docs/manifest-format.txt

repo Manifest Format
====================

A repo manifest describes the structure of a repo client; that is
the directories that are visible and where they should be obtained
from with git.

The basic structure of a manifest is a bare Git repository holding
a single 'default.xml' XML file in the top level directory.

Manifests are inherently version controlled, since they are kept
within a Git repository.  Updates to manifests are automatically
obtained by clients during `repo sync`.


XML File Format
---------------

A manifest XML file (e.g. 'default.xml') roughly conforms to the
following DTD:

  <!DOCTYPE manifest [
    <!ELEMENT manifest (notice?,
                        remote*,
                        default?,
                        manifest-server?,
                        remove-project*,
                        project*,
                        repo-hooks?)>
  
    <!ELEMENT notice (#PCDATA)>
  
    <!ELEMENT remote (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST remote name         ID    #REQUIRED>
    <!ATTLIST remote alias        CDATA #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST remote fetch        CDATA #REQUIRED>
    <!ATTLIST remote review       CDATA #IMPLIED>
  
    <!ELEMENT default (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST default remote   IDREF #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST default revision CDATA #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST default sync-j   CDATA #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST default sync-c   CDATA #IMPLIED>

    <!ELEMENT manifest-server (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST url              CDATA #REQUIRED>
  
    <!ELEMENT project (annotation?,
                       project*)>
    <!ATTLIST project name     CDATA #REQUIRED>
    <!ATTLIST project path     CDATA #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST project remote   IDREF #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST project revision CDATA #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST project groups   CDATA #IMPLIED>
    <!ATTLIST project sync-c   CDATA #IMPLIED>

    <!ELEMENT annotation (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST annotation name  CDATA #REQUIRED>
    <!ATTLIST annotation value CDATA #REQUIRED>
    <!ATTLIST annotation keep  CDATA "true">
  
    <!ELEMENT remove-project (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST remove-project name  CDATA #REQUIRED>

    <!ELEMENT repo-hooks (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST repo-hooks in-project CDATA #REQUIRED>
    <!ATTLIST repo-hooks enabled-list CDATA #REQUIRED>

    <!ELEMENT include      (EMPTY)>
    <!ATTLIST include name CDATA #REQUIRED>
  ]>

A description of the elements and their attributes follows.


Element manifest
----------------

The root element of the file.


Element remote
--------------

One or more remote elements may be specified.  Each remote element
specifies a Git URL shared by one or more projects and (optionally)
the Gerrit review server those projects upload changes through.

Attribute `name`: A short name unique to this manifest file.  The
name specified here is used as the remote name in each project's
.git/config, and is therefore automatically available to commands
like `git fetch`, `git remote`, `git pull` and `git push`.

Attribute `alias`: The alias, if specified, is used to override
`name` to be set as the remote name in each project's .git/config.
Its value can be duplicated while attribute `name` has to be unique
in the manifest file. This helps each project to be able to have
same remote name which actually points to different remote url.

Attribute `fetch`: The Git URL prefix for all projects which use
this remote.  Each project's name is appended to this prefix to
form the actual URL used to clone the project.

Attribute `review`: Hostname of the Gerrit server where reviews
are uploaded to by `repo upload`.  This attribute is optional;
if not specified then `repo upload` will not function.

Element default
---------------

At most one default element may be specified.  Its remote and
revision attributes are used when a project element does not
specify its own remote or revision attribute.

Attribute `remote`: Name of a previously defined remote element.
Project elements lacking a remote attribute of their own will use
this remote.

Attribute `revision`: Name of a Git branch (e.g. `master` or
`refs/heads/master`).  Project elements lacking their own
revision attribute will use this revision.


Element manifest-server
-----------------------

At most one manifest-server may be specified. The url attribute
is used to specify the URL of a manifest server, which is an
XML RPC service.

The manifest server should implement the following RPC methods:

  GetApprovedManifest(branch, target)

Return a manifest in which each project is pegged to a known good revision
for the current branch and target.

The target to use is defined by environment variables TARGET_PRODUCT
and TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT. These variables are used to create a string
of the form $TARGET_PRODUCT-$TARGET_BUILD_VARIANT, e.g. passion-userdebug.
If one of those variables or both are not present, the program will call
GetApprovedManifest without the target parameter and the manifest server
should choose a reasonable default target.

  GetManifest(tag)

Return a manifest in which each project is pegged to the revision at
the specified tag.


Element project
---------------

One or more project elements may be specified.  Each element
describes a single Git repository to be cloned into the repo
client workspace.  You may specify Git-submodules by creating a
nested project.  Git-submodules will be automatically
recognized and inherit their parent's attributes, but those
may be overridden by an explicitly specified project element.

Attribute `name`: A unique name for this project.  The project's
name is appended onto its remote's fetch URL to generate the actual
URL to configure the Git remote with.  The URL gets formed as:

  ${remote_fetch}/${project_name}.git

where ${remote_fetch} is the remote's fetch attribute and
${project_name} is the project's name attribute.  The suffix ".git"
is always appended as repo assumes the upstream is a forest of
bare Git repositories.  If the project has a parent element, its
name will be prefixed by the parent's.

The project name must match the name Gerrit knows, if Gerrit is
being used for code reviews.

Attribute `path`: An optional path relative to the top directory
of the repo client where the Git working directory for this project
should be placed.  If not supplied the project name is used.
If the project has a parent element, its path will be prefixed
by the parent's.

Attribute `remote`: Name of a previously defined remote element.
If not supplied the remote given by the default element is used.

Attribute `revision`: Name of the Git branch the manifest wants
to track for this project.  Names can be relative to refs/heads
(e.g. just "master") or absolute (e.g. "refs/heads/master").
Tags and/or explicit SHA-1s should work in theory, but have not
been extensively tested.  If not supplied the revision given by
the default element is used.

Attribute `groups`: List of groups to which this project belongs,
whitespace or comma separated.  All projects belong to the group
"all", and each project automatically belongs to a group of
its name:`name` and path:`path`.  E.g. for
<project name="monkeys" path="barrel-of"/>, that project
definition is implicitly in the following manifest groups:
default, name:monkeys, and path:barrel-of.  If you place a project in the
group "notdefault", it will not be automatically downloaded by repo.
If the project has a parent element, the `name` and `path` here
are the prefixed ones.

Element annotation
------------------

Zero or more annotation elements may be specified as children of a
project element. Each element describes a name-value pair that will be
exported into each project's environment during a 'forall' command,
prefixed with REPO__.  In addition, there is an optional attribute
"keep" which accepts the case insensitive values "true" (default) or
"false".  This attribute determines whether or not the annotation will
be kept when exported with the manifest subcommand.

Element remove-project
----------------------

Deletes the named project from the internal manifest table, possibly
allowing a subsequent project element in the same manifest file to
replace the project with a different source.

This element is mostly useful in the local_manifest.xml, where
the user can remove a project, and possibly replace it with their
own definition.

Element include
---------------

This element provides the capability of including another manifest
file into the originating manifest.  Normal rules apply for the
target manifest to include- it must be a usable manifest on it's own.

Attribute `name`; the manifest to include, specified relative to
the manifest repositories root.


Local Manifest
==============

Additional remotes and projects may be added through a local
manifest, stored in `$TOP_DIR/.repo/local_manifest.xml`.

For example:

  $ cat .repo/local_manifest.xml
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <manifest>
    <project path="manifest"
             name="tools/manifest" />
    <project path="platform-manifest"
             name="platform/manifest" />
  </manifest>

Users may add projects to the local manifest prior to a `repo sync`
invocation, instructing repo to automatically download and manage
these extra projects.