diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/technical')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/chunk-format.txt | 116 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/reftable.txt | 42 |
4 files changed, 148 insertions, 16 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/chunk-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/chunk-format.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..593614fced --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/chunk-format.txt @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +Chunk-based file formats +======================== + +Some file formats in Git use a common concept of "chunks" to describe +sections of the file. This allows structured access to a large file by +scanning a small "table of contents" for the remaining data. This common +format is used by the `commit-graph` and `multi-pack-index` files. See +link:technical/pack-format.html[the `multi-pack-index` format] and +link:technical/commit-graph-format.html[the `commit-graph` format] for +how they use the chunks to describe structured data. + +A chunk-based file format begins with some header information custom to +that format. That header should include enough information to identify +the file type, format version, and number of chunks in the file. From this +information, that file can determine the start of the chunk-based region. + +The chunk-based region starts with a table of contents describing where +each chunk starts and ends. This consists of (C+1) rows of 12 bytes each, +where C is the number of chunks. Consider the following table: + + | Chunk ID (4 bytes) | Chunk Offset (8 bytes) | + |--------------------|------------------------| + | ID[0] | OFFSET[0] | + | ... | ... | + | ID[C] | OFFSET[C] | + | 0x0000 | OFFSET[C+1] | + +Each row consists of a 4-byte chunk identifier (ID) and an 8-byte offset. +Each integer is stored in network-byte order. + +The chunk identifier `ID[i]` is a label for the data stored within this +fill from `OFFSET[i]` (inclusive) to `OFFSET[i+1]` (exclusive). Thus, the +size of the `i`th chunk is equal to the difference between `OFFSET[i+1]` +and `OFFSET[i]`. This requires that the chunk data appears contiguously +in the same order as the table of contents. + +The final entry in the table of contents must be four zero bytes. This +confirms that the table of contents is ending and provides the offset for +the end of the chunk-based data. + +Note: The chunk-based format expects that the file contains _at least_ a +trailing hash after `OFFSET[C+1]`. + +Functions for working with chunk-based file formats are declared in +`chunk-format.h`. Using these methods provide extra checks that assist +developers when creating new file formats. + +Writing chunk-based file formats +-------------------------------- + +To write a chunk-based file format, create a `struct chunkfile` by +calling `init_chunkfile()` and pass a `struct hashfile` pointer. The +caller is responsible for opening the `hashfile` and writing header +information so the file format is identifiable before the chunk-based +format begins. + +Then, call `add_chunk()` for each chunk that is intended for write. This +populates the `chunkfile` with information about the order and size of +each chunk to write. Provide a `chunk_write_fn` function pointer to +perform the write of the chunk data upon request. + +Call `write_chunkfile()` to write the table of contents to the `hashfile` +followed by each of the chunks. This will verify that each chunk wrote +the expected amount of data so the table of contents is correct. + +Finally, call `free_chunkfile()` to clear the `struct chunkfile` data. The +caller is responsible for finalizing the `hashfile` by writing the trailing +hash and closing the file. + +Reading chunk-based file formats +-------------------------------- + +To read a chunk-based file format, the file must be opened as a +memory-mapped region. The chunk-format API expects that the entire file +is mapped as a contiguous memory region. + +Initialize a `struct chunkfile` pointer with `init_chunkfile(NULL)`. + +After reading the header information from the beginning of the file, +including the chunk count, call `read_table_of_contents()` to populate +the `struct chunkfile` with the list of chunks, their offsets, and their +sizes. + +Extract the data information for each chunk using `pair_chunk()` or +`read_chunk()`: + +* `pair_chunk()` assigns a given pointer with the location inside the + memory-mapped file corresponding to that chunk's offset. If the chunk + does not exist, then the pointer is not modified. + +* `read_chunk()` takes a `chunk_read_fn` function pointer and calls it + with the appropriate initial pointer and size information. The function + is not called if the chunk does not exist. Use this method to read chunks + if you need to perform immediate parsing or if you need to execute logic + based on the size of the chunk. + +After calling these methods, call `free_chunkfile()` to clear the +`struct chunkfile` data. This will not close the memory-mapped region. +Callers are expected to own that data for the timeframe the pointers into +the region are needed. + +Examples +-------- + +These file formats use the chunk-format API, and can be used as examples +for future formats: + +* *commit-graph:* see `write_commit_graph_file()` and `parse_commit_graph()` + in `commit-graph.c` for how the chunk-format API is used to write and + parse the commit-graph file format documented in + link:technical/commit-graph-format.html[the commit-graph file format]. + +* *multi-pack-index:* see `write_midx_internal()` and `load_multi_pack_index()` + in `midx.c` for how the chunk-format API is used to write and + parse the multi-pack-index file format documented in + link:technical/pack-format.html[the multi-pack-index file format]. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt index b6658eff18..87971c27dd 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt @@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ CHUNK LOOKUP: the length using the next chunk position if necessary.) Each chunk ID appears at most once. + 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. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt index 8833b71c8b..1faa949bf6 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt @@ -336,6 +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. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt b/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt index 8095ab2590..3ef169af27 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt @@ -872,17 +872,11 @@ A repository must set its `$GIT_DIR/config` to configure reftable: Layout ^^^^^^ -A collection of reftable files are stored in the `$GIT_DIR/reftable/` -directory: - -.... -00000001-00000001.log -00000002-00000002.ref -00000003-00000003.ref -.... - -where reftable files are named by a unique name such as produced by the -function `${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}.ref`. +A collection of reftable files are stored in the `$GIT_DIR/reftable/` directory. +Their names should have a random element, such that each filename is globally +unique; this helps avoid spurious failures on Windows, where open files cannot +be removed or overwritten. It suggested to use +`${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}-${random}.ref` as a naming convention. Log-only files use the `.log` extension, while ref-only and mixed ref and log files use `.ref`. extension. @@ -893,9 +887,9 @@ current files, one per line, in order, from oldest (base) to newest .... $ cat .git/reftable/tables.list -00000001-00000001.log -00000002-00000002.ref -00000003-00000003.ref +00000001-00000001-RANDOM1.log +00000002-00000002-RANDOM2.ref +00000003-00000003-RANDOM3.ref .... Readers must read `$GIT_DIR/reftable/tables.list` to determine which @@ -940,7 +934,7 @@ new reftable and atomically appending it to the stack: 3. Select `update_index` to be most recent file's `max_update_index + 1`. 4. Prepare temp reftable `tmp_XXXXXX`, including log entries. -5. Rename `tmp_XXXXXX` to `${update_index}-${update_index}.ref`. +5. Rename `tmp_XXXXXX` to `${update_index}-${update_index}-${random}.ref`. 6. Copy `tables.list` to `tables.list.lock`, appending file from (5). 7. Rename `tables.list.lock` to `tables.list`. @@ -993,7 +987,7 @@ prevents other processes from trying to compact these files. should always be the case, assuming that other processes are adhering to the locking protocol. 7. Rename `${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}_XXXXXX` to -`${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}.ref`. +`${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}-${random}.ref`. 8. Write the new stack to `tables.list.lock`, replacing `B` and `C` with the file from (4). 9. Rename `tables.list.lock` to `tables.list`. @@ -1005,6 +999,22 @@ This strategy permits compactions to proceed independently of updates. Each reftable (compacted or not) is uniquely identified by its name, so open reftables can be cached by their name. +Windows +^^^^^^^ + +On windows, and other systems that do not allow deleting or renaming to open +files, compaction may succeed, but other readers may prevent obsolete tables +from being deleted. + +On these platforms, the following strategy can be followed: on closing a +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. + + Alternatives considered ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |