[PATCHv4 4/4] Add documentation for ref namespaces

[Jamey Sharp <jamey@minilop.net>]

From: Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>

Document the namespace mechanism in a new gitnamespaces(7) page.
Reference it from receive-pack and upload-pack.

Document the new --namespace option and GIT_NAMESPACE environment
variable in git(1), and reference gitnamespaces(7).

Add a sample Apache configuration to http-backend(1) to support
namespaced repositories, and reference gitnamespaces(7).

Commit by Josh Triplett and Jamey Sharp.

Signed-off-by: Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>
Signed-off-by: Jamey Sharp <jamey@minilop.net>
---
In v4 we've tried to address reviewers' concerns about unclear and
inadequate documentation, and of course updated for functional changes
and revised terminology in this revision of the patch series.

Note that the "CONVENTIONS" section from v3's documentation is gone
because there is now only one way to set up namespaces.

 Documentation/Makefile                 |    2 +-
 Documentation/git-http-backend.txt     |    8 ++++
 Documentation/git-receive-pack.txt     |    2 +-
 Documentation/git-upload-pack.txt      |    4 ++
 Documentation/git.txt                  |   13 +++++-
 Documentation/gitnamespaces.txt        |   71 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 contrib/completion/git-completion.bash |    2 +-
 7 files changed, 97 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/gitnamespaces.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index 36989b7..2004fbe 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ MAN5_TXT=gitattributes.txt gitignore.txt gitmodules.txt githooks.txt \
 	gitrepository-layout.txt
 MAN7_TXT=gitcli.txt gittutorial.txt gittutorial-2.txt \
 	gitcvs-migration.txt gitcore-tutorial.txt gitglossary.txt \
-	gitdiffcore.txt gitrevisions.txt gitworkflows.txt
+	gitdiffcore.txt gitnamespaces.txt gitrevisions.txt gitworkflows.txt
 
 MAN_TXT = $(MAN1_TXT) $(MAN5_TXT) $(MAN7_TXT)
 MAN_XML=$(patsubst %.txt,%.xml,$(MAN_TXT))
diff --git a/Documentation/git-http-backend.txt b/Documentation/git-http-backend.txt
index 277d9e1..f4e0741 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-http-backend.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-http-backend.txt
@@ -119,6 +119,14 @@ ScriptAliasMatch \
 
 ScriptAlias /git/ /var/www/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi/
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
++
+To serve multiple repositories from different linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] in a
+single repository:
++
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+SetEnvIf Request_URI "^/git/([^/]*)" GIT_NAMESPACE=$1
+ScriptAliasMatch ^/git/[^/]*(.*) /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/storage.git$1
+----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Accelerated static Apache 2.x::
 	Similar to the above, but Apache can be used to return static
diff --git a/Documentation/git-receive-pack.txt b/Documentation/git-receive-pack.txt
index f34e0ae..3534ba0 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-receive-pack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-receive-pack.txt
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ if the repository is packed and is served via a dumb transport.
 
 SEE ALSO
 --------
-linkgit:git-send-pack[1]
+linkgit:git-send-pack[1], linkgit:gitnamespaces[7]
 
 GIT
 ---
diff --git a/Documentation/git-upload-pack.txt b/Documentation/git-upload-pack.txt
index 4c0ca9d..61a9a04 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-upload-pack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-upload-pack.txt
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ OPTIONS
 <directory>::
 	The repository to sync from.
 
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:gitnamespaces[7]
+
 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index 65317cc..297590f 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git' [--version] [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]
-    [-p|--paginate|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects]
-    [--bare] [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>]
+    [-p|--paginate|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]
+    [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]
     [-c <name>=<value>]
     [--help] <command> [<args>]
 
@@ -324,6 +324,11 @@ help ...`.
 	variable (see core.worktree in linkgit:git-config[1] for a
 	more detailed discussion).
 
+--namespace=<path>::
+	Set the git namespace.  See linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for more
+	details.  Equivalent to setting the `GIT_NAMESPACE` environment
+	variable.
+
 --bare::
 	Treat the repository as a bare repository.  If GIT_DIR
 	environment is not set, it is set to the current working
@@ -588,6 +593,10 @@ git so take care if using Cogito etc.
 	This can also be controlled by the '--work-tree' command line
 	option and the core.worktree configuration variable.
 
+'GIT_NAMESPACE'::
+	Set the git namespace; see linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for details.
+	The '--namespace' command-line option also sets this value.
+
 'GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES'::
 	This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths.
 	If set, it is a list of directories that git should not chdir
diff --git a/Documentation/gitnamespaces.txt b/Documentation/gitnamespaces.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c11dd56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/gitnamespaces.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+gitnamespaces(7)
+================
+
+NAME
+----
+gitnamespaces - Git namespaces
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+Git supports dividing the refs of a single repository into multiple
+namespaces, each of which has its own branches, tags, and HEAD.  Git can
+expose each namespace as an independent repository to pull from and push
+to, while sharing the object store, and exposing all the refs to
+operations such as linkgit:git-gc[1].
+
+Storing multiple repositories as namespaces of a single repository
+avoids storing duplicate copies of the same objects, such as when
+storing multiple branches of the same source.  The alternates mechanism
+provides similar support for avoiding duplicates, but alternates do not
+prevent duplication between new objects added to the repositories
+without ongoing maintenance, while namespaces do.
+
+To specify a namespace, set the `GIT_NAMESPACE` environment variable to
+the namespace.  For each ref namespace, git stores the corresponding
+refs in a directory under `refs/namespaces/`.  For example,
+`GIT_NAMESPACE=foo` will store refs under `refs/namespaces/foo/`.  You
+can also specify namespaces via the `--namespace` option to
+linkgit:git[1].
+
+Note that namespaces which include a `/` will expand to a hierarchy of
+namespaces; for example, `GIT_NAMESPACE=foo/bar` will store refs under
+`refs/namespaces/foo/refs/namespaces/bar/`.  This makes `GIT_NAMESPACE`
+behave hierarchically, and avoids ambiguity with namespaces such as
+`foo/refs/heads`.
+
+linkgit:git-upload-pack[1] and linkgit:git-receive-pack[1] rewrite the
+names of refs as specified by `GIT_NAMESPACE`.  git-upload-pack and
+git-receive-pack will ignore all references outside the specified
+namespace.
+
+The smart HTTP server, linkgit:git-http-backend[1], will pass
+GIT_NAMESPACE through to the backend programs; see
+linkgit:git-http-backend[1] for sample configuration to expose
+repository namespaces as repositories.
+
+For a simple local test, you can use linkgit:git-remote-ext[1]:
+
+----------
+git clone ext::'git --namespace=foo %s /tmp/prefixed.git'
+----------
+
+SECURITY
+--------
+
+Anyone with access to any namespace within a repository can potentially
+access objects from any other namespace stored in the same repository.
+You can't directly say "give me object ABCD" if you don't have a ref to
+it, but you can do some other sneaky things like:
+
+. Claiming to push ABCD, at which point the server will optimize out the
+  need for you to actually send it. Now you have a ref to ABCD and can
+  fetch it (claiming not to have it, of course).
+
+. Requesting other refs, claiming that you have ABCD, at which point the
+  server may generate deltas against ABCD.
+
+None of this causes a problem if you only host public repositories, or
+if everyone who may read one namespace may also read everything in every
+other namespace (for instance, if everyone in an organization has read
+permission to every repository).
diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
index b10a1ec..ec1c986 100755
--- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
@@ -1469,7 +1469,7 @@ _git_help ()
 	__gitcomp "$__git_all_commands $(__git_aliases)
 		attributes cli core-tutorial cvs-migration
 		diffcore gitk glossary hooks ignore modules
-		repository-layout tutorial tutorial-2
+		namespaces repository-layout tutorial tutorial-2
 		workflows
 		"
 }
-- 
1.7.5.3