# Git Large File Storage [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/github/git-lfs.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/github/git-lfs)

Git LFS is a command line extension and [specification](docs/spec.md) for
managing large files with Git. The client is written in Go, with pre-compiled
binaries available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD. Check out the
[Git LFS website][page] for a high level overview of features.

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for info on working on Git LFS and
sending patches. Related projects are listed on the [Implementations wiki
page][impl]. You can chat with the team at: https://gitter.im/github/git-lfs

[page]: https://git-lfs.github.com/
[impl]: https://github.com/github/git-lfs/wiki/Implementations

## Getting Started

You can install Git LFS several different ways, depending on your setup and
preferences.

* Linux users can install Debian or RPM packages from [PackageCloud](https://packagecloud.io/github/git-lfs).
* Mac users can install from [Homebrew](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew) with `brew install git-lfs`.
* [Binary packages are available][rel] for Windows, Mac, Linux, and FreeBSD.

Once installed, you can run `git lfs init` to setup the global Git hooks
necessary for Git LFS to work. You can get help on specific commands directly:

```bash
$ git lfs help <subcommand>
```

The [official documentation](docs) has command references and specifications for
the tool.

Note: Git LFS requires Git v1.8.2 or higher.

[rel]: https://github.com/github/git-lfs/releases

### Configuration

Git LFS uses `.gitattributes` files to configure which are managed by Git LFS.
Here is a sample one that saves zips and mp3s:

    $ cat .gitattributes
    *.mp3 filter=lfs -text
    *.zip filter=lfs -text

Git LFS can manage `.gitattributes` for you:

    $ git lfs track "*.mp3"
    Tracking *.mp3

    $ git lfs track "*.zip"
    Tracking *.zip

    $ git lfs track
    Listing tracked paths
        *.mp3 (.gitattributes)
        *.zip (.gitattributes)

    $ git lfs untrack "*.zip"
    Untracking *.zip

    $ git lfs track
    Listing tracked paths
        *.mp3 (.gitattributes)

### Pushing commits

Once setup, you're ready to push some commits:

    $ git add my.zip
    $ git commit -m "add zip"

You can confirm that Git LFS is managing your zip file:

    $ git lfs ls-files
    my.zip

Once you've made your commits, push your files to the Git remote:

    $ git push origin master
    Sending my.zip
    12.58 MB / 12.58 MB  100.00 %
    Counting objects: 2, done.
    Delta compression using up to 8 threads.
    Compressing objects: 100% (5/5), done.
    Writing objects: 100% (5/5), 548 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
    Total 5 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
    To https://github.com/github/git-lfs-test
       67fcf6a..47b2002  master -> master

See the [Git LFS overview](https://github.com/github/git-lfs/tree/master/docs)
and [man pages](https://github.com/github/git-lfs/tree/master/docs/man).