git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re: Remote git-cat-file?

From
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
Date
May 28, 2006, 00:29 UTC
Message-ID
<Pine.LNX.4.64.0605271727110.5623@g5.osdl.org>
In-Reply-To
<loom.20060528T002420-957@post.gmane.org>
On Sat, 27 May 2006, Elrond wrote:
> 
> Is it possible via the git: protocol to do a git-cat-file?
> 
> To download just one object by its ID?
Nope. 

Well, depending on just how much you know about the object, you can fake it. For example, if you already know it's a commit, and you know the parents, then yes, you can download it by basically saying that you want that particular object and you already have the parents.

But in the general case, the answer is no. Set up a gitweb thing, and look up the objects that way. Or just pull the repo, and look at it locally.

Just out of interest, why would you ever want to just look at a single object?

		Linus
Previous: ElrondNext: Linus Torvalds
Message 2 of 7 in “Remote git-cat-file?”
  1. ElrondMay 27, 2006
  2. Linus TorvaldsMay 28, 2006
  3. Linus TorvaldsMay 28, 2006
  4. ElrondMay 28, 2006
  5. Jakub NarebskiMay 28, 2006
  6. Junio C HamanoMay 28, 2006
  7. Jakub NarebskiMay 28, 2006

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.