mercurial/help.py
author Martin Geisler <mg@lazybytes.net>
Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:14:24 +0200
changeset 9082 31e54756559b
parent 9023 cd92a6968f70
child 9157 9261667e9b82
permissions -rw-r--r--
help: wrapped help strings at 78 characters

# help.py - help data for mercurial
#
# Copyright 2006 Matt Mackall <mpm@selenic.com>
#
# This software may be used and distributed according to the terms of the
# GNU General Public License version 2, incorporated herein by reference.

from i18n import _
import extensions, util


def moduledoc(file):
    '''return the top-level python documentation for the given file

    Loosely inspired by pydoc.source_synopsis(), but rewritten to handle \'''
    as well as """ and to return the whole text instead of just the synopsis'''
    result = []

    line = file.readline()
    while line[:1] == '#' or not line.strip():
        line = file.readline()
        if not line: break

    start = line[:3]
    if start == '"""' or start == "'''":
        line = line[3:]
        while line:
            if line.rstrip().endswith(start):
                line = line.split(start)[0]
                if line:
                    result.append(line)
                break
            elif not line:
                return None # unmatched delimiter
            result.append(line)
            line = file.readline()
    else:
        return None

    return ''.join(result)

def listexts(header, exts, maxlength):
    '''return a text listing of the given extensions'''
    if not exts:
        return ''
    result = '\n%s\n\n' % header
    for name, desc in sorted(exts.iteritems()):
        desc = util.wrap(desc, maxlength + 4)
        result += ' %s   %s\n' % (name.ljust(maxlength), desc)
    return result

def extshelp():
    doc = _(r'''
    Mercurial has the ability to add new features through the use of
    extensions. Extensions may add new commands, add options to existing
    commands, change the default behavior of commands, or implement hooks.

    Extensions are not loaded by default for a variety of reasons: they can
    increase startup overhead; they may be meant for advanced usage only; they
    may provide potentially dangerous abilities (such as letting you destroy
    or modify history); they might not be ready for prime time; or they may
    alter some usual behaviors of stock Mercurial. It is thus up to the user
    to activate extensions as needed.

    To enable the "foo" extension, either shipped with Mercurial or in the
    Python search path, create an entry for it in your hgrc, like this:

      [extensions]
      foo =

    You may also specify the full path to an extension:

      [extensions]
      myfeature = ~/.hgext/myfeature.py

    To explicitly disable an extension enabled in an hgrc of broader scope,
    prepend its path with !:

      [extensions]
      # disabling extension bar residing in /path/to/extension/bar.py
      hgext.bar = !/path/to/extension/bar.py
      # ditto, but no path was supplied for extension baz
      hgext.baz = !
    ''')

    exts, maxlength = extensions.enabled()
    doc += listexts(_('enabled extensions:'), exts, maxlength)

    exts, maxlength = extensions.disabled()
    doc += listexts(_('disabled extensions:'), exts, maxlength)

    return doc

helptable = (
    (["dates"], _("Date Formats"),
     _(r'''
    Some commands allow the user to specify a date, e.g.:
    * backout, commit, import, tag: Specify the commit date.
    * log, revert, update: Select revision(s) by date.

    Many date formats are valid. Here are some examples:

    "Wed Dec 6 13:18:29 2006" (local timezone assumed)
    "Dec 6 13:18 -0600" (year assumed, time offset provided)
    "Dec 6 13:18 UTC" (UTC and GMT are aliases for +0000)
    "Dec 6" (midnight)
    "13:18" (today assumed)
    "3:39" (3:39AM assumed)
    "3:39pm" (15:39)
    "2006-12-06 13:18:29" (ISO 8601 format)
    "2006-12-6 13:18"
    "2006-12-6"
    "12-6"
    "12/6"
    "12/6/6" (Dec 6 2006)

    Lastly, there is Mercurial's internal format:

    "1165432709 0" (Wed Dec 6 13:18:29 2006 UTC)

    This is the internal representation format for dates. unixtime is the
    number of seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01 00:00 UTC). offset is the
    offset of the local timezone, in seconds west of UTC (negative if the
    timezone is east of UTC).

    The log command also accepts date ranges:

    "<{datetime}" - at or before a given date/time
    ">{datetime}" - on or after a given date/time
    "{datetime} to {datetime}" - a date range, inclusive
    "-{days}" - within a given number of days of today
    ''')),

    (["patterns"], _("File Name Patterns"),
     _(r'''
    Mercurial accepts several notations for identifying one or more files at a
    time.

    By default, Mercurial treats filenames as shell-style extended glob
    patterns.

    Alternate pattern notations must be specified explicitly.

    To use a plain path name without any pattern matching, start it with
    "path:". These path names must completely match starting at the current
    repository root.

    To use an extended glob, start a name with "glob:". Globs are rooted at
    the current directory; a glob such as "*.c" will only match files in the
    current directory ending with ".c".

    The supported glob syntax extensions are "**" to match any string across
    path separators and "{a,b}" to mean "a or b".

    To use a Perl/Python regular expression, start a name with "re:". Regexp
    pattern matching is anchored at the root of the repository.

    Plain examples:

    path:foo/bar   a name bar in a directory named foo in the root of
                   the repository
    path:path:name a file or directory named "path:name"

    Glob examples:

    glob:*.c       any name ending in ".c" in the current directory
    *.c            any name ending in ".c" in the current directory
    **.c           any name ending in ".c" in any subdirectory of the current
                   directory including itself.
    foo/*.c        any name ending in ".c" in the directory foo
    foo/**.c       any name ending in ".c" in any subdirectory of foo
                   including itself.

    Regexp examples:

    re:.*\.c$      any name ending in ".c", anywhere in the repository

    ''')),

    (['environment', 'env'], _('Environment Variables'),
     _(r'''
HG::
    Path to the 'hg' executable, automatically passed when running hooks,
    extensions or external tools. If unset or empty, this is the hg
    executable's name if it's frozen, or an executable named 'hg' (with
    %PATHEXT% [defaulting to COM/EXE/BAT/CMD] extensions on Windows) is
    searched.

HGEDITOR::
    This is the name of the editor to run when committing. See EDITOR.

    (deprecated, use .hgrc)

HGENCODING::
    This overrides the default locale setting detected by Mercurial. This
    setting is used to convert data including usernames, changeset
    descriptions, tag names, and branches. This setting can be overridden with
    the --encoding command-line option.

HGENCODINGMODE::
    This sets Mercurial's behavior for handling unknown characters while
    transcoding user input. The default is "strict", which causes Mercurial to
    abort if it can't map a character. Other settings include "replace", which
    replaces unknown characters, and "ignore", which drops them. This setting
    can be overridden with the --encodingmode command-line option.

HGMERGE::
    An executable to use for resolving merge conflicts. The program will be
    executed with three arguments: local file, remote file, ancestor file.

    (deprecated, use .hgrc)

HGRCPATH::
    A list of files or directories to search for hgrc files. Item separator is
    ":" on Unix, ";" on Windows. If HGRCPATH is not set, platform default
    search path is used. If empty, only the .hg/hgrc from the current
    repository is read.

    For each element in HGRCPATH:
    * if it's a directory, all files ending with .rc are added
    * otherwise, the file itself will be added

HGUSER::
    This is the string used as the author of a commit. If not set, available
    values will be considered in this order:

    * HGUSER (deprecated)
    * hgrc files from the HGRCPATH
    * EMAIL
    * interactive prompt
    * LOGNAME (with '@hostname' appended)

    (deprecated, use .hgrc)

EMAIL::
    May be used as the author of a commit; see HGUSER.

LOGNAME::
    May be used as the author of a commit; see HGUSER.

VISUAL::
    This is the name of the editor to use when committing. See EDITOR.

EDITOR::
    Sometimes Mercurial needs to open a text file in an editor for a user to
    modify, for example when writing commit messages. The editor it uses is
    determined by looking at the environment variables HGEDITOR, VISUAL and
    EDITOR, in that order. The first non-empty one is chosen. If all of them
    are empty, the editor defaults to 'vi'.

PYTHONPATH::
    This is used by Python to find imported modules and may need to be set
    appropriately if this Mercurial is not installed system-wide.
    ''')),

    (['revs', 'revisions'], _('Specifying Single Revisions'),
     _(r'''
    Mercurial supports several ways to specify individual revisions.

    A plain integer is treated as a revision number. Negative integers are
    treated as topological offsets from the tip, with -1 denoting the tip. As
    such, negative numbers are only useful if you've memorized your local tree
    numbers and want to save typing a single digit. This editor suggests copy
    and paste.

    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 exactly 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.
    ''')),

    (['mrevs', 'multirevs'], _('Specifying Multiple Revisions'),
     _(r'''
    When Mercurial accepts more than one revision, they may be specified
    individually, or provided as a topologically 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 9:6 gives 9, 8, 7, and 6.
    ''')),

    (['diffs'], _('Diff Formats'),
     _(r'''
    Mercurial's default format for showing changes between two versions of a
    file is compatible with the unified format of GNU diff, which can be used
    by GNU patch and many other standard tools.

    While this standard format is often enough, it does not encode the
    following information:

     - executable status and other permission bits
     - copy or rename information
     - changes in binary files
     - creation or deletion of empty files

    Mercurial also supports the extended diff format from the git VCS which
    addresses these limitations. The git diff format is not produced by
    default because a few widespread tools still do not understand this
    format.

    This means that when generating diffs from a Mercurial repository (e.g.
    with "hg export"), you should be careful about things like file copies and
    renames or other things mentioned above, because when applying a standard
    diff to a different repository, this extra information is lost.
    Mercurial's internal operations (like push and pull) are not affected by
    this, because they use an internal binary format for communicating
    changes.

    To make Mercurial produce the git extended diff format, use the --git
    option available for many commands, or set 'git = True' in the [diff]
    section of your hgrc. You do not need to set this option when importing
    diffs in this format or using them in the mq extension.
    ''')),
    (['templating'], _('Template Usage'),
     _(r'''
    Mercurial allows you to customize output of commands through templates.
    You can either pass in a template from the command line, via the
    --template option, or select an existing template-style (--style).

    You can customize output for any "log-like" command: log, outgoing,
    incoming, tip, parents, heads and glog.

    Three styles are packaged with Mercurial: default (the style used when no
    explicit preference is passed), compact and changelog. Usage:

        $ hg log -r1 --style changelog

    A template is a piece of text, with markup to invoke variable expansion:

        $ hg log -r1 --template "{node}\n"
        b56ce7b07c52de7d5fd79fb89701ea538af65746

    Strings in curly braces are called keywords. The availability of keywords
    depends on the exact context of the templater. These keywords are usually
    available for templating a log-like command:

    - author: String. The unmodified author of the changeset.
    - branches: String. The name of the branch on which the changeset was
          committed. Will be empty if the branch name was default.
    - date: Date information. The date when the changeset was committed.
    - desc: String. The text of the changeset description.
    - diffstat: String. Statistics of changes with the following format:
          "modified files: +added/-removed lines"
    - files: List of strings. All files modified, added, or removed by this
          changeset.
    - file_adds: List of strings. Files added by this changeset.
    - file_mods: List of strings. Files modified by this changeset.
    - file_dels: List of strings. Files removed by this changeset.
    - node: String. The changeset identification hash, as a 40-character
          hexadecimal string.
    - parents: List of strings. The parents of the changeset.
    - rev: Integer. The repository-local changeset revision number.
    - tags: List of strings. Any tags associated with the changeset.

    The "date" keyword does not produce human-readable output. If you want to
    use a date in your output, you can use a filter to process it. Filters are
    functions which return a string based on the input variable. You can also
    use a chain of filters to get the desired output:

       $ hg tip --template "{date|isodate}\n"
       2008-08-21 18:22 +0000

    List of filters:

    - addbreaks: Any text. Add an XHTML "<br />" tag before the end of every
          line except the last.
    - age: Date. Returns a human-readable date/time difference between the
          given date/time and the current date/time.
    - basename: Any text. Treats the text as a path, and returns the last
          component of the path after splitting by the path separator
          (ignoring trailing separators). For example, "foo/bar/baz" becomes
          "baz" and "foo/bar//" becomes "bar".
    - stripdir: Treat the text as path and strip a directory level, if
          possible. For example, "foo" and "foo/bar" becomes "foo".
    - date: Date. Returns a date in a Unix date format, including the
          timezone: "Mon Sep 04 15:13:13 2006 0700".
    - domain: Any text. Finds the first string that looks like an email
          address, and extracts just the domain component. Example: 'User
          <user@example.com>' becomes 'example.com'.
    - email: Any text. Extracts the first string that looks like an email
          address. Example: 'User <user@example.com>' becomes
          'user@example.com'.
    - escape: Any text. Replaces the special XML/XHTML characters "&", "<" and
          ">" with XML entities.
    - fill68: Any text. Wraps the text to fit in 68 columns.
    - fill76: Any text. Wraps the text to fit in 76 columns.
    - firstline: Any text. Returns the first line of text.
    - nonempty: Any text. Returns '(none)' if the string is empty.
    - hgdate: Date. Returns the date as a pair of numbers: "1157407993 25200"
          (Unix timestamp, timezone offset).
    - isodate: Date. Returns the date in ISO 8601 format.
    - localdate: Date. Converts a date to local date.
    - obfuscate: Any text. Returns the input text rendered as a sequence of
          XML entities.
    - person: Any text. Returns the text before an email address.
    - rfc822date: Date. Returns a date using the same format used in email
          headers.
    - short: Changeset hash. Returns the short form of a changeset hash, i.e.
          a 12-byte hexadecimal string.
    - shortdate: Date. Returns a date like "2006-09-18".
    - strip: Any text. Strips all leading and trailing whitespace.
    - tabindent: Any text. Returns the text, with every line except the first
          starting with a tab character.
    - urlescape: Any text. Escapes all "special" characters. For example, "foo
          bar" becomes "foo%20bar".
    - user: Any text. Returns the user portion of an email address.
    ''')),

    (['urls'], _('URL Paths'),
     _(r'''
    Valid URLs are of the form:

      local/filesystem/path[#revision]
      file://local/filesystem/path[#revision]
      http://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]/[path][#revision]
      https://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]/[path][#revision]
      ssh://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]/[path][#revision]

    Paths in the local filesystem can either point to Mercurial repositories
    or to bundle files (as created by 'hg bundle' or 'hg incoming --bundle').

    An optional identifier after # indicates a particular branch, tag, or
    changeset to use from the remote repository. See also 'hg help revisions'.

    Some features, such as pushing to http:// and https:// URLs are only
    possible if the feature is explicitly enabled on the remote Mercurial
    server.

    Some notes about using SSH with Mercurial:
    - SSH requires an accessible shell account on the destination machine and
      a copy of hg in the remote path or specified with as remotecmd.
    - path is relative to the remote user's home directory by default. Use an
      extra slash at the start of a path to specify an absolute path:
        ssh://example.com//tmp/repository
    - Mercurial doesn't use its own compression via SSH; the right thing to do
      is to configure it in your ~/.ssh/config, e.g.:
        Host *.mylocalnetwork.example.com
          Compression no
        Host *
          Compression yes
      Alternatively specify "ssh -C" as your ssh command in your hgrc or with
      the --ssh command line option.

    These URLs can all be stored in your hgrc with path aliases under the
    [paths] section like so:
    [paths]
    alias1 = URL1
    alias2 = URL2
    ...

    You can then use the alias for any command that uses a URL (for example
    'hg pull alias1' would pull from the 'alias1' path).

    Two path aliases are special because they are used as defaults when you do
    not provide the URL to a command:

    default:
      When you create a repository with hg clone, the clone command saves the
      location of the source repository as the new repository's 'default'
      path. This is then used when you omit path from push- and pull-like
      commands (including incoming and outgoing).

    default-push:
      The push command will look for a path named 'default-push', and prefer
      it over 'default' if both are defined.
    ''')),
    (["extensions"], _("Using additional features"), extshelp),
)