mercurial/help/internals/wireprotocol.txt

The Mercurial wire protocol is a request-response based protocol
with multiple wire representations.

Each request is modeled as a command name, a dictionary of arguments, and
optional raw input. Command arguments and their types are intrinsic
properties of commands. So is the response type of the command. This means
clients can't always send arbitrary arguments to servers and servers can't
return multiple response types.

The protocol is synchronous and does not support multiplexing (concurrent
commands).

Transport Protocols
===================

HTTP Transport
--------------

Commands are issued as HTTP/1.0 or HTTP/1.1 requests. Commands are
sent to the base URL of the repository with the command name sent in
the ``cmd`` query string parameter. e.g.
``https://example.com/repo?cmd=capabilities``. The HTTP method is ``GET``
or ``POST`` depending on the command and whether there is a request
body.

Command arguments can be sent multiple ways.

The simplest is part of the URL query string using ``x-www-form-urlencoded``
encoding (see Python's ``urllib.urlencode()``. However, many servers impose
length limitations on the URL. So this mechanism is typically only used if
the server doesn't support other mechanisms.

If the server supports the ``httpheader`` capability, command arguments can
be sent in HTTP request headers named ``X-HgArg-<N>`` where ``<N>`` is an
integer starting at 1. A ``x-www-form-urlencoded`` representation of the
arguments is obtained. This full string is then split into chunks and sent
in numbered ``X-HgArg-<N>`` headers. The maximum length of each HTTP header
is defined by the server in the ``httpheader`` capability value, which defaults
to ``1024``. The server reassembles the encoded arguments string by
concatenating the ``X-HgArg-<N>`` headers then URL decodes them into a
dictionary.

The list of ``X-HgArg-<N>`` headers should be added to the ``Vary`` request
header to instruct caches to take these headers into consideration when caching
requests.

If the server supports the ``httppostargs`` capability, the client
may send command arguments in the HTTP request body as part of an
HTTP POST request. The command arguments will be URL encoded just like
they would for sending them via HTTP headers. However, no splitting is
performed: the raw arguments are included in the HTTP request body.

The client sends a ``X-HgArgs-Post`` header with the string length of the
encoded arguments data. Additional data may be included in the HTTP
request body immediately following the argument data. The offset of the
non-argument data is defined by the ``X-HgArgs-Post`` header. The
``X-HgArgs-Post`` header is not required if there is no argument data.

Additional command data can be sent as part of the HTTP request body. The
default ``Content-Type`` when sending data is ``application/mercurial-0.1``.
A ``Content-Length`` header is currently always sent.

Example HTTP requests::

    GET /repo?cmd=capabilities
    X-HgArg-1: foo=bar&baz=hello%20world

The ``Content-Type`` HTTP response header identifies the response as coming
from Mercurial and can also be used to signal an error has occurred.

The ``application/mercurial-0.1`` media type indicates a generic Mercurial
response. It matches the media type sent by the client.

The ``application/hg-error`` media type indicates a generic error occurred.
The content of the HTTP response body typically holds text describing the
error.

The ``application/hg-changegroup`` media type indicates a changegroup response
type.

Clients also accept the ``text/plain`` media type. All other media
types should cause the client to error.

Clients should issue a ``User-Agent`` request header that identifies the client.
The server should not use the ``User-Agent`` for feature detection.

A command returning a ``string`` response issues the
``application/mercurial-0.1`` media type and the HTTP response body contains
the raw string value. A ``Content-Length`` header is typically issued.

A command returning a ``stream`` response issues the
``application/mercurial-0.1`` media type and the HTTP response is typically
using *chunked transfer* (``Transfer-Encoding: chunked``).

SSH Transport
=============

The SSH transport is a custom text-based protocol suitable for use over any
bi-directional stream transport. It is most commonly used with SSH.

A SSH transport server can be started with ``hg serve --stdio``. The stdin,
stderr, and stdout file descriptors of the started process are used to exchange
data. When Mercurial connects to a remote server over SSH, it actually starts
a ``hg serve --stdio`` process on the remote server.

Commands are issued by sending the command name followed by a trailing newline
``\n`` to the server. e.g. ``capabilities\n``.

Command arguments are sent in the following format::

    <argument> <length>\n<value>

That is, the argument string name followed by a space followed by the
integer length of the value (expressed as a string) followed by a newline
(``\n``) followed by the raw argument value.

Dictionary arguments are encoded differently::

    <argument> <# elements>\n
    <key1> <length1>\n<value1>
    <key2> <length2>\n<value2>
    ...

Non-argument data is sent immediately after the final argument value. It is
encoded in chunks::

    <length>\n<data>

Each command declares a list of supported arguments and their types. If a
client sends an unknown argument to the server, the server should abort
immediately. The special argument ``*`` in a command's definition indicates
that all argument names are allowed.

The definition of supported arguments and types is initially made when a
new command is implemented. The client and server must initially independently
agree on the arguments and their types. This initial set of arguments can be
supplemented through the presence of *capabilities* advertised by the server.

Each command has a defined expected response type.

A ``string`` response type is a length framed value. The response consists of
the string encoded integer length of a value followed by a newline (``\n``)
followed by the value. Empty values are allowed (and are represented as
``0\n``).

A ``stream`` response type consists of raw bytes of data. There is no framing.

A generic error response type is also supported. It consists of a an error
message written to ``stderr`` followed by ``\n-\n``. In addition, ``\n`` is
written to ``stdout``.

If the server receives an unknown command, it will send an empty ``string``
response.

The server terminates if it receives an empty command (a ``\n`` character).

Capabilities
============

Servers advertise supported wire protocol features. This allows clients to
probe for server features before blindly calling a command or passing a
specific argument.

The server's features are exposed via a *capabilities* string. This is a
space-delimited string of tokens/features. Some features are single words
like ``lookup`` or ``batch``. Others are complicated key-value pairs
advertising sub-features. e.g. ``httpheader=2048``. When complex, non-word
values are used, each feature name can define its own encoding of sub-values.
Comma-delimited and ``x-www-form-urlencoded`` values are common.

The following document capabilities defined by the canonical Mercurial server
implementation.

batch
-----

Whether the server supports the ``batch`` command.

This capability/command was introduced in Mercurial 1.9 (released July 2011).

branchmap
---------

Whether the server supports the ``branchmap`` command.

This capability/command was introduced in Mercurial 1.3 (released July 2009).

bundle2-exp
-----------

Precursor to ``bundle2`` capability that was used before bundle2 was a
stable feature.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 3.0 behind an experimental
flag. This capability should not be observed in the wild.

bundle2
-------

Indicates whether the server supports the ``bundle2`` data exchange format.

The value of the capability is a URL quoted, newline (``\n``) delimited
list of keys or key-value pairs.

A key is simply a URL encoded string.

A key-value pair is a URL encoded key separated from a URL encoded value by
an ``=``. If the value is a list, elements are delimited by a ``,`` after
URL encoding.

For example, say we have the values::

  {'HG20': [], 'changegroup': ['01', '02'], 'digests': ['sha1', 'sha512']}

We would first construct a string::

  HG20\nchangegroup=01,02\ndigests=sha1,sha512

We would then URL quote this string::

  HG20%0Achangegroup%3D01%2C02%0Adigests%3Dsha1%2Csha512

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 3.4 (released May 2015).

changegroupsubset
-----------------

Whether the server supports the ``changegroupsubset`` command.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 0.9.2 (released December
2006).

This capability was introduced at the same time as the ``lookup``
capability/command.

getbundle
---------

Whether the server supports the ``getbundle`` command.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 1.9 (released July 2011).

httpheader
----------

Whether the server supports receiving command arguments via HTTP request
headers.

The value of the capability is an integer describing the max header
length that clients should send. Clients should ignore any content after a
comma in the value, as this is reserved for future use.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 1.9 (released July 2011).

httppostargs
------------

**Experimental**

Indicates that the server supports and prefers clients send command arguments
via a HTTP POST request as part of the request body.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 3.8 (released May 2016).

known
-----

Whether the server supports the ``known`` command.

This capability/command was introduced in Mercurial 1.9 (released July 2011).

lookup
------

Whether the server supports the ``lookup`` command.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 0.9.2 (released December
2006).

This capability was introduced at the same time as the ``changegroupsubset``
capability/command.

pushkey
-------

Whether the server supports the ``pushkey`` and ``listkeys`` commands.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 1.6 (released July 2010).

standardbundle
--------------

**Unsupported**

This capability was introduced during the Mercurial 0.9.2 development cycle in
2006. It was never present in a release, as it was replaced by the ``unbundle``
capability. This capability should not be encountered in the wild.

stream-preferred
----------------

If present the server prefers that clients clone using the streaming clone
protocol (``hg clone --uncompressed``) rather than the standard
changegroup/bundle based protocol.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 2.2 (released May 2012).

streamreqs
----------

Indicates whether the server supports *streaming clones* and the *requirements*
that clients must support to receive it.

If present, the server supports the ``stream_out`` command, which transmits
raw revlogs from the repository instead of changegroups. This provides a faster
cloning mechanism at the expense of more bandwidth used.

The value of this capability is a comma-delimited list of repo format
*requirements*. These are requirements that impact the reading of data in
the ``.hg/store`` directory. An example value is
``streamreqs=generaldelta,revlogv1`` indicating the server repo requires
the ``revlogv1`` and ``generaldelta`` requirements.

If the only format requirement is ``revlogv1``, the server may expose the
``stream`` capability instead of the ``streamreqs`` capability.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 1.7 (released November 2010).

stream
------

Whether the server supports *streaming clones* from ``revlogv1`` repos.

If present, the server supports the ``stream_out`` command, which transmits
raw revlogs from the repository instead of changegroups. This provides a faster
cloning mechanism at the expense of more bandwidth used.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 0.9.1 (released July 2006).

When initially introduced, the value of the capability was the numeric
revlog revision. e.g. ``stream=1``. This indicates the changegroup is using
``revlogv1``. This simple integer value wasn't powerful enough, so the
``streamreqs`` capability was invented to handle cases where the repo
requirements have more than just ``revlogv1``. Newer servers omit the
``=1`` since it was the only value supported and the value of ``1`` can
be implied by clients.

unbundlehash
------------

Whether the ``unbundle`` commands supports receiving a hash of all the
heads instead of a list.

For more, see the documentation for the ``unbundle`` command.

This capability was introduced in Mercurial 1.9 (released July 2011).

unbundle
--------

Whether the server supports pushing via the ``unbundle`` command.

This capability/command has been present since Mercurial 0.9.1 (released
July 2006).

Mercurial 0.9.2 (released December 2006) added values to the capability
indicating which bundle types the server supports receiving. This value is a
comma-delimited list. e.g. ``HG10GZ,HG10BZ,HG10UN``. The order of values
reflects the priority/preference of that type, where the first value is the
most preferred type.

Handshake Protocol
==================

While not explicitly required, it is common for clients to perform a
*handshake* when connecting to a server. The handshake accomplishes 2 things:

* Obtaining capabilities and other server features
* Flushing extra server output (e.g. SSH servers may print extra text
  when connecting that may confuse the wire protocol)

This isn't a traditional *handshake* as far as network protocols go because
there is no persistent state as a result of the handshake: the handshake is
simply the issuing of commands and commands are stateless.

The canonical clients perform a capabilities lookup at connection establishment
time. This is because clients must assume a server only supports the features
of the original Mercurial server implementation until proven otherwise (from
advertised capabilities). Nearly every server running today supports features
that weren't present in the original Mercurial server implementation. Rather
than wait for a client to perform functionality that needs to consult
capabilities, it issues the lookup at connection start to avoid any delay later.

For HTTP servers, the client sends a ``capabilities`` command request as
soon as the connection is established. The server responds with a capabilities
string, which the client parses.

For SSH servers, the client sends the ``hello`` command (no arguments)
and a ``between`` command with the ``pairs`` argument having the value
``0000000000000000000000000000000000000000-0000000000000000000000000000000000000000``.

The ``between`` command has been supported since the original Mercurial
server. Requesting the empty range will return a ``\n`` string response,
which will be encoded as ``1\n\n`` (value length of ``1`` followed by a newline
followed by the value, which happens to  be a newline).

The ``hello`` command was later introduced. Servers supporting it will issue
a response to that command before sending the ``1\n\n`` response to the
``between`` command. Servers not supporting ``hello`` will send an empty
response (``0\n``).

In addition to the expected output from the ``hello`` and ``between`` commands,
servers may also send other output, such as *message of the day (MOTD)*
announcements. Clients assume servers will send this output before the
Mercurial server replies to the client-issued commands. So any server output
not conforming to the expected command responses is assumed to be not related
to Mercurial and can be ignored.

Commands
========

This section contains a list of all wire protocol commands implemented by
the canonical Mercurial server.

batch
-----

Issue multiple commands while sending a single command request. The purpose
of this command is to allow a client to issue multiple commands while avoiding
multiple round trips to the server therefore enabling commands to complete
quicker.

The command accepts a ``cmds`` argument that contains a list of commands to
execute.

The value of ``cmds`` is a ``;`` delimited list of strings. Each string has the
form ``<command> <arguments>``. That is, the command name followed by a space
followed by an argument string.

The argument string is a ``,`` delimited list of ``<key>=<value>`` values
corresponding to command arguments. Both the argument name and value are
escaped using a special substitution map::

   : -> :c
   , -> :o
   ; -> :s
   = -> :e

The response type for this command is ``string``. The value contains a
``;`` delimited list of responses for each requested command. Each value
in this list is escaped using the same substitution map used for arguments.

If an error occurs, the generic error response may be sent.

between
-------

(Legacy command used for discovery in old clients)

Obtain nodes between pairs of nodes.

The ``pairs`` arguments contains a space-delimited list of ``-`` delimited
hex node pairs. e.g.::

   a072279d3f7fd3a4aa7ffa1a5af8efc573e1c896-6dc58916e7c070f678682bfe404d2e2d68291a18

Return type is a ``string``. Value consists of lines corresponding to each
requested range. Each line contains a space-delimited list of hex nodes.
A newline ``\n`` terminates each line, including the last one.

branchmap
---------

Obtain heads in named branches.

Accepts no arguments. Return type is a ``string``.

Return value contains lines with URL encoded branch names followed by a space
followed by a space-delimited list of hex nodes of heads on that branch.
e.g.::

    default a072279d3f7fd3a4aa7ffa1a5af8efc573e1c896 6dc58916e7c070f678682bfe404d2e2d68291a18
    stable baae3bf31522f41dd5e6d7377d0edd8d1cf3fccc

There is no trailing newline.

branches
--------

Obtain ancestor changesets of specific nodes back to a branch point.

Despite the name, this command has nothing to do with Mercurial named branches.
Instead, it is related to DAG branches.

The command accepts a ``nodes`` argument, which is a string of space-delimited
hex nodes.

For each node requested, the server will find the first ancestor node that is
a DAG root or is a merge.

Return type is a ``string``. Return value contains lines with result data for
each requested node. Each line contains space-delimited nodes followed by a
newline (``\n``). The 4 nodes reported on each line correspond to the requested
node, the ancestor node found, and its 2 parent nodes (which may be the null
node).

capabilities
------------

Obtain the capabilities string for the repo.

Unlike the ``hello`` command, the capabilities string is not prefixed.
There is no trailing newline.

This command does not accept any arguments. Return type is a ``string``.

changegroup
-----------

(Legacy command: use ``getbundle`` instead)

Obtain a changegroup version 1 with data for changesets that are
descendants of client-specified changesets.

The ``roots`` arguments contains a list of space-delimited hex nodes.

The server responds with a changegroup version 1 containing all
changesets between the requested root/base nodes and the repo's head nodes
at the time of the request.

The return type is a ``stream``.

changegroupsubset
-----------------

(Legacy command: use ``getbundle`` instead)

Obtain a changegroup version 1 with data for changesetsets between
client specified base and head nodes.

The ``bases`` argument contains a list of space-delimited hex nodes.
The ``heads`` argument contains a list of space-delimited hex nodes.

The server responds with a changegroup version 1 containing all
changesets between the requested base and head nodes at the time of the
request.

The return type is a ``stream``.

clonebundles
------------

Obtains a manifest of bundle URLs available to seed clones.

Each returned line contains a URL followed by metadata. See the
documentation in the ``clonebundles`` extension for more.

The return type is a ``string``.

getbundle
---------

Obtain a bundle containing repository data.

This command accepts the following arguments:

heads
   List of space-delimited hex nodes of heads to retrieve.
common
   List of space-delimited hex nodes that the client has in common with the
   server.
obsmarkers
   Boolean indicating whether to include obsolescence markers as part
   of the response. Only works with bundle2.
bundlecaps
   Comma-delimited set of strings defining client bundle capabilities.
listkeys
   Comma-delimited list of strings of ``pushkey`` namespaces. For each
   namespace listed, a bundle2 part will be included with the content of
   that namespace.
cg
   Boolean indicating whether changegroup data is requested.
cbattempted
   Boolean indicating whether the client attempted to use the *clone bundles*
   feature before performing this request.

The return type on success is a ``stream`` where the value is bundle.
On the HTTP transport, the response is zlib compressed.

If an error occurs, a generic error response can be sent.

Unless the client sends a false value for the ``cg`` argument, the returned
bundle contains a changegroup with the nodes between the specified ``common``
and ``heads`` nodes. Depending on the command arguments, the type and content
of the returned bundle can vary significantly.

The default behavior is for the server to send a raw changegroup version
``01`` response.

If the ``bundlecaps`` provided by the client contain a value beginning
with ``HG2``, a bundle2 will be returned. The bundle2 data may contain
additional repository data, such as ``pushkey`` namespace values.

heads
-----

Returns a list of space-delimited hex nodes of repository heads followed
by a newline. e.g.
``a9eeb3adc7ddb5006c088e9eda61791c777cbf7c 31f91a3da534dc849f0d6bfc00a395a97cf218a1\n``

This command does not accept any arguments. The return type is a ``string``.

hello
-----

Returns lines describing interesting things about the server in an RFC-822
like format.

Currently, the only line defines the server capabilities. It has the form::

    capabilities: <value>

See above for more about the capabilities string.

SSH clients typically issue this command as soon as a connection is
established.

This command does not accept any arguments. The return type is a ``string``.

listkeys
--------

List values in a specified ``pushkey`` namespace.

The ``namespace`` argument defines the pushkey namespace to operate on.

The return type is a ``string``. The value is an encoded dictionary of keys.

Key-value pairs are delimited by newlines (``\n``). Within each line, keys and
values are separated by a tab (``\t``). Keys and values are both strings.

lookup
------

Try to resolve a value to a known repository revision.

The ``key`` argument is converted from bytes to an
``encoding.localstr`` instance then passed into
``localrepository.__getitem__`` in an attempt to resolve it.

The return type is a ``string``.

Upon successful resolution, returns ``1 <hex node>\n``. On failure,
returns ``0 <error string>\n``. e.g.::

   1 273ce12ad8f155317b2c078ec75a4eba507f1fba\n

   0 unknown revision 'foo'\n

known
-----

Determine whether multiple nodes are known.

The ``nodes`` argument is a list of space-delimited hex nodes to check
for existence.

The return type is ``string``.

Returns a string consisting of ``0``s and ``1``s indicating whether nodes
are known. If the Nth node specified in the ``nodes`` argument is known,
a ``1`` will be returned at byte offset N. If the node isn't known, ``0``
will be present at byte offset N.

There is no trailing newline.

pushkey
-------

Set a value using the ``pushkey`` protocol.

Accepts arguments ``namespace``, ``key``, ``old``, and ``new``, which
correspond to the pushkey namespace to operate on, the key within that
namespace to change, the old value (which may be empty), and the new value.
All arguments are string types.

The return type is a ``string``. The value depends on the transport protocol.

The SSH transport sends a string encoded integer followed by a newline
(``\n``) which indicates operation result. The server may send additional
output on the ``stderr`` stream that should be displayed to the user.

The HTTP transport sends a string encoded integer followed by a newline
followed by additional server output that should be displayed to the user.
This may include output from hooks, etc.

The integer result varies by namespace. ``0`` means an error has occurred
and there should be additional output to display to the user.

stream_out
----------

Obtain *streaming clone* data.

The return type is either a ``string`` or a ``stream``, depending on
whether the request was fulfilled properly.

A return value of ``1\n`` indicates the server is not configured to serve
this data. If this is seen by the client, they may not have verified the
``stream`` capability is set before making the request.

A return value of ``2\n`` indicates the server was unable to lock the
repository to generate data.

All other responses are a ``stream`` of bytes. The first line of this data
contains 2 space-delimited integers corresponding to the path count and
payload size, respectively::

    <path count> <payload size>\n

The ``<payload size>`` is the total size of path data: it does not include
the size of the per-path header lines.

Following that header are ``<path count>`` entries. Each entry consists of a
line with metadata followed by raw revlog data. The line consists of::

    <store path>\0<size>\n

The ``<store path>`` is the encoded store path of the data that follows.
``<size>`` is the amount of data for this store path/revlog that follows the
newline.

There is no trailer to indicate end of data. Instead, the client should stop
reading after ``<path count>`` entries are consumed.

unbundle
--------

Send a bundle containing data (usually changegroup data) to the server.

Accepts the argument ``heads``, which is a space-delimited list of hex nodes
corresponding to server repository heads observed by the client. This is used
to detect race conditions and abort push operations before a server performs
too much work or a client transfers too much data.

The request payload consists of a bundle to be applied to the repository,
similarly to as if :hg:`unbundle` were called.

In most scenarios, a special ``push response`` type is returned. This type
contains an integer describing the change in heads as a result of the
operation. A value of ``0`` indicates nothing changed. ``1`` means the number
of heads remained the same. Values ``2`` and larger indicate the number of
added heads minus 1. e.g. ``3`` means 2 heads were added. Negative values
indicate the number of fewer heads, also off by 1. e.g. ``-2`` means there
is 1 fewer head.

The encoding of the ``push response`` type varies by transport.

For the SSH transport, this type is composed of 2 ``string`` responses: an
empty response (``0\n``) followed by the integer result value. e.g.
``1\n2``. So the full response might be ``0\n1\n2``.

For the HTTP transport, the response is a ``string`` type composed of an
integer result value followed by a newline (``\n``) followed by string
content holding server output that should be displayed on the client (output
hooks, etc).

In some cases, the server may respond with a ``bundle2`` bundle. In this
case, the response type is ``stream``. For the HTTP transport, the response
is zlib compressed.

The server may also respond with a generic error type, which contains a string
indicating the failure.