diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/technical')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/api-error-handling.txt | 10 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/api-simple-ipc.txt | 105 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/index-format.txt | 19 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt | 83 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/parallel-checkout.txt | 270 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/reftable.txt | 9 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/sparse-index.txt | 208 |
9 files changed, 704 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-error-handling.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-error-handling.txt index ceeedd485c..8be4f4d0d6 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/api-error-handling.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/api-error-handling.txt @@ -1,8 +1,11 @@ Error reporting in git ====================== -`die`, `usage`, `error`, and `warning` report errors of various -kinds. +`BUG`, `die`, `usage`, `error`, and `warning` report errors of +various kinds. + +- `BUG` is for failed internal assertions that should never happen, + i.e. a bug in git itself. - `die` is for fatal application errors. It prints a message to the user and exits with status 128. @@ -20,6 +23,9 @@ kinds. without running into too many problems. Like `error`, it returns -1 after reporting the situation to the caller. +These reports will be logged via the trace2 facility. See the "error" +event in link:api-trace2.txt[trace2 API]. + Customizable error handlers --------------------------- diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-simple-ipc.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-simple-ipc.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..d79ad323e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/api-simple-ipc.txt @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +Simple-IPC API +============== + +The Simple-IPC API is a collection of `ipc_` prefixed library routines +and a basic communication protocol that allow an IPC-client process to +send an application-specific IPC-request message to an IPC-server +process and receive an application-specific IPC-response message. + +Communication occurs over a named pipe on Windows and a Unix domain +socket on other platforms. IPC-clients and IPC-servers rendezvous at +a previously agreed-to application-specific pathname (which is outside +the scope of this design) that is local to the computer system. + +The IPC-server routines within the server application process create a +thread pool to listen for connections and receive request messages +from multiple concurrent IPC-clients. When received, these messages +are dispatched up to the server application callbacks for handling. +IPC-server routines then incrementally relay responses back to the +IPC-client. + +The IPC-client routines within a client application process connect +to the IPC-server and send a request message and wait for a response. +When received, the response is returned back the caller. + +For example, the `fsmonitor--daemon` feature will be built as a server +application on top of the IPC-server library routines. It will have +threads watching for file system events and a thread pool waiting for +client connections. Clients, such as `git status` will request a list +of file system events since a point in time and the server will +respond with a list of changed files and directories. The formats of +the request and response are application-specific; the IPC-client and +IPC-server routines treat them as opaque byte streams. + + +Comparison with sub-process model +--------------------------------- + +The Simple-IPC mechanism differs from the existing `sub-process.c` +model (Documentation/technical/long-running-process-protocol.txt) and +used by applications like Git-LFS. In the LFS-style sub-process model +the helper is started by the foreground process, communication happens +via a pair of file descriptors bound to the stdin/stdout of the +sub-process, the sub-process only serves the current foreground +process, and the sub-process exits when the foreground process +terminates. + +In the Simple-IPC model the server is a very long-running service. It +can service many clients at the same time and has a private socket or +named pipe connection to each active client. It might be started +(on-demand) by the current client process or it might have been +started by a previous client or by the OS at boot time. The server +process is not associated with a terminal and it persists after +clients terminate. Clients do not have access to the stdin/stdout of +the server process and therefore must communicate over sockets or +named pipes. + + +Server startup and shutdown +--------------------------- + +How an application server based upon IPC-server is started is also +outside the scope of the Simple-IPC design and is a property of the +application using it. For example, the server might be started or +restarted during routine maintenance operations, or it might be +started as a system service during the system boot-up sequence, or it +might be started on-demand by a foreground Git command when needed. + +Similarly, server shutdown is a property of the application using +the simple-ipc routines. For example, the server might decide to +shutdown when idle or only upon explicit request. + + +Simple-IPC protocol +------------------- + +The Simple-IPC protocol consists of a single request message from the +client and an optional response message from the server. Both the +client and server messages are unlimited in length and are terminated +with a flush packet. + +The pkt-line routines (Documentation/technical/protocol-common.txt) +are used to simplify buffer management during message generation, +transmission, and reception. A flush packet is used to mark the end +of the message. This allows the sender to incrementally generate and +transmit the message. It allows the receiver to incrementally receive +the message in chunks and to know when they have received the entire +message. + +The actual byte format of the client request and server response +messages are application specific. The IPC layer transmits and +receives them as opaque byte buffers without any concern for the +content within. It is the job of the calling application layer to +understand the contents of the request and response messages. + + +Summary +------- + +Conceptually, the Simple-IPC protocol is similar to an HTTP REST +request. Clients connect, make an application-specific and +stateless request, receive an application-specific +response, and disconnect. It is a one round trip facility for +querying the server. The Simple-IPC routines hide the socket, +named pipe, and thread pool details and allow the application +layer to focus on the application at hand. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt index c65ffafc48..3f52f981a2 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt @@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ completed.) ------------ `"error"`:: - This event is emitted when one of the `error()`, `die()`, + This event is emitted when one of the `BUG()`, `error()`, `die()`, `warning()`, or `usage()` functions are called. + ------------ diff --git a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt index d363a71c37..65da0daaa5 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/index-format.txt @@ -44,6 +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 @@ -385,3 +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. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt b/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt index e8e377a59f..fb688976c4 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt @@ -43,8 +43,9 @@ Design Details a change in format. - The MIDX keeps only one record per object ID. If an object appears - in multiple packfiles, then the MIDX selects the copy in the most- - recently modified packfile. + in multiple packfiles, then the MIDX selects the copy in the + preferred packfile, otherwise selecting from the most-recently + modified packfile. - If there exist packfiles in the pack directory not registered in the MIDX, then those packfiles are loaded into the `packed_git` diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt index 1faa949bf6..8d2f42f29e 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt @@ -379,3 +379,86 @@ CHUNK DATA: TRAILER: Index checksum of the above contents. + +== multi-pack-index reverse indexes + +Similar to the pack-based reverse index, the multi-pack index can also +be used to generate a reverse index. + +Instead of mapping between offset, pack-, and index position, this +reverse index maps between an object's position within the MIDX, and +that object's position within a pseudo-pack that the MIDX describes +(i.e., the ith entry of the multi-pack reverse index holds the MIDX +position of ith object in pseudo-pack order). + +To clarify the difference between these orderings, consider a multi-pack +reachability bitmap (which does not yet exist, but is what we are +building towards here). Each bit needs to correspond to an object in the +MIDX, and so we need an efficient mapping from bit position to MIDX +position. + +One solution is to let bits occupy the same position in the oid-sorted +index stored by the MIDX. But because oids are effectively random, their +resulting reachability bitmaps would have no locality, and thus compress +poorly. (This is the reason that single-pack bitmaps use the pack +ordering, and not the .idx ordering, for the same purpose.) + +So we'd like to define an ordering for the whole MIDX based around +pack ordering, which has far better locality (and thus compresses more +efficiently). We can think of a pseudo-pack created by the concatenation +of all of the packs in the MIDX. E.g., if we had a MIDX with three packs +(a, b, c), with 10, 15, and 20 objects respectively, we can imagine an +ordering of the objects like: + + |a,0|a,1|...|a,9|b,0|b,1|...|b,14|c,0|c,1|...|c,19| + +where the ordering of the packs is defined by the MIDX's pack list, +and then the ordering of objects within each pack is the same as the +order in the actual packfile. + +Given the list of packs and their counts of objects, you can +naïvely reconstruct that pseudo-pack ordering (e.g., the object at +position 27 must be (c,1) because packs "a" and "b" consumed 25 of the +slots). But there's a catch. Objects may be duplicated between packs, in +which case the MIDX only stores one pointer to the object (and thus we'd +want only one slot in the bitmap). + +Callers could handle duplicates themselves by reading objects in order +of their bit-position, but that's linear in the number of objects, and +much too expensive for ordinary bitmap lookups. Building a reverse index +solves this, since it is the logical inverse of the index, and that +index has already removed duplicates. But, building a reverse index on +the fly can be expensive. Since we already have an on-disk format for +pack-based reverse indexes, let's reuse it for the MIDX's pseudo-pack, +too. + +Objects from the MIDX are ordered as follows to string together the +pseudo-pack. Let `pack(o)` return the pack from which `o` was selected +by the MIDX, and define an ordering of packs based on their numeric ID +(as stored by the MIDX). Let `offset(o)` return the object offset of `o` +within `pack(o)`. Then, compare `o1` and `o2` as follows: + + - If one of `pack(o1)` and `pack(o2)` is preferred and the other + is not, then the preferred one sorts first. ++ +(This is a detail that allows the MIDX bitmap to determine which +pack should be used by the pack-reuse mechanism, since it can ask +the MIDX for the pack containing the object at bit position 0). + + - If `pack(o1) ≠ pack(o2)`, then sort the two objects in descending + order based on the pack ID. + + - Otherwise, `pack(o1) = pack(o2)`, and the objects are sorted in + pack-order (i.e., `o1` sorts ahead of `o2` exactly when `offset(o1) + < offset(o2)`). + +In short, a MIDX's pseudo-pack is the de-duplicated concatenation of +objects in packs stored by the MIDX, laid out in pack order, and the +packs arranged in MIDX order (with the preferred pack coming first). + +Finally, note that the MIDX's reverse index is not stored as a chunk in +the multi-pack-index itself. This is done because the reverse index +includes the checksum of the pack or MIDX to which it belongs, which +makes it impossible to write in the MIDX. To avoid races when rewriting +the MIDX, a MIDX reverse index includes the MIDX's checksum in its +filename (e.g., `multi-pack-index-xyz.rev`). diff --git a/Documentation/technical/parallel-checkout.txt b/Documentation/technical/parallel-checkout.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..e790258a1a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/parallel-checkout.txt @@ -0,0 +1,270 @@ +Parallel Checkout Design Notes +============================== + +The "Parallel Checkout" feature attempts to use multiple processes to +parallelize the work of uncompressing the blobs, applying in-core +filters, and writing the resulting contents to the working tree during a +checkout operation. It can be used by all checkout-related commands, +such as `clone`, `checkout`, `reset`, `sparse-checkout`, and others. + +These commands share the following basic structure: + +* Step 1: Read the current index file into memory. + +* Step 2: Modify the in-memory index based upon the command, and + temporarily mark all cache entries that need to be updated. + +* Step 3: Populate the working tree to match the new candidate index. + This includes iterating over all of the to-be-updated cache entries + and delete, create, or overwrite the associated files in the working + tree. + +* Step 4: Write the new index to disk. + +Step 3 is the focus of the "parallel checkout" effort described here. + +Sequential Implementation +------------------------- + +For the purposes of discussion here, the current sequential +implementation of Step 3 is divided in 3 parts, each one implemented in +its own function: + +* Step 3a: `unpack-trees.c:check_updates()` contains a series of + sequential loops iterating over the `cache_entry`'s array. The main + loop in this function calls the Step 3b function for each of the + to-be-updated entries. + +* Step 3b: `entry.c:checkout_entry()` examines the existing working tree + for file conflicts, collisions, and unsaved changes. It removes files + and creates leading directories as necessary. It calls the Step 3c + function for each entry to be written. + +* Step 3c: `entry.c:write_entry()` loads the blob into memory, smudges + it if necessary, creates the file in the working tree, writes the + smudged contents, calls `fstat()` or `lstat()`, and updates the + associated `cache_entry` struct with the stat information gathered. + +It wouldn't be safe to perform Step 3b in parallel, as there could be +race conditions between file creations and removals. Instead, the +parallel checkout framework lets the sequential code handle Step 3b, +and uses parallel workers to replace the sequential +`entry.c:write_entry()` calls from Step 3c. + +Rejected Multi-Threaded Solution +-------------------------------- + +The most "straightforward" implementation would be to spread the set of +to-be-updated cache entries across multiple threads. But due to the +thread-unsafe functions in the ODB code, we would have to use locks to +coordinate the parallel operation. An early prototype of this solution +showed that the multi-threaded checkout would bring performance +improvements over the sequential code, but there was still too much lock +contention. A `perf` profiling indicated that around 20% of the runtime +during a local Linux clone (on an SSD) was spent in locking functions. +For this reason this approach was rejected in favor of using multiple +child processes, which led to a better performance. + +Multi-Process Solution +---------------------- + +Parallel checkout alters the aforementioned Step 3 to use multiple +`checkout--worker` background processes to distribute the work. The +long-running worker processes are controlled by the foreground Git +command using the existing run-command API. + +Overview +~~~~~~~~ + +Step 3b is only slightly altered; for each entry to be checked out, the +main process performs the following steps: + +* M1: Check whether there is any untracked or unclean file in the + working tree which would be overwritten by this entry, and decide + whether to proceed (removing the file(s)) or not. + +* M2: Create the leading directories. + +* M3: Load the conversion attributes for the entry's path. + +* M4: Check, based on the entry's type and conversion attributes, + whether the entry is eligible for parallel checkout (more on this + later). If it is eligible, enqueue the entry and the loaded + attributes to later write the entry in parallel. If not, write the + entry right away, using the default sequential code. + +Note: we save the conversion attributes associated with each entry +because the workers don't have access to the main process' index state, +so they can't load the attributes by themselves (and the attributes are +needed to properly smudge the entry). Additionally, this has a positive +impact on performance as (1) we don't need to load the attributes twice +and (2) the attributes machinery is optimized to handle paths in +sequential order. + +After all entries have passed through the above steps, the main process +checks if the number of enqueued entries is sufficient to spread among +the workers. If not, it just writes them sequentially. Otherwise, it +spawns the workers and distributes the queued entries uniformly in +continuous chunks. This aims to minimize the chances of two workers +writing to the same directory simultaneously, which could increase lock +contention in the kernel. + +Then, for each assigned item, each worker: + +* W1: Checks if there is any non-directory file in the leading part of + the entry's path or if there already exists a file at the entry' path. + If so, mark the entry with `PC_ITEM_COLLIDED` and skip it (more on + this later). + +* W2: Creates the file (with O_CREAT and O_EXCL). + +* W3: Loads the blob into memory (inflating and delta reconstructing + it). + +* W4: Applies any required in-process filter, like end-of-line + conversion and re-encoding. + +* W5: Writes the result to the file descriptor opened at W2. + +* W6: Calls `fstat()` or lstat()` on the just-written path, and sends + the result back to the main process, together with the end status of + the operation and the item's identification number. + +Note that, when possible, steps W3 to W5 are delegated to the streaming +machinery, removing the need to keep the entire blob in memory. + +If the worker fails to read the blob or to write it to the working tree, +it removes the created file to avoid leaving empty files behind. This is +the *only* time a worker is allowed to remove a file. + +As mentioned earlier, it is the responsibility of the main process to +remove any file that blocks the checkout operation (or abort if the +removal(s) would cause data loss and the user didn't ask to `--force`). +This is crucial to avoid race conditions and also to properly detect +path collisions at Step W1. + +After the workers finish writing the items and sending back the required +information, the main process handles the results in two steps: + +- First, it updates the in-memory index with the `lstat()` information + sent by the workers. (This must be done first as this information + might me required in the following step.) + +- Then it writes the items which collided on disk (i.e. items marked + with `PC_ITEM_COLLIDED`). More on this below. + +Path Collisions +--------------- + +Path collisions happen when two different paths correspond to the same +entry in the file system. E.g. the paths 'a' and 'A' would collide in a +case-insensitive file system. + +The sequential checkout deals with collisions in the same way that it +deals with files that were already present in the working tree before +checkout. Basically, it checks if the path that it wants to write +already exists on disk, makes sure the existing file doesn't have +unsaved data, and then overwrites it. (To be more pedantic: it deletes +the existing file and creates the new one.) So, if there are multiple +colliding files to be checked out, the sequential code will write each +one of them but only the last will actually survive on disk. + +Parallel checkout aims to reproduce the same behavior. However, we +cannot let the workers racily write to the same file on disk. Instead, +the workers detect when the entry that they want to check out would +collide with an existing file, and mark it with `PC_ITEM_COLLIDED`. +Later, the main process can sequentially feed these entries back to +`checkout_entry()` without the risk of race conditions. On clone, this +also has the effect of marking the colliding entries to later emit a +warning for the user, like the classic sequential checkout does. + +The workers are able to detect both collisions among the entries being +concurrently written and collisions between a parallel-eligible entry +and an ineligible entry. The general idea for collision detection is +quite straightforward: for each parallel-eligible entry, the main +process must remove all files that prevent this entry from being written +(before enqueueing it). This includes any non-directory file in the +leading path of the entry. Later, when a worker gets assigned the entry, +it looks again for the non-directories files and for an already existing +file at the entry's path. If any of these checks finds something, the +worker knows that there was a path collision. + +Because parallel checkout can distinguish path collisions from the case +where the file was already present in the working tree before checkout, +we could alternatively choose to skip the checkout of colliding entries. +However, each entry that doesn't get written would have NULL `lstat()` +fields on the index. This could cause performance penalties for +subsequent commands that need to refresh the index, as they would have +to go to the file system to see if the entry is dirty. Thus, if we have +N entries in a colliding group and we decide to write and `lstat()` only +one of them, every subsequent `git-status` will have to read, convert, +and hash the written file N - 1 times. By checking out all colliding +entries (like the sequential code does), we only pay the overhead once, +during checkout. + +Eligible Entries for Parallel Checkout +-------------------------------------- + +As previously mentioned, not all entries passed to `checkout_entry()` +will be considered eligible for parallel checkout. More specifically, we +exclude: + +- Symbolic links; to avoid race conditions that, in combination with + path collisions, could cause workers to write files at the wrong + place. For example, if we were to concurrently check out a symlink + 'a' -> 'b' and a regular file 'A/f' in a case-insensitive file system, + we could potentially end up writing the file 'A/f' at 'a/f', due to a + race condition. + +- Regular files that require external filters (either "one shot" filters + or long-running process filters). These filters are black-boxes to Git + and may have their own internal locking or non-concurrent assumptions. + So it might not be safe to run multiple instances in parallel. ++ +Besides, long-running filters may use the delayed checkout feature to +postpone the return of some filtered blobs. The delayed checkout queue +and the parallel checkout queue are not compatible and should remain +separate. ++ +Note: regular files that only require internal filters, like end-of-line +conversion and re-encoding, are eligible for parallel checkout. + +Ineligible entries are checked out by the classic sequential codepath +*before* spawning workers. + +Note: submodules's files are also eligible for parallel checkout (as +long as they don't fall into any of the excluding categories mentioned +above). But since each submodule is checked out in its own child +process, we don't mix the superproject's and the submodules' files in +the same parallel checkout process or queue. + +The API +------- + +The parallel checkout API was designed with the goal of minimizing +changes to the current users of the checkout machinery. This means that +they don't have to call a different function for sequential or parallel +checkout. As already mentioned, `checkout_entry()` will automatically +insert the given entry in the parallel checkout queue when this feature +is enabled and the entry is eligible; otherwise, it will just write the +entry right away, using the sequential code. In general, callers of the +parallel checkout API should look similar to this: + +---------------------------------------------- +int pc_workers, pc_threshold, err = 0; +struct checkout state; + +get_parallel_checkout_configs(&pc_workers, &pc_threshold); + +/* + * This check is not strictly required, but it + * should save some time in sequential mode. + */ +if (pc_workers > 1) + init_parallel_checkout(); + +for (each cache_entry ce to-be-updated) + err |= checkout_entry(ce, &state, NULL, NULL); + +err |= run_parallel_checkout(&state, pc_workers, pc_threshold, NULL, NULL); +---------------------------------------------- diff --git a/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt b/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt index 3ef169af27..d7c3b645cf 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt @@ -1011,8 +1011,13 @@ reftable stack, reload `tables.list`, and delete any tables no longer mentioned in `tables.list`. Irregular program exit may still leave about unused files. In this case, a -cleanup operation can read `tables.list`, note its modification timestamp, and -delete any unreferenced `*.ref` files that are older. +cleanup operation should proceed as follows: + +* take a lock `tables.list.lock` to prevent concurrent modifications +* refresh the reftable stack, by reading `tables.list` +* for each `*.ref` file, remove it if +** it is not mentioned in `tables.list`, and +** its max update_index is not beyond the max update_index of the stack Alternatives considered diff --git a/Documentation/technical/sparse-index.txt b/Documentation/technical/sparse-index.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..3b24c1a219 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/sparse-index.txt @@ -0,0 +1,208 @@ +Git Sparse-Index Design Document +================================ + +The sparse-checkout feature allows users to focus a working directory on +a subset of the files at HEAD. The cone mode patterns, enabled by +`core.sparseCheckoutCone`, allow for very fast pattern matching to +discover which files at HEAD belong in the sparse-checkout cone. + +Three important scale dimensions for a Git working directory are: + +* `HEAD`: How many files are present at `HEAD`? + +* Populated: How many files are within the sparse-checkout cone. + +* Modified: How many files has the user modified in the working directory? + +We will use big-O notation -- O(X) -- to denote how expensive certain +operations are in terms of these dimensions. + +These dimensions are ordered by their magnitude: users (typically) modify +fewer files than are populated, and we can only populate files at `HEAD`. + +Problems occur if there is an extreme imbalance in these dimensions. For +example, if `HEAD` contains millions of paths but the populated set has +only tens of thousands, then commands like `git status` and `git add` can +be dominated by operations that require O(`HEAD`) operations instead of +O(Populated). Primarily, the cost is in parsing and rewriting the index, +which is filled primarily with files at `HEAD` that are marked with the +`SKIP_WORKTREE` bit. + +The sparse-index intends to take these commands that read and modify the +index from O(`HEAD`) to O(Populated). To do this, we need to modify the +index format in a significant way: add "sparse directory" entries. + +With cone mode patterns, it is possible to detect when an entire +directory will have its contents outside of the sparse-checkout definition. +Instead of listing all of the files it contains as individual entries, a +sparse-index contains an entry with the directory name, referencing the +object ID of the tree at `HEAD` and marked with the `SKIP_WORKTREE` bit. +If we need to discover the details for paths within that directory, we +can parse trees to find that list. + +At time of writing, sparse-directory entries violate expectations about the +index format and its in-memory data structure. There are many consumers in +the codebase that expect to iterate through all of the index entries and +see only files. In fact, these loops expect to see a reference to every +staged file. One way to handle this is to parse trees to replace a +sparse-directory entry with all of the files within that tree as the index +is loaded. However, parsing trees is slower than parsing the index format, +so that is a slower operation than if we left the index alone. The plan is +to make all of these integrations "sparse aware" so this expansion through +tree parsing is unnecessary and they use fewer resources than when using a +full index. + +The implementation plan below follows four phases to slowly integrate with +the sparse-index. The intention is to incrementally update Git commands to +interact safely with the sparse-index without significant slowdowns. This +may not always be possible, but the hope is that the primary commands that +users need in their daily work are dramatically improved. + +Phase I: Format and initial speedups +------------------------------------ + +During this phase, Git learns to enable the sparse-index and safely parse +one. Protections are put in place so that every consumer of the in-memory +data structure can operate with its current assumption of every file at +`HEAD`. + +At first, every index parse will call a helper method, +`ensure_full_index()`, which scans the index for sparse-directory entries +(pointing to trees) and replaces them with the full list of paths (with +blob contents) by parsing tree objects. This will be slower in all cases. +The only noticeable change in behavior will be that the serialized index +file contains sparse-directory entries. + +To start, we use a new required index extension, `sdir`, to allow +inserting sparse-directory entries into indexes with file format +versions 2, 3, and 4. This prevents Git versions that do not understand +the sparse-index from operating on one, while allowing tools that do not +understand the sparse-index to operate on repositories as long as they do +not interact with the index. A new format, index v5, will be introduced +that includes sparse-directory entries by default. It might also +introduce other features that have been considered for improving the +index, as well. + +Next, consumers of the index will be guarded against operating on a +sparse-index by inserting calls to `ensure_full_index()` or +`expand_index_to_path()`. If a specific path is requested, then those will +be protected from within the `index_file_exists()` and `index_name_pos()` +API calls: they will call `ensure_full_index()` if necessary. The +intention here is to preserve existing behavior when interacting with a +sparse-checkout. We don't want a change to happen by accident, without +tests. Many of these locations may not need any change before removing the +guards, but we should not do so without tests to ensure the expected +behavior happens. + +It may be desirable to _change_ the behavior of some commands in the +presence of a sparse index or more generally in any sparse-checkout +scenario. In such cases, these should be carefully communicated and +tested. No such behavior changes are intended during this phase. + +During a scan of the codebase, not every iteration of the cache entries +needs an `ensure_full_index()` check. The basic reasons include: + +1. The loop is scanning for entries with non-zero stage. These entries + are not collapsed into a sparse-directory entry. + +2. The loop is scanning for submodules. These entries are not collapsed + into a sparse-directory entry. + +3. The loop is part of the index API, especially around reading or + writing the format. + +4. The loop is checking for correct order of cache entries and that is + correct if and only if the sparse-directory entries are in the correct + location. + +5. The loop ignores entries with the `SKIP_WORKTREE` bit set, or is + otherwise already aware of sparse directory entries. + +6. The sparse-index is disabled at this point when using the split-index + feature, so no effort is made to protect the split-index API. + +Even after inserting these guards, we will keep expanding sparse-indexes +for most Git commands using the `command_requires_full_index` repository +setting. This setting will be on by default and disabled one builtin at a +time until we have sufficient confidence that all of the index operations +are properly guarded. + +To complete this phase, the commands `git status` and `git add` will be +integrated with the sparse-index so that they operate with O(Populated) +performance. They will be carefully tested for operations within and +outside the sparse-checkout definition. + +Phase II: Careful integrations +------------------------------ + +This phase focuses on ensuring that all index extensions and APIs work +well with a sparse-index. This requires significant increases to our test +coverage, especially for operations that interact with the working +directory outside of the sparse-checkout definition. Some of these +behaviors may not be the desirable ones, such as some tests already +marked for failure in `t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh`. + +The index extensions that may require special integrations are: + +* FS Monitor +* Untracked cache + +While integrating with these features, we should look for patterns that +might lead to better APIs for interacting with the index. Coalescing +common usage patterns into an API call can reduce the number of places +where sparse-directories need to be handled carefully. + +Phase III: Important command speedups +------------------------------------- + +At this point, the patterns for testing and implementing sparse-directory +logic should be relatively stable. This phase focuses on updating some of +the most common builtins that use the index to operate as O(Populated). +Here is a potential list of commands that could be valuable to integrate +at this point: + +* `git commit` +* `git checkout` +* `git merge` +* `git rebase` + +Hopefully, commands such as `git merge` and `git rebase` can benefit +instead from merge algorithms that do not use the index as a data +structure, such as the merge-ORT strategy. As these topics mature, we +may enable the ORT strategy by default for repositories using the +sparse-index feature. + +Along with `git status` and `git add`, these commands cover the majority +of users' interactions with the working directory. In addition, we can +integrate with these commands: + +* `git grep` +* `git rm` + +These have been proposed as some whose behavior could change when in a +repo with a sparse-checkout definition. It would be good to include this +behavior automatically when using a sparse-index. Some clarity is needed +to make the behavior switch clear to the user. + +This phase is the first where parallel work might be possible without too +much conflicts between topics. + +Phase IV: The long tail +----------------------- + +This last phase is less a "phase" and more "the new normal" after all of +the previous work. + +To start, the `command_requires_full_index` option could be removed in +favor of expanding only when hitting an API guard. + +There are many Git commands that could use special attention to operate as +O(Populated), while some might be so rare that it is acceptable to leave +them with additional overhead when a sparse-index is present. + +Here are some commands that might be useful to update: + +* `git sparse-checkout set` +* `git am` +* `git clean` +* `git stash` |