1 files changed, 97 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
index f352a9b22e..7392ff636c 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt
@@ -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
@@ -198,3 +201,97 @@ 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.
+
+== Untracked cache
+
+  Untracked cache saves the untracked file list and necessary data to
+  verify the cache. The signature for this extension is { 'U', 'N',
+  'T', 'R' }.
+
+  The extension starts with
+
+  - A sequence of NUL-terminated strings, preceded by the size of the
+    sequence in variable width encoding. Each string describes the
+    environment where the cache can be used.
+
+  - Stat data of $GIT_DIR/info/exclude. See "Index entry" section from
+    ctime field until "file size".
+
+  - 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
+    does not exist.
+
+  - 160-bit SHA-1 of core.excludesfile. Null SHA-1 means the file does
+    not exist.
+
+  - NUL-terminated string of per-dir exclude file name. This usually
+    is ".gitignore".
+
+  - The number of following directory blocks, variable width
+    encoding. If this number is zero, the extension ends here with a
+    following NUL.
+
+  - A number of directory blocks in depth-first-search order, each
+    consists of
+
+    - The number of untracked entries, variable width encoding.
+
+    - The number of sub-directory blocks, variable width encoding.
+
+    - The directory name terminated by NUL.
+
+    - A number of untracked file/dir names terminated by NUL.
+
+The remaining data of each directory block is grouped by type:
+
+  - An ewah bitmap, the n-th bit marks whether the n-th directory has
+    valid untracked cache entries.
+
+  - 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
+    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
+    in the previous ewah bitmap.
+
+  - One NUL.