much.

  If you are trying to find information about fossil's web
  capabilities, see the <a href="index.wiki">Fossil Home</a> and
  <a href="wikitheory.wiki">Fossil Wiki</a> pages for pointers.

  <h3>Things to note</h3>
  * Fossil cli commands do not use special delimeters, they use
  spaces.  This is traditional with VCS/SCM.  Some <i>options</i> to
  fossil commands <i>do</i> use special delimiters, particularly the
  '-' (hyphen, or dash) character.  This is very similar to Tcl.
  Think of fossil as a shell you invoke and feed a command to,
  including any options, and it will make more sense.

  * Any fossil command is acceptable once enough of it has been
  entered to make the intent unambiguous.  'clo' is a proper prefix of
  both the 'clone' and 'close' commands, for instance, but 'clon' is
  enough to make the intent&#8212;the 'clone'
  command&#8212;unambiguous.
  enough to make the intent—the 'clone'
  command—unambiguous.

  * Pragmatically, a [./concepts.wiki#keyconc | <u>version</u>]
  in <b>fossil</b> is a 40-character long string of hexadecimal.
  <b>fossil</b> will be able to figure out which version you want
  with any <i>distinct</i> prefix of that string which is at
  least four characters long.  <em>Commands which require a
  version are looking for the string, a distinct prefix of the

    understand if you can run a repository, watch it in a browser, and
    hack around with it in a simplified environment (your tests) with
    guaranteed and fast access to the sources & docs (your cloned fossil
    repository).
<br /><br /> <br />
  <b>You should</b> probably start interacting with fossil at the command
  line by asking it what it can
  do:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a name="tof">&#710;</a>
  do:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a name="tof">ˆ</a>

  <code>$ fossil help</code><nowiki><pre>
Usage: fossil help COMMAND.
Available COMMANDs:</pre><table width="80%"
                          style="font-family: fixed, courier, monospace;">
  <tr>
    <td><a href="#add">add</a>*</td>

</pre>
<b>What follows</b> is a survey of what you get if you type<code>
fossil&nbsp;help&nbsp;<i>command</i> </code>for all of the
commands listed above.  There are links to individual pages for each
of them; pages with content (commands marked with a '*' are done) go
into the reason for a command in a bit more depth than the program help.
<pre>
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    <a name="add">Usage: </a><code><a href="cmd_add.wiki">fossil add</a></code> FILE...
    Make arrangements to add one or more files to the current checkout
    at the next commit.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="all">Usage: </a><code><a href="cmd_all.wiki">fossil all</a></code> (list|pull|push|rebuild|sync)
    The ~/.fossil file records the location of all repositories for a
    user.  This command performs certain operations on all repositories
    that can be useful before or after a period of disconnection operation.

    On Win32 systems, this file is located in %LOCALAPPDATA%, %APDDATA%
    or %HOMEPATH% and is named _fossil.

    sync       Run a "sync" on all repositories

    Respositories are automatically added to the set of known repositories
    when one of the following commands against the repository: clone, info,
    pull, push, or sync

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="branch">Usage: </a><code><a href="cmd_branch.wiki">fossil branch</a></code> SUBCOMMAND ... ?-R|--repository FILE?

Run various subcommands on the branches of the open repository or
of the repository identified by the -R or --repository option.

   fossil branch new BRANCH-NAME BASIS ?-bgcolor COLOR?

       Create a new branch BRANCH-NAME off of check-in BASIS.
       You can optionally give the branch a default color.

   fossil branch list

       List all branches

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    <a name="cgi">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_cgi.wiki">fossil cgi</a> SCRIPT
    The SCRIPT argument is the name of a file that is the CGI script
    that is being run.  The command name, "cgi", may be omitted if
    the GATEWAY_INTERFACE environment variable is set to "CGI" (which
    should always be the case for CGI scripts run by a webserver.)  The
    SCRIPT file should look something like this:

    #!/usr/bin/fossil
    repository: /home/somebody/project.db

    The second line defines the name of the repository.  After locating
    the repository, fossil will generate a webpage on stdout based on
    the values of standard CGI environment variables.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="changes">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_changes.wiki">fossil changes</a>
    Report on the edit status of all files in the current checkout.
    See also the "status" and "extra" commands.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="checkout">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_checkout.wiki">fossil checkout</a> VERSION ?-f|--force?
    Check out a version specified on the command-line.  This command
    will not overwrite edited files in the current checkout unless
    the --force option appears on the command-line.

    See also the "update" command.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="commit">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_commit.wiki">fossil commit</a> ?-m COMMENT? ?--nosign? ?FILE...?    fossil ci  ...  (as above)

    Create a new version containing all of the changes in the current
    checkout.  You will be prompted to enter a check-in comment unless
    the "-m" option is used to specify a comment line.  You will be
    prompted for your GPG passphrase in order to sign the new manifest
    unless the "--nosign" option is used.  All files that have
    changed will be committed unless some subset of files is specified
    on the command line.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="clean">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_clean.wiki">fossil clean</a> ?-all?
    Delete all "extra" files in the source tree.  "Extra" files are
    files that are not officially part of the checkout.  See also
    the "extra" command. This operation cannot be undone.

    You will be prompted before removing each file. If you are
    sure you wish to remove all "extra" files you can specify the
    optional -all flag.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="clone">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_clone.wiki">fossil clone</a> URL FILENAME
    Make a clone of a repository specified by URL in the local
    file named FILENAME.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="close">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_close.wiki">fossil close</a> ?-f|--force?
    The opposite of "open".  Close the current database connection.
    Require a -f or --force flag if there are unsaved changed in the
    current check-out.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="configuration">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_configure.wiki">fossil configuration</a> METHOD ...
    Where METHOD is one of: export import merge pull push reset.  All methods
    accept the -R or --repository option to specific a repository.

    fossil configuration export AREA FILENAME

    Write to FILENAME exported configuraton information for AREA.

    Restore the configuration to the default.  AREA as above.

    WARNING: Do not import, merge, or pull configurations from an untrusted
    source.  The inbound configuration is not checked for safety and can
    introduce security vulnerabilities.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    COMMAND: deconstruct
    <a name="deconstruct">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_deconstruct.wiki">fossil deconstruct</a> ?-R|--repository REPOSITORY? DESTINATION
    Populates the indicated DESTINATION directory with copies of all
    artifcats contained within the repository.  Artifacts are named AA/bbbbb
    where AA is the first 2 characters of the artifact ID and bbbbb is the
    remaining 38 characters.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="rm">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_rm.wiki">fossil rm</a> FILE...    or: fossil del FILE...
    Remove one or more files from the tree.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="descendants">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_descendants.wiki">fossil descendants</a> ?CHECKIN-ID?
    Find all leaf descendants of the check-in specified or if the argument
    is omitted, of the check-in currently checked out.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="diff">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_diff.wiki">fossil diff</a>|gdiff ?-i? ?-r REVISION? FILE...
    Show the difference between the current version of a file (as it
    exists on disk) and that same file as it was checked out.

    diff will show a textual diff while gdiff will attempt to run a
    graphical diff command that you have setup. If the choosen command
    is not yet configured, the internal textual diff command will be

    fossil setting gdiff-command tkdiff
    fossil setting gdiff-command eskill22
    fossil setting gdiff-command tortoisemerge
    fossil setting gdiff-command meld
    fossil setting gdiff-command xxdiff
    fossil setting gdiff-command kdiff3

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="extra">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_extra.wiki">fossil extra</a>
    Print a list of all files in the source tree that are not part of
    the current checkout.  See also the "clean" command.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="help">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_help.wiki">fossil help</a> COMMAND
    Display information on how to use COMMAND

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="http">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_http.wiki">fossil http</a> REPOSITORY
    Handle a single HTTP request appearing on stdin.  The resulting webpage
    is delivered on stdout.  This method is used to launch an HTTP request
    handler from inetd, for example.  The argument is the name of the    repository.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="info">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_info.wiki">fossil info</a> ?ARTIFACT-ID|FILENAME?
    With no arguments, provide information about the current tree.
    If an argument is specified, provide information about the object
    in the respository of the current tree that the argument refers
    to.  Or if the argument is the name of a repository, show
    information about that repository.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="leaves">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_leaves.wiki">fossil leaves</a>
    Find leaves of all branches.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="ls">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_ls.wiki">fossil ls</a>
    Show the names of all files in the current checkout

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="merge">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_merge.wiki">fossil merge</a> VERSION
    The argument is a version that should be merged into the current
    checkout.
    Only file content is merged.  The result continues to use the
    file and directory names from the current check-out even if those
    names might have been changed in the branch being merged in.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="mv">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_mv.wiki">fossil mv|rename</a> OLDNAME NEWNAME       or: fossil mv|rename OLDNAME... DIR

    Move or rename one or more files within the tree

    This command does not rename the files on disk.  All this command does is
    record the fact that filenames have changed so that appropriate notations
    can be made at the next commit/checkin.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="new">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_new.wiki">fossil new</a> FILENAME

    Create a repository for a new project in the file named FILENAME.
    This command is distinct from "clone".  The "clone" command makes
    a copy of an existing project.  This command starts a new project.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="open">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_open.wiki">fossil open</a> FILENAME
    Open a connection to the local repository in FILENAME.  A checkout
    for the repository is created with its root at the working directory.
    See also the "close" command.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="rstats">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_rstats.wiki">fossil rstats</a>

    Deliver a report of the repository statistics for the
    current checkout.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="pull">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_pull.wiki">fossil pull</a> ?URL? ?-R|--respository REPOSITORY?
    Pull changes in a remote repository into the local repository.
    The repository is identified by the -R or --repository option.
    If there is no such option then the open repository is used.
    The URL of the remote server is specified on the command line
    If no URL is specified then the URL used by the most recent
    "pull", "push", or "sync" command is used.

    The URL is of the following form:

    http://USER@HOST:PORT/PATH

    The "USER@" and ":PORT" substrings are optional.
    The "USER" substring specifies the login user.  You will be
    prompted for the password on the command-line.  The PORT
    specifies the TCP port of the server.  The default port is
    80.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="push">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_push.wiki">fossil push</a> ?URL? ?-R|--repository REPOSITORY?
    Push changes in the local repository over into a remote repository.
    See the "pull" command for additional information.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="rebuild">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_rebuild.wiki">fossil rebuild</a> REPOSITORY
    Reconstruct the named repository database from the core
    records.  Run this command after updating the fossil
    executable in a way that changes the database schema.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    COMMAND: reconstruct
    <a name="reconstruct">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_reconstruct.wiki">fossil reconstruct</a> REPOSITORY ORIGIN
    Creates the REPOSITORY and populates it with the artifacts in the
    indicated ORIGIN directory.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
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    <a name="redo">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_redo.wiki">fossil redo</a> ?FILENAME...?
    Redo the an update or merge operation that has been undone by the
    undo command.  If FILENAME is specified then restore the changes
    associated with the named file(s) but otherwise leave the update
    or merge undone.

    A single level of undo/redo is supported.  The undo/redo stack
    is cleared by the commit and checkout commands.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="revert">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_revert.wiki">fossil revert</a> ?--yes? ?-r CHECKIN? FILE
    Revert to the current repository version of FILE, or to
    the version associated with check-in CHECKIN if the -r flag
    appears.  This command will confirm your operation unless the
    file is missing or the --yes option is used.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="server">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_server.wiki">fossil server</a> ?-P|--port TCPPORT? ?REPOSITORY?    Or: fossil ui ?-P|--port TCPPORT? ?REPOSITORY?

    Open a socket and begin listening and responding to HTTP requests on
    TCP port 8080, or on any other TCP port defined by the -P or
    --port option.  The optional argument is the name of the repository.
    The repository argument may be omitted if the working directory is
    within an open checkout.

    The "ui" command automatically starts a web browser after initializing
    the web server.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    COMMAND: settings
    COMMAND: unset
    <a name="settings">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_setting.wiki">fossil settings</a> ?PROPERTY? ?VALUE? ?-global?
    fossil unset PROPERTY ?-global?

    The "settings" command with no arguments lists all properties and their
    values.  With just a property name it shows the value of that property.

		        then a direct HTTP connection is used.

       web-browser      A shell command used to launch your preferred
		        web browser when given a URL as an argument.
		        Defaults to "start" on windows, "open" on Mac,
		        and "firefox" on Unix.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="status">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_status.wiki">fossil status</a>
    Report on the status of the current checkout.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="sync">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_sync.wiki">fossil sync</a> ?URL? ?-R|--repository REPOSITORY?
    Synchronize the local repository with a remote repository.  This is
    the equivalent of running both "push" and "pull" at the same time.
    See the "pull" command for additional information.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="tag">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_tag.wiki">fossil tag</a> SUBCOMMAND ...
    Run various subcommands to control tags and properties

    fossil tag add ?--raw? TAGNAME CHECK-IN ?VALUE?

    Add a new tag or property to CHECK-IN. The tag will
    be usable instead of a CHECK-IN in commands such as

    will be taken as an artifact or check-in ID and fossil will
    probably complain that no such revision was found. However

    fossil update tag:decaf

    will assume that "decaf" is a tag/branch name.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="timeline">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_timeline.wiki">fossil timeline</a> ?WHEN? ?CHECK-IN|DATETIME? ?-n|--count N?
    Print a summary of activity going backwards in date and time
    specified or from the current date and time if no arguments
    are given.  Show as many as N (default 20) check-ins.  The
    WHEN argument can be any unique abbreviation of one of these
    keywords:

    before
    after
    descendants | children
    ancestors | parents

    The CHECK-IN can be any unique prefix of 4 characters or more.
    The DATETIME should be in the ISO8601 format.  For
    examples: "2007-08-18 07:21:21".  You can also say "current"
    for the current version or "now" for the current time.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="undo">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_undo.wiki">fossil undo</a> ?FILENAME...?
    Undo the most recent update or merge operation.  If FILENAME is
    specified then restore the content of the named file(s) but otherwise
    leave the update or merge in effect.

    A single level of undo/redo is supported.  The undo/redo stack
    is cleared by the commit and checkout commands.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="update">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_update.wiki">fossil update</a> ?VERSION? ?--latest?
    The optional argument is a version that should become the current
    version.  If the argument is omitted, then use the leaf of the
    tree that begins with the current version, if there is only a    single leaf.  If there are a multiple leaves, the latest is used
    if the --latest flag is present.

    This command is different from the "checkout" in that edits are
    not overwritten.  Edits are merged into the new version.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="user">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_user.wiki">fossil user</a> SUBCOMMAND ...  ?-R|--repository FILE?
    Run various subcommands on users of the open repository or of
    the repository identified by the -R or --repository option.

    fossil user capabilities USERNAME ?STRING?

    Query or set the capabilities for user USERNAME

    deleted.  They can be denied all access but they must continue
    to exist in the database.

    fossil user password USERNAME

    Change the web access password for a user.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="version">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_version.wiki">fossil version</a>
    Print the source code version number for the fossil executable.

<hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
<hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>
    <a name="wiki">Usage: </a><a href="cmd_wiki.wiki">fossil wiki</a> (export|create|commit|list) WikiName
    Run various subcommands to fetch wiki entries.

    fossil wiki export PAGENAME ?FILE?

    Sends the latest version of the PAGENAME wiki
    entry to the given file or standard output.

    fossil wiki diff ?ARTIFACT? ?-f infile[=stdin]? EntryName

    Diffs the local copy of a page with a given version (defaulting
    to the head version).

  </pre></nowiki>

  <hr><a href="#tof">&#710;</a>
  <hr><a href="#tof">ˆ</a>

    <h3>Caveats</h3>
    This is not actually a reference, it's the start of a reference.
    There are wikilinks to uncreated pages for the commands.  This was
    created by running the fossil help for each command listed by running
    fossil help...  Duplicate commands are only listed once (I
    <i>think</i>).  There are several bits of <b>fossil</b> that are not addressed
    in the help for commands (special wiki directories, special users, etc.)
    so they are (currently) not addressed here.  Clarity and brevity may be
    sacrificed for expediency at the authors indiscretion.  All spelling and
    grammatical mistakes are somebody elses fault.<code>  void * </code>
    prohibited where<code> __C_PLUS_PLUS__ </code>. Title and taxes extra.
    Not valid in Hooptigonia.