doc/hg.1.txt

bisect: slightly improve the help message

HG(1)
=====
Matt Mackall <[e-mail]>

NAME
----
hg - Mercurial source code management system

SYNOPSIS
--------
'hg' [global option]... <command> [command/global option]... [argument]...

DESCRIPTION
-----------
The hg(1) command provides a command line interface to the Mercurial system.

COMMAND ELEMENTS
----------------

files ...::
    indicates one or more filename or relative path filenames; see
    "FILE NAME PATTERNS" for information on pattern matching

path::
    indicates a path on the local machine

revision::
    indicates a changeset which can be specified as a changeset revision
    number, a tag, or a unique substring of the changeset hash value

repository path::
    either the pathname of a local repository or the URI of a remote
    repository.  There are two available URI protocols, http:// which is
    fast and the static-http:// protocol which is much slower but does not
    require a special server on the web host.


include::hg.1.gendoc.txt[]

SPECIFYING SINGLE REVISIONS
---------------------------

    Mercurial accepts several notations for identifying individual
    revisions.

    A plain integer is treated as a revision number.  Negative
    integers are treated as offsets from the tip, with -1 denoting the
    tip.

    A 40-digit hexadecimal string is treated as a unique revision
    identifier.

    A hexadecimal string less than 40 characters long is treated as a
    unique revision identifier, and referred to as a short-form
    identifier.  A short-form identifier is only valid if it is the
    prefix of one full-length identifier.

    Any other string is treated as a tag name, which is a symbolic
    name associated with a revision identifier.  Tag names may not
    contain the ":" character.

    The reserved name "tip" is a special tag that always identifies
    the most recent revision.

    The reserved name "null" indicates the null revision. This is the
    revision of an empty repository, and the parent of revision 0.

    The reserved name "." indicates the working directory parent. If
    no working directory is checked out, it is equivalent to null.
    If an uncommitted merge is in progress, "." is the revision of
    the first parent.

SPECIFYING MULTIPLE REVISIONS
-----------------------------

    When Mercurial accepts more than one revision, they may be
    specified individually, or provided as a continuous range,
    separated by the ":" character.

    The syntax of range notation is [BEGIN]:[END], where BEGIN and END
    are revision identifiers.  Both BEGIN and END are optional.  If
    BEGIN is not specified, it defaults to revision number 0.  If END
    is not specified, it defaults to the tip.  The range ":" thus
    means "all revisions".

    If BEGIN is greater than END, revisions are treated in reverse
    order.

    A range acts as a closed interval.  This means that a range of 3:5
    gives 3, 4 and 5.  Similarly, a range of 4:2 gives 4, 3, and 2.

FILES
-----
 repo/.hgignore::
    This file contains regular expressions (one per line) that describe file
    names that should be ignored by hg. For details, see hgignore(5).

 repo/.hgtags::
    This file contains changeset hash values and text tag names (one of each
    separated by spaces) that correspond to tagged versions of the repository
    contents.

 /etc/mercurial/hgrc, $HOME/.hgrc, .hg/hgrc::
    This file contains defaults and configuration. Values in .hg/hgrc
    override those in $HOME/.hgrc, and these override settings made in the
    global /etc/mercurial/hgrc configuration.  See hgrc(5) for details of
    the contents and format of these files.

Some commands (e.g. revert) produce backup files ending in .orig, if
the .orig file already exists and is not tracked by Mercurial, it
will be overwritten.

BUGS
----
Probably lots, please post them to the mailing list (See Resources below)
when you find them.

SEE ALSO
--------
hgignore(5), hgrc(5)

AUTHOR
------
Written by Matt Mackall <[e-mail]>

RESOURCES
---------
http://selenic.com/mercurial[Main Web Site]

http://selenic.com/hg[Source code repository]

http://selenic.com/mailman/listinfo/mercurial[Mailing list]

COPYING
-------
Copyright \(C) 2005-2007 Matt Mackall.
Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU General
Public License (GPL).