git-unpack-file

Create a file holding the contents of the blob specified by its ID then print the name of the temporary file

$ git unpack-file [blob_id]

git unpack-file [-n] [-o ] < unpack_data

-n
    Dry run. Do not actually create the object in the object database.

-o
    Object name. Specify the name of the object being unpacked; this allows 'git unpack-file' to reject corrupted loose objects.

The git-unpack-file command is a plumbing command primarily used internally by Git to extract the contents of objects stored in the object database.

It receives a single argument specifying how to unpack the object. The command reads from standard input the data to be unpacked. The unpacked data is written to standard output. This allows it to be used as a filter in pipelines.

It's typically invoked by other Git commands (like git-apply or operations involving packfiles) and isn't generally intended for direct end-user interaction. The main purpose is to decompress and write the contents of a Git object without needing to write to the repository's object database.

The input is typically the contents of a Git object, compressed using zlib. The command then decompresses this data and writes it to standard output. The `-n` option enables a dry-run mode, useful for testing or verification without modifying the object database.

This command works hand-in-hand with the object database. While it doesn't directly *write* objects without using -n, it uses object verification mechanisms to ensure the data is valid if object_name (-o) is supplied.

git-cat-file(1), git-hash-object(1)