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author | Jeff King <peff@peff.net> | 2013-12-05 15:28:07 -0500 |
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committer | Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> | 2013-12-05 15:40:11 -0800 |
commit | 1190a1acf800acdcfd7569f87ac1560e2d077414 (patch) | |
tree | 6870ff8f5238d694fa70ebf3f9b6b54993dc0c54 /Documentation/technical/index-format.txt | |
parent | sha1write: make buffer const-correct (diff) | |
download | tgif-1190a1acf800acdcfd7569f87ac1560e2d077414.tar.xz |
pack-objects: name pack files after trailer hash
Our current scheme for naming packfiles is to calculate the
sha1 hash of the sorted list of objects contained in the
packfile. This gives us a unique name, so we are reasonably
sure that two packs with the same name will contain the same
objects.
It does not, however, tell us that two such packs have the
exact same bytes. This makes things awkward if we repack the
same set of objects. Due to run-to-run variations, the bytes
may not be identical (e.g., changed zlib or git versions,
different source object reuse due to new packs in the
repository, or even different deltas due to races during a
multi-threaded delta search).
In theory, this could be helpful to a program that cares
that the packfile contains a certain set of objects, but
does not care about the particular representation. In
practice, no part of git makes use of that, and in many
cases it is potentially harmful. For example, if a dumb http
client fetches the .idx file, it must be sure to get the
exact .pack that matches it. Similarly, a partial transfer
of a .pack file cannot be safely resumed, as the actual
bytes may have changed. This could also affect a local
client which opened the .idx and .pack files, closes the
.pack file (due to memory or file descriptor limits), and
then re-opens a changed packfile.
In all of these cases, git can detect the problem, as we
have the sha1 of the bytes themselves in the pack trailer
(which we verify on transfer), and the .idx file references
the trailer from the matching packfile. But it would be
simpler and more efficient to actually get the correct
bytes, rather than noticing the problem and having to
restart the operation.
This patch simply uses the pack trailer sha1 as the pack
name. It should be similarly unique, but covers the exact
representation of the objects. Other parts of git should not
care, as the pack name is returned by pack-objects and is
essentially opaque.
One test needs to be updated, because it actually corrupts a
pack and expects that re-packing the corrupted bytes will
use the same name. It won't anymore, but we can easily just
use the name that pack-objects hands back.
Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/technical/index-format.txt')
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