Rewrite the description section to describe what exactly remote helpers are and the need for them. Also mention the curl family of remote helpers as an example. --- The previous version got corrupted and didn't apply cleanly for some reason. Additionally split it into two parts now. Documentation/git-remote-helpers.txt | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++------ 1 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/git-remote-helpers.txt b/Documentation/git-remote-helpers.txt index 1b5f61a..1304813 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-remote-helpers.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-remote-helpers.txt @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ git-remote-helpers(1) NAME ---- -git-remote-helpers - Helper programs for interoperation with remote git +git-remote-helpers - Helper programs to interact with remote repositories SYNOPSIS -------- @@ -12,11 +12,31 @@ SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION ----------- -These programs are normally not used directly by end users, but are -invoked by various git programs that interact with remote repositories -when the repository they would operate on will be accessed using -transport code not linked into the main git binary. Various particular -helper programs will behave as documented here. +Remote helper programs are normally not used directly by end users, +but are invoked by git when it needs to interact with remote +repositories. They implement a subset of the capabilities documented +here, and conform to the "remote helper protocol". When git needs +needs to interact with a repository served by a remote helper, it +spawns the helper as an independent process and interacts with it over +the specified protocol. Essentially, git sends commands to the helper +over standard input, and receives the result written to standard +output by the helper over a pipe. Also, since remote helpers often +need to link to the libraries required to interact with the remote +repository, they avoid linking to the main git programs to evade +licensing issues. + +All the capabilities of remote helpers have to do with discovering and +updating remote refs, transporting objects between local and remote, +and updating the local object store. Using the 'fetch' capability, +they can discover refs on the remote, transfer objects from the remote +reachable via those refs to local, and update the local object +store. Using the 'push' capability, they can transfer objects from +local to remote, and update the corresponding refs as necessary. + +Git comes with a "curl" family of remote helpers, specifically +'git-remote-http', 'git-remote-https', 'git-remote-ftp' and +'git-remote-ftps'. They implement the capabilities 'fetch', 'option', +and 'push'. COMMANDS -------- -- 1.7.0.3 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html