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-rw-r--r--Documentation/technical/index-format.txt107
1 files changed, 78 insertions, 29 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
index faa25c5c52..65da0daaa5 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@ Git index format
== The Git index file has the following format
- All binary numbers are in network byte order. Version 2 is described
- here unless stated otherwise.
+ All binary numbers are in network byte order.
+ In a repository using the traditional SHA-1, checksums and object IDs
+ (object names) mentioned below are all computed using SHA-1. Similarly,
+ in SHA-256 repositories, these values are computed using SHA-256.
+ Version 2 is described here unless stated otherwise.
- A 12-byte header consisting of
@@ -23,7 +26,7 @@ Git index format
Extensions are identified by signature. Optional extensions can
be ignored if Git does not understand them.
- Git currently supports cached tree and resolve undo extensions.
+ Git currently supports cache tree and resolve undo extensions.
4-byte extension signature. If the first byte is 'A'..'Z' the
extension is optional and can be ignored.
@@ -32,8 +35,7 @@ Git index format
Extension data
- - 160-bit SHA-1 over the content of the index file before this
- checksum.
+ - Hash checksum over the content of the index file before this checksum.
== Index entry
@@ -42,6 +44,13 @@ Git index format
localization, no special casing of directory separator '/'). Entries
with the same name are sorted by their stage field.
+ An index entry typically represents a file. However, if sparse-checkout
+ is enabled in cone mode (`core.sparseCheckoutCone` is enabled) and the
+ `extensions.sparseIndex` extension is enabled, then the index may
+ contain entries for directories outside of the sparse-checkout definition.
+ These entries have mode `040000`, include the `SKIP_WORKTREE` bit, and
+ the path ends in a directory separator.
+
32-bit ctime seconds, the last time a file's metadata changed
this is stat(2) data
@@ -80,7 +89,7 @@ Git index format
32-bit file size
This is the on-disk size from stat(2), truncated to 32-bit.
- 160-bit SHA-1 for the represented object
+ Object name for the represented object
A 16-bit 'flags' field split into (high to low bits)
@@ -134,14 +143,35 @@ Git index format
== Extensions
-=== Cached tree
-
- Cached tree extension contains pre-computed hashes for trees that can
- be derived from the index. It helps speed up tree object generation
- from index for a new commit.
-
- When a path is updated in index, the path must be invalidated and
- removed from tree cache.
+=== Cache tree
+
+ Since the index does not record entries for directories, the cache
+ entries cannot describe tree objects that already exist in the object
+ database for regions of the index that are unchanged from an existing
+ commit. The cache tree extension stores a recursive tree structure that
+ describes the trees that already exist and completely match sections of
+ the cache entries. This speeds up tree object generation from the index
+ for a new commit by only computing the trees that are "new" to that
+ commit. It also assists when comparing the index to another tree, such
+ as `HEAD^{tree}`, since sections of the index can be skipped when a tree
+ comparison demonstrates equality.
+
+ The recursive tree structure uses nodes that store a number of cache
+ entries, a list of subnodes, and an object ID (OID). The OID references
+ the existing tree for that node, if it is known to exist. The subnodes
+ correspond to subdirectories that themselves have cache tree nodes. The
+ number of cache entries corresponds to the number of cache entries in
+ the index that describe paths within that tree's directory.
+
+ The extension tracks the full directory structure in the cache tree
+ extension, but this is generally smaller than the full cache entry list.
+
+ When a path is updated in index, Git invalidates all nodes of the
+ recursive cache tree corresponding to the parent directories of that
+ path. We store these tree nodes as being "invalid" by using "-1" as the
+ number of cache entries. Invalid nodes still store a span of index
+ entries, allowing Git to focus its efforts when reconstructing a full
+ cache tree.
The signature for this extension is { 'T', 'R', 'E', 'E' }.
@@ -160,8 +190,8 @@ Git index format
- A newline (ASCII 10); and
- - 160-bit object name for the object that would result from writing
- this span of index as a tree.
+ - Object name for the object that would result from writing this span
+ of index as a tree.
An entry can be in an invalidated state and is represented by having
a negative number in the entry_count field. In this case, there is no
@@ -172,7 +202,8 @@ Git index format
first entry represents the root level of the repository, followed by the
first subtree--let's call this A--of the root level (with its name
relative to the root level), followed by the first subtree of A (with
- its name relative to A), ...
+ its name relative to A), and so on. The specified number of subtrees
+ indicates when the current level of the recursive stack is complete.
=== Resolve undo
@@ -198,7 +229,7 @@ Git index format
stage 1 to 3 (a missing stage is represented by "0" in this field);
and
- - At most three 160-bit object names of the entry in stages from 1 to 3
+ - At most three object names of the entry in stages from 1 to 3
(nothing is written for a missing stage).
=== Split index
@@ -211,8 +242,8 @@ Git index format
The extension consists of:
- - 160-bit SHA-1 of the shared index file. The shared index file path
- is $GIT_DIR/sharedindex.<SHA-1>. If all 160 bits are zero, the
+ - Hash of the shared index file. The shared index file path
+ is $GIT_DIR/sharedindex.<hash>. If all bits are zero, the
index does not require a shared index file.
- An ewah-encoded delete bitmap, each bit represents an entry in the
@@ -249,14 +280,14 @@ Git index format
- Stat data of $GIT_DIR/info/exclude. See "Index entry" section from
ctime field until "file size".
- - Stat data of core.excludesfile
+ - Stat data of core.excludesFile
- 32-bit dir_flags (see struct dir_struct)
- - 160-bit SHA-1 of $GIT_DIR/info/exclude. Null SHA-1 means the file
+ - Hash of $GIT_DIR/info/exclude. A null hash means the file
does not exist.
- - 160-bit SHA-1 of core.excludesfile. Null SHA-1 means the file does
+ - Hash of core.excludesFile. A null hash means the file does
not exist.
- NUL-terminated string of per-dir exclude file name. This usually
@@ -285,13 +316,13 @@ The remaining data of each directory block is grouped by type:
- An ewah bitmap, the n-th bit records "check-only" bit of
read_directory_recursive() for the n-th directory.
- - An ewah bitmap, the n-th bit indicates whether SHA-1 and stat data
+ - An ewah bitmap, the n-th bit indicates whether hash and stat data
is valid for the n-th directory and exists in the next data.
- An array of stat data. The n-th data corresponds with the n-th
"one" bit in the previous ewah bitmap.
- - An array of SHA-1. The n-th SHA-1 corresponds with the n-th "one" bit
+ - An array of hashes. The n-th hash corresponds with the n-th "one" bit
in the previous ewah bitmap.
- One NUL.
@@ -304,12 +335,18 @@ The remaining data of each directory block is grouped by type:
The extension starts with
- - 32-bit version number: the current supported version is 1.
+ - 32-bit version number: the current supported versions are 1 and 2.
- - 64-bit time: the extension data reflects all changes through the given
+ - (Version 1)
+ 64-bit time: the extension data reflects all changes through the given
time which is stored as the nanoseconds elapsed since midnight,
January 1, 1970.
+ - (Version 2)
+ A null terminated string: an opaque token defined by the file system
+ monitor application. The extension data reflects all changes relative
+ to that token.
+
- 32-bit bitmap size: the size of the CE_FSMONITOR_VALID bitmap.
- An ewah bitmap, the n-th bit indicates whether the n-th index entry
@@ -330,12 +367,12 @@ The remaining data of each directory block is grouped by type:
- 32-bit offset to the end of the index entries
- - 160-bit SHA-1 over the extension types and their sizes (but not
+ - Hash over the extension types and their sizes (but not
their contents). E.g. if we have "TREE" extension that is N-bytes
long, "REUC" extension that is M-bytes long, followed by "EOIE",
then the hash would be:
- SHA-1("TREE" + <binary representation of N> +
+ Hash("TREE" + <binary representation of N> +
"REUC" + <binary representation of M>)
== Index Entry Offset Table
@@ -355,3 +392,15 @@ The remaining data of each directory block is grouped by type:
in this block of entries.
- 32-bit count of cache entries in this block
+
+== Sparse Directory Entries
+
+ When using sparse-checkout in cone mode, some entire directories within
+ the index can be summarized by pointing to a tree object instead of the
+ entire expanded list of paths within that tree. An index containing such
+ entries is a "sparse index". Index format versions 4 and less were not
+ implemented with such entries in mind. Thus, for these versions, an
+ index containing sparse directory entries will include this extension
+ with signature { 's', 'd', 'i', 'r' }. Like the split-index extension,
+ tools should avoid interacting with a sparse index unless they understand
+ this extension.