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-rw-r--r--Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt40
1 files changed, 39 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
index f96b2e605f..1faa949bf6 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
@@ -55,6 +55,18 @@ Valid object types are:
Type 5 is reserved for future expansion. Type 0 is invalid.
+=== Size encoding
+
+This document uses the following "size encoding" of non-negative
+integers: From each byte, the seven least significant bits are
+used to form the resulting integer. As long as the most significant
+bit is 1, this process continues; the byte with MSB 0 provides the
+last seven bits. The seven-bit chunks are concatenated. Later
+values are more significant.
+
+This size encoding should not be confused with the "offset encoding",
+which is also used in this document.
+
=== Deltified representation
Conceptually there are only four object types: commit, tree, tag and
@@ -73,7 +85,10 @@ Ref-delta can also refer to an object outside the pack (i.e. the
so-called "thin pack"). When stored on disk however, the pack should
be self contained to avoid cyclic dependency.
-The delta data is a sequence of instructions to reconstruct an object
+The delta data starts with the size of the base object and the
+size of the object to be reconstructed. These sizes are
+encoded using the size encoding from above. The remainder of
+the delta data is a sequence of instructions to reconstruct the object
from the base object. If the base object is deltified, it must be
converted to canonical form first. Each instruction appends more and
more data to the target object until it's complete. There are two
@@ -259,6 +274,26 @@ Pack file entry: <+
Index checksum of all of the above.
+== pack-*.rev files have the format:
+
+ - A 4-byte magic number '0x52494458' ('RIDX').
+
+ - A 4-byte version identifier (= 1).
+
+ - A 4-byte hash function identifier (= 1 for SHA-1, 2 for SHA-256).
+
+ - A table of index positions (one per packed object, num_objects in
+ total, each a 4-byte unsigned integer in network order), sorted by
+ their corresponding offsets in the packfile.
+
+ - A trailer, containing a:
+
+ checksum of the corresponding packfile, and
+
+ a checksum of all of the above.
+
+All 4-byte numbers are in network order.
+
== multi-pack-index (MIDX) files have the following format:
The multi-pack-index files refer to multiple pack-files and loose objects.
@@ -301,6 +336,9 @@ CHUNK LOOKUP:
(Chunks are provided in file-order, so you can infer the length
using the next chunk position if necessary.)
+ The CHUNK LOOKUP matches the table of contents from
+ link:technical/chunk-format.html[the chunk-based file format].
+
The remaining data in the body is described one chunk at a time, and
these chunks may be given in any order. Chunks are required unless
otherwise specified.