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-rw-r--r--Documentation/technical/index-format.txt56
1 files changed, 46 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
index 9d25b30178..35112e4966 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-GIT index format
+Git index format
================
-= The git index file has the following 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.
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ GIT index format
The signature is { 'D', 'I', 'R', 'C' } (stands for "dircache")
4-byte version number:
- The current supported versions are 2 and 3.
+ The current supported versions are 2, 3 and 4.
32-bit number of index entries.
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ GIT index format
- Extensions
Extensions are identified by signature. Optional extensions can
- be ignored if GIT does not understand them.
+ be ignored if Git does not understand them.
- GIT currently supports cached tree and resolve undo extensions.
+ Git currently supports cached tree and resolve undo extensions.
4-byte extension signature. If the first byte is 'A'..'Z' the
extension is optional and can be ignored.
@@ -93,8 +93,8 @@ GIT index format
12-bit name length if the length is less than 0xFFF; otherwise 0xFFF
is stored in this field.
- (Version 3) A 16-bit field, only applicable if the "extended flag"
- above is 1, split into (high to low bits).
+ (Version 3 or later) A 16-bit field, only applicable if the
+ "extended flag" above is 1, split into (high to low bits).
1-bit reserved for future
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ GIT index format
(Version 4) In version 4, the padding after the pathname does not
exist.
+ Interpretation of index entries in split index mode is completely
+ different. See below for details.
+
== Extensions
=== Cached tree
@@ -161,8 +164,9 @@ GIT index format
this span of index as a tree.
An entry can be in an invalidated state and is represented by having
- -1 in the entry_count field. In this case, there is no object name
- and the next entry starts immediately after the newline.
+ a negative number in the entry_count field. In this case, there is no
+ object name and the next entry starts immediately after the newline.
+ When writing an invalid entry, -1 should always be used as entry_count.
The entries are written out in the top-down, depth-first order. The
first entry represents the root level of the repository, followed by the
@@ -174,7 +178,7 @@ GIT index format
A conflict is represented in the index as a set of higher stage entries.
When a conflict is resolved (e.g. with "git add path"), these higher
- stage entries will be removed and a stage-0 entry with proper resoluton
+ stage entries will be removed and a stage-0 entry with proper resolution
is added.
When these higher stage entries are removed, they are saved in the
@@ -197,3 +201,35 @@ GIT index format
- At most three 160-bit object names of the entry in stages from 1 to 3
(nothing is written for a missing stage).
+=== Split index
+
+ In split index mode, the majority of index entries could be stored
+ in a separate file. This extension records the changes to be made on
+ top of that to produce the final index.
+
+ The signature for this extension is { 'l', 'i', 'n', 'k' }.
+
+ 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
+ index does not require a shared index file.
+
+ - An ewah-encoded delete bitmap, each bit represents an entry in the
+ shared index. If a bit is set, its corresponding entry in the
+ shared index will be removed from the final index. Note, because
+ a delete operation changes index entry positions, but we do need
+ original positions in replace phase, it's best to just mark
+ entries for removal, then do a mass deletion after replacement.
+
+ - An ewah-encoded replace bitmap, each bit represents an entry in
+ the shared index. If a bit is set, its corresponding entry in the
+ shared index will be replaced with an entry in this index
+ file. All replaced entries are stored in sorted order in this
+ index. The first "1" bit in the replace bitmap corresponds to the
+ first index entry, the second "1" bit to the second entry and so
+ on. Replaced entries may have empty path names to save space.
+
+ The remaining index entries after replaced ones will be added to the
+ final index. These added entries are also sorted by entry name then
+ stage.