diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/technical')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/bundle-format.txt | 48 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt | 30 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/http-protocol.txt | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/pack-protocol.txt | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/packfile-uri.txt | 78 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt | 50 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/reftable.txt | 1083 |
9 files changed, 1288 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt index 4f07ceadcb..6b6085585d 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt @@ -656,7 +656,8 @@ The "exec_id" field is a command-unique id and is only useful if the ------------ `"def_param"`:: - This event is generated to log a global parameter. + This event is generated to log a global parameter, such as a config + setting, command-line flag, or environment variable. + ------------ { diff --git a/Documentation/technical/bundle-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/bundle-format.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..0e828151a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/bundle-format.txt @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ += Git bundle v2 format + +The Git bundle format is a format that represents both refs and Git objects. + +== Format + +We will use ABNF notation to define the Git bundle format. See +protocol-common.txt for the details. + +---- +bundle = signature *prerequisite *reference LF pack +signature = "# v2 git bundle" LF + +prerequisite = "-" obj-id SP comment LF +comment = *CHAR +reference = obj-id SP refname LF + +pack = ... ; packfile +---- + +== Semantics + +A Git bundle consists of three parts. + +* "Prerequisites" lists the objects that are NOT included in the bundle and the + reader of the bundle MUST already have, in order to use the data in the + bundle. The objects stored in the bundle may refer to prerequisite objects and + anything reachable from them (e.g. a tree object in the bundle can reference + a blob that is reachable from a prerequisite) and/or expressed as a delta + against prerequisite objects. + +* "References" record the tips of the history graph, iow, what the reader of the + bundle CAN "git fetch" from it. + +* "Pack" is the pack data stream "git fetch" would send, if you fetch from a + repository that has the references recorded in the "References" above into a + repository that has references pointing at the objects listed in + "Prerequisites" above. + +In the bundle format, there can be a comment following a prerequisite obj-id. +This is a comment and it has no specific meaning. The writer of the bundle MAY +put any string here. The reader of the bundle MUST ignore the comment. + +=== Note on the shallow clone and a Git bundle + +Note that the prerequisites does not represent a shallow-clone boundary. The +semantics of the prerequisites and the shallow-clone boundaries are different, +and the Git bundle v2 format cannot represent a shallow clone repository. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt index a4f17441ae..1beef17182 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/commit-graph-format.txt @@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ metadata, including: - The parents of the commit, stored using positional references within the graph file. +- The Bloom filter of the commit carrying the paths that were changed between + the commit and its first parent, if requested. + These positional references are stored as unsigned 32-bit integers corresponding to the array position within the list of commit OIDs. Due to some special constants we use to track parents, we can store at most @@ -93,6 +96,33 @@ CHUNK DATA: positions for the parents until reaching a value with the most-significant bit on. The other bits correspond to the position of the last parent. + Bloom Filter Index (ID: {'B', 'I', 'D', 'X'}) (N * 4 bytes) [Optional] + * The ith entry, BIDX[i], stores the number of bytes in all Bloom filters + from commit 0 to commit i (inclusive) in lexicographic order. The Bloom + filter for the i-th commit spans from BIDX[i-1] to BIDX[i] (plus header + length), where BIDX[-1] is 0. + * The BIDX chunk is ignored if the BDAT chunk is not present. + + Bloom Filter Data (ID: {'B', 'D', 'A', 'T'}) [Optional] + * It starts with header consisting of three unsigned 32-bit integers: + - Version of the hash algorithm being used. We currently only support + value 1 which corresponds to the 32-bit version of the murmur3 hash + implemented exactly as described in + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MurmurHash#Algorithm and the double + hashing technique using seed values 0x293ae76f and 0x7e646e2 as + described in https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-30494-4_26 "Bloom Filters + in Probabilistic Verification" + - The number of times a path is hashed and hence the number of bit positions + that cumulatively determine whether a file is present in the commit. + - The minimum number of bits 'b' per entry in the Bloom filter. If the filter + contains 'n' entries, then the filter size is the minimum number of 64-bit + words that contain n*b bits. + * The rest of the chunk is the concatenation of all the computed Bloom + filters for the commits in lexicographic order. + * Note: Commits with no changes or more than 512 changes have Bloom filters + of length zero. + * The BDAT chunk is present if and only if BIDX is present. + Base Graphs List (ID: {'B', 'A', 'S', 'E'}) [Optional] This list of H-byte hashes describe a set of B commit-graph files that form a commit-graph chain. The graph position for the ith commit in this diff --git a/Documentation/technical/http-protocol.txt b/Documentation/technical/http-protocol.txt index 9c5b6f0fac..51a79e63de 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/http-protocol.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/http-protocol.txt @@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ smart server reply: S: 001e# service=git-upload-pack\n S: 0000 S: 004895dcfa3633004da0049d3d0fa03f80589cbcaf31 refs/heads/maint\0multi_ack\n - S: 0042d049f6c27a2244e12041955e262a404c7faba355 refs/heads/master\n + S: 003fd049f6c27a2244e12041955e262a404c7faba355 refs/heads/master\n S: 003c2cb58b79488a98d2721cea644875a8dd0026b115 refs/tags/v1.0\n S: 003fa3c2e2402b99163d1d59756e5f207ae21cccba4c refs/tags/v1.0^{}\n S: 0000 diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt index cab5bdd2ff..d3a142c652 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt @@ -315,10 +315,11 @@ CHUNK DATA: Stores two 4-byte values for every object. 1: The pack-int-id for the pack storing this object. 2: The offset within the pack. - If all offsets are less than 2^31, then the large offset chunk + If all offsets are less than 2^32, then the large offset chunk will not exist and offsets are stored as in IDX v1. If there is at least one offset value larger than 2^32-1, then - the large offset chunk must exist. If the large offset chunk + the large offset chunk must exist, and offsets larger than + 2^31-1 must be stored in it instead. If the large offset chunk exists and the 31st bit is on, then removing that bit reveals the row in the large offsets containing the 8-byte offset of this object. diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-protocol.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-protocol.txt index d5ce4eea8a..a4573d12ce 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/pack-protocol.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-protocol.txt @@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ Basically what the Git client is doing to connect to an 'upload-pack' process on the server side over the Git protocol is this: $ echo -e -n \ - "0039git-upload-pack /schacon/gitbook.git\0host=example.com\0" | + "003agit-upload-pack /schacon/gitbook.git\0host=example.com\0" | nc -v example.com 9418 @@ -171,9 +171,9 @@ with a version number (if "version=1" is sent as an Extra Parameter), and a listing of each reference it has (all branches and tags) along with the object name that each reference currently points to. - $ echo -e -n "0044git-upload-pack /schacon/gitbook.git\0host=example.com\0\0version=1\0" | + $ echo -e -n "0045git-upload-pack /schacon/gitbook.git\0host=example.com\0\0version=1\0" | nc -v example.com 9418 - 000aversion 1 + 000eversion 1 00887217a7c7e582c46cec22a130adf4b9d7d950fba0 HEAD\0multi_ack thin-pack side-band side-band-64k ofs-delta shallow no-progress include-tag 00441d3fcd5ced445d1abc402225c0b8a1299641f497 refs/heads/integration diff --git a/Documentation/technical/packfile-uri.txt b/Documentation/technical/packfile-uri.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..318713abc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/packfile-uri.txt @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +Packfile URIs +============= + +This feature allows servers to serve part of their packfile response as URIs. +This allows server designs that improve scalability in bandwidth and CPU usage +(for example, by serving some data through a CDN), and (in the future) provides +some measure of resumability to clients. + +This feature is available only in protocol version 2. + +Protocol +-------- + +The server advertises the `packfile-uris` capability. + +If the client then communicates which protocols (HTTPS, etc.) it supports with +a `packfile-uris` argument, the server MAY send a `packfile-uris` section +directly before the `packfile` section (right after `wanted-refs` if it is +sent) containing URIs of any of the given protocols. The URIs point to +packfiles that use only features that the client has declared that it supports +(e.g. ofs-delta and thin-pack). See protocol-v2.txt for the documentation of +this section. + +Clients should then download and index all the given URIs (in addition to +downloading and indexing the packfile given in the `packfile` section of the +response) before performing the connectivity check. + +Server design +------------- + +The server can be trivially made compatible with the proposed protocol by +having it advertise `packfile-uris`, tolerating the client sending +`packfile-uris`, and never sending any `packfile-uris` section. But we should +include some sort of non-trivial implementation in the Minimum Viable Product, +at least so that we can test the client. + +This is the implementation: a feature, marked experimental, that allows the +server to be configured by one or more `uploadpack.blobPackfileUri=<sha1> +<uri>` entries. Whenever the list of objects to be sent is assembled, all such +blobs are excluded, replaced with URIs. The client will download those URIs, +expecting them to each point to packfiles containing single blobs. + +Client design +------------- + +The client has a config variable `fetch.uriprotocols` that determines which +protocols the end user is willing to use. By default, this is empty. + +When the client downloads the given URIs, it should store them with "keep" +files, just like it does with the packfile in the `packfile` section. These +additional "keep" files can only be removed after the refs have been updated - +just like the "keep" file for the packfile in the `packfile` section. + +The division of work (initial fetch + additional URIs) introduces convenient +points for resumption of an interrupted clone - such resumption can be done +after the Minimum Viable Product (see "Future work"). + +Future work +----------- + +The protocol design allows some evolution of the server and client without any +need for protocol changes, so only a small-scoped design is included here to +form the MVP. For example, the following can be done: + + * On the server, more sophisticated means of excluding objects (e.g. by + specifying a commit to represent that commit and all objects that it + references). + * On the client, resumption of clone. If a clone is interrupted, information + could be recorded in the repository's config and a "clone-resume" command + can resume the clone in progress. (Resumption of subsequent fetches is more + difficult because that must deal with the user wanting to use the repository + even after the fetch was interrupted.) + +There are some possible features that will require a change in protocol: + + * Additional HTTP headers (e.g. authentication) + * Byte range support + * Different file formats referenced by URIs (e.g. raw object) diff --git a/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt b/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt index 7e3766cafb..5852f499a6 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt @@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ In protocol v2 these special packets will have the following semantics: * '0000' Flush Packet (flush-pkt) - indicates the end of a message * '0001' Delimiter Packet (delim-pkt) - separates sections of a message + * '0002' Message Packet (response-end-pkt) - indicates the end of a response + for stateless connections Initial Client Request ---------------------- @@ -323,13 +325,26 @@ included in the client's request: indicating its sideband (1, 2, or 3), and the server may send "0005\2" (a PKT-LINE of sideband 2 with no payload) as a keepalive packet. +If the 'packfile-uris' feature is advertised, the following argument +can be included in the client's request as well as the potential +addition of the 'packfile-uris' section in the server's response as +explained below. + + packfile-uris <comma-separated list of protocols> + Indicates to the server that the client is willing to receive + URIs of any of the given protocols in place of objects in the + sent packfile. Before performing the connectivity check, the + client should download from all given URIs. Currently, the + protocols supported are "http" and "https". + The response of `fetch` is broken into a number of sections separated by delimiter packets (0001), with each section beginning with its section -header. +header. Most sections are sent only when the packfile is sent. - output = *section - section = (acknowledgments | shallow-info | wanted-refs | packfile) - (flush-pkt | delim-pkt) + output = acknowledgements flush-pkt | + [acknowledgments delim-pkt] [shallow-info delim-pkt] + [wanted-refs delim-pkt] [packfile-uris delim-pkt] + packfile flush-pkt acknowledgments = PKT-LINE("acknowledgments" LF) (nak | *ack) @@ -347,13 +362,17 @@ header. *PKT-LINE(wanted-ref LF) wanted-ref = obj-id SP refname + packfile-uris = PKT-LINE("packfile-uris" LF) *packfile-uri + packfile-uri = PKT-LINE(40*(HEXDIGIT) SP *%x20-ff LF) + packfile = PKT-LINE("packfile" LF) *PKT-LINE(%x01-03 *%x00-ff) acknowledgments section - * If the client determines that it is finished with negotiations - by sending a "done" line, the acknowledgments sections MUST be - omitted from the server's response. + * If the client determines that it is finished with negotiations by + sending a "done" line (thus requiring the server to send a packfile), + the acknowledgments sections MUST be omitted from the server's + response. * Always begins with the section header "acknowledgments" @@ -404,9 +423,6 @@ header. which the client has not indicated was shallow as a part of its request. - * This section is only included if a packfile section is also - included in the response. - wanted-refs section * This section is only included if the client has requested a ref using a 'want-ref' line and if a packfile section is also @@ -420,6 +436,20 @@ header. * The server MUST NOT send any refs which were not requested using 'want-ref' lines. + packfile-uris section + * This section is only included if the client sent + 'packfile-uris' and the server has at least one such URI to + send. + + * Always begins with the section header "packfile-uris". + + * For each URI the server sends, it sends a hash of the pack's + contents (as output by git index-pack) followed by the URI. + + * The hashes are 40 hex characters long. When Git upgrades to a new + hash algorithm, this might need to be updated. (It should match + whatever index-pack outputs after "pack\t" or "keep\t". + packfile section * This section is only included if the client has sent 'want' lines in its request and either requested that no more diff --git a/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt b/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..2951840e9c --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/reftable.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1083 @@ +reftable +-------- + +Overview +~~~~~~~~ + +Problem statement +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Some repositories contain a lot of references (e.g. android at 866k, +rails at 31k). The existing packed-refs format takes up a lot of space +(e.g. 62M), and does not scale with additional references. Lookup of a +single reference requires linearly scanning the file. + +Atomic pushes modifying multiple references require copying the entire +packed-refs file, which can be a considerable amount of data moved +(e.g. 62M in, 62M out) for even small transactions (2 refs modified). + +Repositories with many loose references occupy a large number of disk +blocks from the local file system, as each reference is its own file +storing 41 bytes (and another file for the corresponding reflog). This +negatively affects the number of inodes available when a large number of +repositories are stored on the same filesystem. Readers can be penalized +due to the larger number of syscalls required to traverse and read the +`$GIT_DIR/refs` directory. + + +Objectives +^^^^^^^^^^ + +* Near constant time lookup for any single reference, even when the +repository is cold and not in process or kernel cache. +* Near constant time verification if an object name is referred to by at least +one reference (for allow-tip-sha1-in-want). +* Efficient enumeration of an entire namespace, such as `refs/tags/`. +* Support atomic push with `O(size_of_update)` operations. +* Combine reflog storage with ref storage for small transactions. +* Separate reflog storage for base refs and historical logs. + +Description +^^^^^^^^^^^ + +A reftable file is a portable binary file format customized for +reference storage. References are sorted, enabling linear scans, binary +search lookup, and range scans. + +Storage in the file is organized into variable sized blocks. Prefix +compression is used within a single block to reduce disk space. Block +size and alignment is tunable by the writer. + +Performance +^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Space used, packed-refs vs. reftable: + +[cols=",>,>,>,>,>",options="header",] +|=============================================================== +|repository |packed-refs |reftable |% original |avg ref |avg obj +|android |62.2 M |36.1 M |58.0% |33 bytes |5 bytes +|rails |1.8 M |1.1 M |57.7% |29 bytes |4 bytes +|git |78.7 K |48.1 K |61.0% |50 bytes |4 bytes +|git (heads) |332 b |269 b |81.0% |33 bytes |0 bytes +|=============================================================== + +Scan (read 866k refs), by reference name lookup (single ref from 866k +refs), and by SHA-1 lookup (refs with that SHA-1, from 866k refs): + +[cols=",>,>,>,>",options="header",] +|========================================================= +|format |cache |scan |by name |by SHA-1 +|packed-refs |cold |402 ms |409,660.1 usec |412,535.8 usec +|packed-refs |hot | |6,844.6 usec |20,110.1 usec +|reftable |cold |112 ms |33.9 usec |323.2 usec +|reftable |hot | |20.2 usec |320.8 usec +|========================================================= + +Space used for 149,932 log entries for 43,061 refs, reflog vs. reftable: + +[cols=",>,>",options="header",] +|================================ +|format |size |avg entry +|$GIT_DIR/logs |173 M |1209 bytes +|reftable |5 M |37 bytes +|================================ + +Details +~~~~~~~ + +Peeling +^^^^^^^ + +References stored in a reftable are peeled, a record for an annotated +(or signed) tag records both the tag object, and the object it refers +to. This is analogous to storage in the packed-refs format. + +Reference name encoding +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Reference names are an uninterpreted sequence of bytes that must pass +linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1] as a valid reference name. + +Key unicity +^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Each entry must have a unique key; repeated keys are disallowed. + +Network byte order +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +All multi-byte, fixed width fields are in network byte order. + +Varint encoding +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Varint encoding is identical to the ofs-delta encoding method used +within pack files. + +Decoder works such as: + +.... +val = buf[ptr] & 0x7f +while (buf[ptr] & 0x80) { + ptr++ + val = ((val + 1) << 7) | (buf[ptr] & 0x7f) +} +.... + +Ordering +^^^^^^^^ + +Blocks are lexicographically ordered by their first reference. + +Directory/file conflicts +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +The reftable format accepts both `refs/heads/foo` and +`refs/heads/foo/bar` as distinct references. + +This property is useful for retaining log records in reftable, but may +confuse versions of Git using `$GIT_DIR/refs` directory tree to maintain +references. Users of reftable may choose to continue to reject `foo` and +`foo/bar` type conflicts to prevent problems for peers. + +File format +~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Structure +^^^^^^^^^ + +A reftable file has the following high-level structure: + +.... +first_block { + header + first_ref_block +} +ref_block* +ref_index* +obj_block* +obj_index* +log_block* +log_index* +footer +.... + +A log-only file omits the `ref_block`, `ref_index`, `obj_block` and +`obj_index` sections, containing only the file header and log block: + +.... +first_block { + header +} +log_block* +log_index* +footer +.... + +in a log-only file the first log block immediately follows the file +header, without padding to block alignment. + +Block size +^^^^^^^^^^ + +The file's block size is arbitrarily determined by the writer, and does +not have to be a power of 2. The block size must be larger than the +longest reference name or log entry used in the repository, as +references cannot span blocks. + +Powers of two that are friendly to the virtual memory system or +filesystem (such as 4k or 8k) are recommended. Larger sizes (64k) can +yield better compression, with a possible increased cost incurred by +readers during access. + +The largest block size is `16777215` bytes (15.99 MiB). + +Block alignment +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Writers may choose to align blocks at multiples of the block size by +including `padding` filled with NUL bytes at the end of a block to round +out to the chosen alignment. When alignment is used, writers must +specify the alignment with the file header's `block_size` field. + +Block alignment is not required by the file format. Unaligned files must +set `block_size = 0` in the file header, and omit `padding`. Unaligned +files with more than one ref block must include the link:#Ref-index[ref +index] to support fast lookup. Readers must be able to read both aligned +and non-aligned files. + +Very small files (e.g. a single ref block) may omit `padding` and the ref +index to reduce total file size. + +Header (version 1) +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +A 24-byte header appears at the beginning of the file: + +.... +'REFT' +uint8( version_number = 1 ) +uint24( block_size ) +uint64( min_update_index ) +uint64( max_update_index ) +.... + +Aligned files must specify `block_size` to configure readers with the +expected block alignment. Unaligned files must set `block_size = 0`. + +The `min_update_index` and `max_update_index` describe bounds for the +`update_index` field of all log records in this file. When reftables are +used in a stack for link:#Update-transactions[transactions], these +fields can order the files such that the prior file's +`max_update_index + 1` is the next file's `min_update_index`. + +Header (version 2) +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +A 28-byte header appears at the beginning of the file: + +.... +'REFT' +uint8( version_number = 2 ) +uint24( block_size ) +uint64( min_update_index ) +uint64( max_update_index ) +uint32( hash_id ) +.... + +The header is identical to `version_number=1`, with the 4-byte hash ID +("sha1" for SHA1 and "s256" for SHA-256) append to the header. + +For maximum backward compatibility, it is recommended to use version 1 when +writing SHA1 reftables. + +First ref block +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +The first ref block shares the same block as the file header, and is 24 +bytes smaller than all other blocks in the file. The first block +immediately begins after the file header, at position 24. + +If the first block is a log block (a log-only file), its block header +begins immediately at position 24. + +Ref block format +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +A ref block is written as: + +.... +'r' +uint24( block_len ) +ref_record+ +uint24( restart_offset )+ +uint16( restart_count ) + +padding? +.... + +Blocks begin with `block_type = 'r'` and a 3-byte `block_len` which +encodes the number of bytes in the block up to, but not including the +optional `padding`. This is always less than or equal to the file's +block size. In the first ref block, `block_len` includes 24 bytes for +the file header. + +The 2-byte `restart_count` stores the number of entries in the +`restart_offset` list, which must not be empty. Readers can use +`restart_count` to binary search between restarts before starting a +linear scan. + +Exactly `restart_count` 3-byte `restart_offset` values precedes the +`restart_count`. Offsets are relative to the start of the block and +refer to the first byte of any `ref_record` whose name has not been +prefix compressed. Entries in the `restart_offset` list must be sorted, +ascending. Readers can start linear scans from any of these records. + +A variable number of `ref_record` fill the middle of the block, +describing reference names and values. The format is described below. + +As the first ref block shares the first file block with the file header, +all `restart_offset` in the first block are relative to the start of the +file (position 0), and include the file header. This forces the first +`restart_offset` to be `28`. + +ref record +++++++++++ + +A `ref_record` describes a single reference, storing both the name and +its value(s). Records are formatted as: + +.... +varint( prefix_length ) +varint( (suffix_length << 3) | value_type ) +suffix +varint( update_index_delta ) +value? +.... + +The `prefix_length` field specifies how many leading bytes of the prior +reference record's name should be copied to obtain this reference's +name. This must be 0 for the first reference in any block, and also must +be 0 for any `ref_record` whose offset is listed in the `restart_offset` +table at the end of the block. + +Recovering a reference name from any `ref_record` is a simple concat: + +.... +this_name = prior_name[0..prefix_length] + suffix +.... + +The `suffix_length` value provides the number of bytes available in +`suffix` to copy from `suffix` to complete the reference name. + +The `update_index` that last modified the reference can be obtained by +adding `update_index_delta` to the `min_update_index` from the file +header: `min_update_index + update_index_delta`. + +The `value` follows. Its format is determined by `value_type`, one of +the following: + +* `0x0`: deletion; no value data (see transactions, below) +* `0x1`: one object name; value of the ref +* `0x2`: two object names; value of the ref, peeled target +* `0x3`: symbolic reference: `varint( target_len ) target` + +Symbolic references use `0x3`, followed by the complete name of the +reference target. No compression is applied to the target name. + +Types `0x4..0x7` are reserved for future use. + +Ref index +^^^^^^^^^ + +The ref index stores the name of the last reference from every ref block +in the file, enabling reduced disk seeks for lookups. Any reference can +be found by searching the index, identifying the containing block, and +searching within that block. + +The index may be organized into a multi-level index, where the 1st level +index block points to additional ref index blocks (2nd level), which may +in turn point to either additional index blocks (e.g. 3rd level) or ref +blocks (leaf level). Disk reads required to access a ref go up with +higher index levels. Multi-level indexes may be required to ensure no +single index block exceeds the file format's max block size of +`16777215` bytes (15.99 MiB). To achieve constant O(1) disk seeks for +lookups the index must be a single level, which is permitted to exceed +the file's configured block size, but not the format's max block size of +15.99 MiB. + +If present, the ref index block(s) appears after the last ref block. + +If there are at least 4 ref blocks, a ref index block should be written +to improve lookup times. Cold reads using the index require 2 disk reads +(read index, read block), and binary searching < 4 blocks also requires +<= 2 reads. Omitting the index block from smaller files saves space. + +If the file is unaligned and contains more than one ref block, the ref +index must be written. + +Index block format: + +.... +'i' +uint24( block_len ) +index_record+ +uint24( restart_offset )+ +uint16( restart_count ) + +padding? +.... + +The index blocks begin with `block_type = 'i'` and a 3-byte `block_len` +which encodes the number of bytes in the block, up to but not including +the optional `padding`. + +The `restart_offset` and `restart_count` fields are identical in format, +meaning and usage as in ref blocks. + +To reduce the number of reads required for random access in very large +files the index block may be larger than other blocks. However, readers +must hold the entire index in memory to benefit from this, so it's a +time-space tradeoff in both file size and reader memory. + +Increasing the file's block size decreases the index size. Alternatively +a multi-level index may be used, keeping index blocks within the file's +block size, but increasing the number of blocks that need to be +accessed. + +index record +++++++++++++ + +An index record describes the last entry in another block. Index records +are written as: + +.... +varint( prefix_length ) +varint( (suffix_length << 3) | 0 ) +suffix +varint( block_position ) +.... + +Index records use prefix compression exactly like `ref_record`. + +Index records store `block_position` after the suffix, specifying the +absolute position in bytes (from the start of the file) of the block +that ends with this reference. Readers can seek to `block_position` to +begin reading the block header. + +Readers must examine the block header at `block_position` to determine +if the next block is another level index block, or the leaf-level ref +block. + +Reading the index ++++++++++++++++++ + +Readers loading the ref index must first read the footer (below) to +obtain `ref_index_position`. If not present, the position will be 0. The +`ref_index_position` is for the 1st level root of the ref index. + +Obj block format +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Object blocks are optional. Writers may choose to omit object blocks, +especially if readers will not use the object name to ref mapping. + +Object blocks use unique, abbreviated 2-32 object name keys, mapping to +ref blocks containing references pointing to that object directly, or as +the peeled value of an annotated tag. Like ref blocks, object blocks use +the file's standard block size. The abbrevation length is available in +the footer as `obj_id_len`. + +To save space in small files, object blocks may be omitted if the ref +index is not present, as brute force search will only need to read a few +ref blocks. When missing, readers should brute force a linear search of +all references to lookup by object name. + +An object block is written as: + +.... +'o' +uint24( block_len ) +obj_record+ +uint24( restart_offset )+ +uint16( restart_count ) + +padding? +.... + +Fields are identical to ref block. Binary search using the restart table +works the same as in reference blocks. + +Because object names are abbreviated by writers to the shortest unique +abbreviation within the reftable, obj key lengths have a variable length. Their +length must be at least 2 bytes. Readers must compare only for common prefix +match within an obj block or obj index. + +obj record +++++++++++ + +An `obj_record` describes a single object abbreviation, and the blocks +containing references using that unique abbreviation: + +.... +varint( prefix_length ) +varint( (suffix_length << 3) | cnt_3 ) +suffix +varint( cnt_large )? +varint( position_delta )* +.... + +Like in reference blocks, abbreviations are prefix compressed within an +obj block. On large reftables with many unique objects, higher block +sizes (64k), and higher restart interval (128), a `prefix_length` of 2 +or 3 and `suffix_length` of 3 may be common in obj records (unique +abbreviation of 5-6 raw bytes, 10-12 hex digits). + +Each record contains `position_count` number of positions for matching +ref blocks. For 1-7 positions the count is stored in `cnt_3`. When +`cnt_3 = 0` the actual count follows in a varint, `cnt_large`. + +The use of `cnt_3` bets most objects are pointed to by only a single +reference, some may be pointed to by a couple of references, and very +few (if any) are pointed to by more than 7 references. + +A special case exists when `cnt_3 = 0` and `cnt_large = 0`: there are no +`position_delta`, but at least one reference starts with this +abbreviation. A reader that needs exact reference names must scan all +references to find which specific references have the desired object. +Writers should use this format when the `position_delta` list would have +overflowed the file's block size due to a high number of references +pointing to the same object. + +The first `position_delta` is the position from the start of the file. +Additional `position_delta` entries are sorted ascending and relative to +the prior entry, e.g. a reader would perform: + +.... +pos = position_delta[0] +prior = pos +for (j = 1; j < position_count; j++) { + pos = prior + position_delta[j] + prior = pos +} +.... + +With a position in hand, a reader must linearly scan the ref block, +starting from the first `ref_record`, testing each reference's object names +(for `value_type = 0x1` or `0x2`) for full equality. Faster searching by +object name within a single ref block is not supported by the reftable format. +Smaller block sizes reduce the number of candidates this step must +consider. + +Obj index +^^^^^^^^^ + +The obj index stores the abbreviation from the last entry for every obj +block in the file, enabling reduced disk seeks for all lookups. It is +formatted exactly the same as the ref index, but refers to obj blocks. + +The obj index should be present if obj blocks are present, as obj blocks +should only be written in larger files. + +Readers loading the obj index must first read the footer (below) to +obtain `obj_index_position`. If not present, the position will be 0. + +Log block format +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Unlike ref and obj blocks, log blocks are always unaligned. + +Log blocks are variable in size, and do not match the `block_size` +specified in the file header or footer. Writers should choose an +appropriate buffer size to prepare a log block for deflation, such as +`2 * block_size`. + +A log block is written as: + +.... +'g' +uint24( block_len ) +zlib_deflate { + log_record+ + uint24( restart_offset )+ + uint16( restart_count ) +} +.... + +Log blocks look similar to ref blocks, except `block_type = 'g'`. + +The 4-byte block header is followed by the deflated block contents using +zlib deflate. The `block_len` in the header is the inflated size +(including 4-byte block header), and should be used by readers to +preallocate the inflation output buffer. A log block's `block_len` may +exceed the file's block size. + +Offsets within the log block (e.g. `restart_offset`) still include the +4-byte header. Readers may prefer prefixing the inflation output buffer +with the 4-byte header. + +Within the deflate container, a variable number of `log_record` describe +reference changes. The log record format is described below. See ref +block format (above) for a description of `restart_offset` and +`restart_count`. + +Because log blocks have no alignment or padding between blocks, readers +must keep track of the bytes consumed by the inflater to know where the +next log block begins. + +log record +++++++++++ + +Log record keys are structured as: + +.... +ref_name '\0' reverse_int64( update_index ) +.... + +where `update_index` is the unique transaction identifier. The +`update_index` field must be unique within the scope of a `ref_name`. +See the update transactions section below for further details. + +The `reverse_int64` function inverses the value so lexicographical +ordering the network byte order encoding sorts the more recent records +with higher `update_index` values first: + +.... +reverse_int64(int64 t) { + return 0xffffffffffffffff - t; +} +.... + +Log records have a similar starting structure to ref and index records, +utilizing the same prefix compression scheme applied to the log record +key described above. + +.... + varint( prefix_length ) + varint( (suffix_length << 3) | log_type ) + suffix + log_data { + old_id + new_id + varint( name_length ) name + varint( email_length ) email + varint( time_seconds ) + sint16( tz_offset ) + varint( message_length ) message + }? +.... + +Log record entries use `log_type` to indicate what follows: + +* `0x0`: deletion; no log data. +* `0x1`: standard git reflog data using `log_data` above. + +The `log_type = 0x0` is mostly useful for `git stash drop`, removing an +entry from the reflog of `refs/stash` in a transaction file (below), +without needing to rewrite larger files. Readers reading a stack of +reflogs must treat this as a deletion. + +For `log_type = 0x1`, the `log_data` section follows +linkgit:git-update-ref[1] logging and includes: + +* two object names (old id, new id) +* varint string of committer's name +* varint string of committer's email +* varint time in seconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970) +* 2-byte timezone offset in minutes (signed) +* varint string of message + +`tz_offset` is the absolute number of minutes from GMT the committer was +at the time of the update. For example `GMT-0800` is encoded in reftable +as `sint16(-480)` and `GMT+0230` is `sint16(150)`. + +The committer email does not contain `<` or `>`, it's the value normally +found between the `<>` in a git commit object header. + +The `message_length` may be 0, in which case there was no message +supplied for the update. + +Contrary to traditional reflog (which is a file), renames are encoded as +a combination of ref deletion and ref creation. A deletion is a log +record with a zero new_id, and a creation is a log record with a zero old_id. + +Reading the log ++++++++++++++++ + +Readers accessing the log must first read the footer (below) to +determine the `log_position`. The first block of the log begins at +`log_position` bytes since the start of the file. The `log_position` is +not block aligned. + +Importing logs +++++++++++++++ + +When importing from `$GIT_DIR/logs` writers should globally order all +log records roughly by timestamp while preserving file order, and assign +unique, increasing `update_index` values for each log line. Newer log +records get higher `update_index` values. + +Although an import may write only a single reftable file, the reftable +file must span many unique `update_index`, as each log line requires its +own `update_index` to preserve semantics. + +Log index +^^^^^^^^^ + +The log index stores the log key +(`refname \0 reverse_int64(update_index)`) for the last log record of +every log block in the file, supporting bounded-time lookup. + +A log index block must be written if 2 or more log blocks are written to +the file. If present, the log index appears after the last log block. +There is no padding used to align the log index to block alignment. + +Log index format is identical to ref index, except the keys are 9 bytes +longer to include `'\0'` and the 8-byte `reverse_int64(update_index)`. +Records use `block_position` to refer to the start of a log block. + +Reading the index ++++++++++++++++++ + +Readers loading the log index must first read the footer (below) to +obtain `log_index_position`. If not present, the position will be 0. + +Footer +^^^^^^ + +After the last block of the file, a file footer is written. It begins +like the file header, but is extended with additional data. + +.... + HEADER + + uint64( ref_index_position ) + uint64( (obj_position << 5) | obj_id_len ) + uint64( obj_index_position ) + + uint64( log_position ) + uint64( log_index_position ) + + uint32( CRC-32 of above ) +.... + +If a section is missing (e.g. ref index) the corresponding position +field (e.g. `ref_index_position`) will be 0. + +* `obj_position`: byte position for the first obj block. +* `obj_id_len`: number of bytes used to abbreviate object names in +obj blocks. +* `log_position`: byte position for the first log block. +* `ref_index_position`: byte position for the start of the ref index. +* `obj_index_position`: byte position for the start of the obj index. +* `log_index_position`: byte position for the start of the log index. + +The size of the footer is 68 bytes for version 1, and 72 bytes for +version 2. + +Reading the footer +++++++++++++++++++ + +Readers must first read the file start to determine the version +number. Then they seek to `file_length - FOOTER_LENGTH` to access the +footer. A trusted external source (such as `stat(2)`) is necessary to +obtain `file_length`. When reading the footer, readers must verify: + +* 4-byte magic is correct +* 1-byte version number is recognized +* 4-byte CRC-32 matches the other 64 bytes (including magic, and +version) + +Once verified, the other fields of the footer can be accessed. + +Empty tables +++++++++++++ + +A reftable may be empty. In this case, the file starts with a header +and is immediately followed by a footer. + +Binary search +^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Binary search within a block is supported by the `restart_offset` fields +at the end of the block. Readers can binary search through the restart +table to locate between which two restart points the sought reference or +key should appear. + +Each record identified by a `restart_offset` stores the complete key in +the `suffix` field of the record, making the compare operation during +binary search straightforward. + +Once a restart point lexicographically before the sought reference has +been identified, readers can linearly scan through the following record +entries to locate the sought record, terminating if the current record +sorts after (and therefore the sought key is not present). + +Restart point selection ++++++++++++++++++++++++ + +Writers determine the restart points at file creation. The process is +arbitrary, but every 16 or 64 records is recommended. Every 16 may be +more suitable for smaller block sizes (4k or 8k), every 64 for larger +block sizes (64k). + +More frequent restart points reduces prefix compression and increases +space consumed by the restart table, both of which increase file size. + +Less frequent restart points makes prefix compression more effective, +decreasing overall file size, with increased penalties for readers +walking through more records after the binary search step. + +A maximum of `65535` restart points per block is supported. + +Considerations +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Lightweight refs dominate +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +The reftable format assumes the vast majority of references are single +object names valued with common prefixes, such as Gerrit Code Review's +`refs/changes/` namespace, GitHub's `refs/pulls/` namespace, or many +lightweight tags in the `refs/tags/` namespace. + +Annotated tags storing the peeled object cost an additional object name per +reference. + +Low overhead +^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +A reftable with very few references (e.g. git.git with 5 heads) is 269 +bytes for reftable, vs. 332 bytes for packed-refs. This supports +reftable scaling down for transaction logs (below). + +Block size +^^^^^^^^^^ + +For a Gerrit Code Review type repository with many change refs, larger +block sizes (64 KiB) and less frequent restart points (every 64) yield +better compression due to more references within the block compressing +against the prior reference. + +Larger block sizes reduce the index size, as the reftable will require +fewer blocks to store the same number of references. + +Minimal disk seeks +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Assuming the index block has been loaded into memory, binary searching +for any single reference requires exactly 1 disk seek to load the +containing block. + +Scans and lookups dominate +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Scanning all references and lookup by name (or namespace such as +`refs/heads/`) are the most common activities performed on repositories. +Object names are stored directly with references to optimize this use case. + +Logs are infrequently read +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Logs are infrequently accessed, but can be large. Deflating log blocks +saves disk space, with some increased penalty at read time. + +Logs are stored in an isolated section from refs, reducing the burden on +reference readers that want to ignore logs. Further, historical logs can +be isolated into log-only files. + +Logs are read backwards +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Logs are frequently accessed backwards (most recent N records for master +to answer `master@{4}`), so log records are grouped by reference, and +sorted descending by update index. + +Repository format +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Version 1 +^^^^^^^^^ + +A repository must set its `$GIT_DIR/config` to configure reftable: + +.... +[core] + repositoryformatversion = 1 +[extensions] + refStorage = reftable +.... + +Layout +^^^^^^ + +A collection of reftable files are stored in the `$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`. + +Log-only files use the `.log` extension, while ref-only and mixed ref +and log files use `.ref`. extension. + +The stack ordering file is `$GIT_DIR/reftable/tables.list` and lists the +current files, one per line, in order, from oldest (base) to newest +(most recent): + +.... +$ cat .git/reftable/tables.list +00000001-00000001.log +00000002-00000002.ref +00000003-00000003.ref +.... + +Readers must read `$GIT_DIR/reftable/tables.list` to determine which +files are relevant right now, and search through the stack in reverse +order (last reftable is examined first). + +Reftable files not listed in `tables.list` may be new (and about to be +added to the stack by the active writer), or ancient and ready to be +pruned. + +Backward compatibility +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Older clients should continue to recognize the directory as a git +repository so they don't look for an enclosing repository in parent +directories. To this end, a reftable-enabled repository must contain the +following dummy files + +* `.git/HEAD`, a regular file containing `ref: refs/heads/.invalid`. +* `.git/refs/`, a directory +* `.git/refs/heads`, a regular file + +Readers +^^^^^^^ + +Readers can obtain a consistent snapshot of the reference space by +following: + +1. Open and read the `tables.list` file. +2. Open each of the reftable files that it mentions. +3. If any of the files is missing, goto 1. +4. Read from the now-open files as long as necessary. + +Update transactions +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Although reftables are immutable, mutations are supported by writing a +new reftable and atomically appending it to the stack: + +1. Acquire `tables.list.lock`. +2. Read `tables.list` to determine current reftables. +3. Select `update_index` to be most recent file's +`max_update_index + 1`. +4. Prepare temp reftable `tmp_XXXXXX`, including log entries. +5. Rename `tmp_XXXXXX` to `${update_index}-${update_index}.ref`. +6. Copy `tables.list` to `tables.list.lock`, appending file from (5). +7. Rename `tables.list.lock` to `tables.list`. + +During step 4 the new file's `min_update_index` and `max_update_index` +are both set to the `update_index` selected by step 3. All log records +for the transaction use the same `update_index` in their keys. This +enables later correlation of which references were updated by the same +transaction. + +Because a single `tables.list.lock` file is used to manage locking, the +repository is single-threaded for writers. Writers may have to busy-spin +(with backoff) around creating `tables.list.lock`, for up to an +acceptable wait period, aborting if the repository is too busy to +mutate. Application servers wrapped around repositories (e.g. Gerrit +Code Review) can layer their own lock/wait queue to improve fairness to +writers. + +Reference deletions +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Deletion of any reference can be explicitly stored by setting the `type` +to `0x0` and omitting the `value` field of the `ref_record`. This serves +as a tombstone, overriding any assertions about the existence of the +reference from earlier files in the stack. + +Compaction +^^^^^^^^^^ + +A partial stack of reftables can be compacted by merging references +using a straightforward merge join across reftables, selecting the most +recent value for output, and omitting deleted references that do not +appear in remaining, lower reftables. + +A compacted reftable should set its `min_update_index` to the smallest +of the input files' `min_update_index`, and its `max_update_index` +likewise to the largest input `max_update_index`. + +For sake of illustration, assume the stack currently consists of +reftable files (from oldest to newest): A, B, C, and D. The compactor is +going to compact B and C, leaving A and D alone. + +1. Obtain lock `tables.list.lock` and read the `tables.list` file. +2. Obtain locks `B.lock` and `C.lock`. Ownership of these locks +prevents other processes from trying to compact these files. +3. Release `tables.list.lock`. +4. Compact `B` and `C` into a temp file +`${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}_XXXXXX`. +5. Reacquire lock `tables.list.lock`. +6. Verify that `B` and `C` are still in the stack, in that order. This +should always be the case, assuming that other processes are adhering to +the locking protocol. +7. Rename `${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}_XXXXXX` to +`${min_update_index}-${max_update_index}.ref`. +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`. +10. Delete `B` and `C`, perhaps after a short sleep to avoid forcing +readers to backtrack. + +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. + +Alternatives considered +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +bzip packed-refs +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +`bzip2` can significantly shrink a large packed-refs file (e.g. 62 MiB +compresses to 23 MiB, 37%). However the bzip format does not support +random access to a single reference. Readers must inflate and discard +while performing a linear scan. + +Breaking packed-refs into chunks (individually compressing each chunk) +would reduce the amount of data a reader must inflate, but still leaves +the problem of indexing chunks to support readers efficiently locating +the correct chunk. + +Given the compression achieved by reftable's encoding, it does not seem +necessary to add the complexity of bzip/gzip/zlib. + +Michael Haggerty's alternate format +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Michael Haggerty proposed +link:https://lore.kernel.org/git/CAMy9T_HCnyc1g8XWOOWhe7nN0aEFyyBskV2aOMb_fe%2BwGvEJ7A%40mail.gmail.com/[an +alternate] format to reftable on the Git mailing list. This format uses +smaller chunks, without the restart table, and avoids block alignment +with padding. Reflog entries immediately follow each ref, and are thus +interleaved between refs. + +Performance testing indicates reftable is faster for lookups (51% +faster, 11.2 usec vs. 5.4 usec), although reftable produces a slightly +larger file (+ ~3.2%, 28.3M vs 29.2M): + +[cols=">,>,>,>",options="header",] +|===================================== +|format |size |seek cold |seek hot +|mh-alt |28.3 M |23.4 usec |11.2 usec +|reftable |29.2 M |19.9 usec |5.4 usec +|===================================== + +JGit Ketch RefTree +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +https://dev.eclipse.org/mhonarc/lists/jgit-dev/msg03073.html[JGit Ketch] +proposed +link:https://lore.kernel.org/git/CAJo%3DhJvnAPNAdDcAAwAvU9C4RVeQdoS3Ev9WTguHx4fD0V_nOg%40mail.gmail.com/[RefTree], +an encoding of references inside Git tree objects stored as part of the +repository's object database. + +The RefTree format adds additional load on the object database storage +layer (more loose objects, more objects in packs), and relies heavily on +the packer's delta compression to save space. Namespaces which are flat +(e.g. thousands of tags in refs/tags) initially create very large loose +objects, and so RefTree does not address the problem of copying many +references to modify a handful. + +Flat namespaces are not efficiently searchable in RefTree, as tree +objects in canonical formatting cannot be binary searched. This fails +the need to handle a large number of references in a single namespace, +such as GitHub's `refs/pulls`, or a project with many tags. + +LMDB +^^^^ + +David Turner proposed +https://lore.kernel.org/git/1455772670-21142-26-git-send-email-dturner@twopensource.com/[using +LMDB], as LMDB is lightweight (64k of runtime code) and GPL-compatible +license. + +A downside of LMDB is its reliance on a single C implementation. This +makes embedding inside JGit (a popular reimplementation of Git) +difficult, and hoisting onto virtual storage (for JGit DFS) virtually +impossible. + +A common format that can be supported by all major Git implementations +(git-core, JGit, libgit2) is strongly preferred. |