libgit2 is a portable, pure C implementation of the Git core methods provided as a re-entrant linkable library with a solid API, allowing you to write native speed custom Git applications in any language with bindings.
In the current Git project, though a libgit.a file is produced it is
not re-entrant (it will call die() on basically any error)
and it has no stable or well-designed public API. As there is no good
way to link to this effectively, a new library was needed that fulfilled
these requirements. Thus libgit2.
Though it would be nice to use the same library that Git itself uses, Git actually has a pretty simple storage format and just having native access to that is pretty useful. Eventually we would like to have most of the functionality of the core Git tools or even get the library integrated into Git itself, but in the meantime having a cleanly designed and maintained linkable Git library with a public API will likely be helpful to lots of people.
libgit2 is already very usable.
- raw <-> hex SHA conversions
- raw object reading (loose and packed)
- raw object writing (loose)
- revlist walker
- commit, tag and tree object parsing and write-back
- tree traversal
- basic index file (staging area) operations
In Unix-like systems, like Linux, xBSD and Mac OS X, libgit2 has the following dependencies:
- Python 2.5-3.1 https://www.python.org
Used to run the build system; no extra libraries required. Should probably ship installed with your OS.
-
zlib 1.2+ https://www.zlib.net/
-
LibSSL https://www.openssl.org/
Only needed if you want to re-use OpenSSL's SHA1 routines; libgit2 compiles its own routines by default.
To build it, first configure the build system by running:
$ ./waf configure
Then build the library, either in its shared (libgit2.so) or static form (libgit2.a)
$ ./waf build-static
$ ./waf build-shared
You can then test the library with:
$ ./waf test
And finally you can install it with (you may need to sudo):
$ ./waf install
When building under Windows using the MSVC compiler, libgit2 has the following dependencies:
- Python 2.5-3.1 https://www.python.org
Used to run the build system; no extra libraries required.
- zlib 1.2+ (Windows API Version) https://www.zlib.net/
Make sure you compile the ZLib library using the MSVC solution that ships in its source distribution. Alternatively, you may download precompiled binaries from: https://www.winimage.com/zLibDll/
- LibSSL https://www.openssl.org/
Only needed if you want to re-use OpenSSL's SHA1 routines; libgit2 compiles its own routines by default.
To build it, first configure the build system by running:
$ ./waf configure
Then build the library, either in its shared (libgit2.dll) or static form (libgit2.lib)
$ ./waf build-static
$ ./waf build-shared
You can then test the library with:
$ ./waf test
Lastly, you can manually install the generated *.lib and *.dll files, depending on your preferences.
When building under Windows using the GCC compiler that ships with MinGW, libgit2 has the following dependencies:
- Python 2.5-3.1 https://www.python.org
Used to run the build system; no extra libraries required.
-
zlib 1.2+ https://www.zlib.net/
-
pthreads-w32 https://sourceware.org/pthreads-win32/
Or an equivalent pthreads implementation for non-POSIX systems
- LibSSL https://www.openssl.org/
Only needed if you want to re-use OpenSSL's SHA1 routines; libgit2 compiles its own routines by default.
To build it, first configure the build system and force GCC as the compiler, instead of the default MSVC:
$ ./waf configure --check-c-compiler=gcc
Then build the library, either in its shared (libgit2.so) or static form (libgit2.a)
$ ./waf build-static
$ ./waf build-shared
You can then test the library with:
$ ./waf test
And finally you can install it with:
$ ./waf install
The waf build system for libgit2 accepts the following flags:
--debug
build the library with debug symbols.
Defaults to off.
--sha1=[builtin|ppc|openssl]
use the builtin SHA1 functions, the optimized PPC versions
or the SHA1 functions from LibCrypto (OpenSSL).
Defaults to 'builtin'.
--msvc=[7.1|8.0|9.0|10.0]
Force a specific version of the MSVC compiler, if more than
one version is installed.
--arch=[ia64|x64|x86|x86_amd64|x86_ia64]
Force a specific architecture for compilers that support it.
You can run ./waf --help to see a full list of install options and
targets.
So you want to use Git from your favorite programming language. Here are the bindings to libgit2 that are currently available:
Rugged is the reference library used to make sure the libgit2 API is sane. This should be mostly up to date.
https://github.com/libgit2/rugged
Pygit2 is a Python binding to libgit2.
https://github.com/libgit2/pygit2
Geef is an example of an Erlang NIF binding to libgit2. A bit out of date, but basically works. Best as a proof of concept of what you could do with Erlang and NIFs with libgit2.
https://github.com/schacon/geef
If you start another language binding to libgit2, please let us know so we can add it to the list.
Fork libgit2/libgit2 on GitHub, add your improvement, push it to a branch in your fork named for the topic, send a pull request.
You can also file bugs or feature requests under the libgit2 project on GitHub, or join us on the mailing list by sending an email to:
libgit2 is under GPL2 with linking exemption, which basically means you can link to the library with any program, commercial, open source or other. However, you cannot modify libgit2 and distribute it without supplying the source.
See the COPYING file for the full license text.