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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/config.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt | 56 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt | 109 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt | 77 |
4 files changed, 247 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt index 1c42364988..8283443c97 100644 --- a/Documentation/config.txt +++ b/Documentation/config.txt @@ -929,6 +929,11 @@ core.useReplaceRefs:: option was given on the command line. See linkgit:git[1] and linkgit:git-replace[1] for more information. +core.multiPackIndex:: + Use the multi-pack-index file to track multiple packfiles using a + single index. See link:technical/multi-pack-index.html[the + multi-pack-index design document]. + core.sparseCheckout:: Enable "sparse checkout" feature. See section "Sparse checkout" in linkgit:git-read-tree[1] for more information. diff --git a/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt b/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..1f97e79912 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-multi-pack-index.txt @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ +git-multi-pack-index(1) +======================= + +NAME +---- +git-multi-pack-index - Write and verify multi-pack-indexes + + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +[verse] +'git multi-pack-index' [--object-dir=<dir>] <verb> + +DESCRIPTION +----------- +Write or verify a multi-pack-index (MIDX) file. + +OPTIONS +------- + +--object-dir=<dir>:: + Use given directory for the location of Git objects. We check + `<dir>/packs/multi-pack-index` for the current MIDX file, and + `<dir>/packs` for the pack-files to index. + +write:: + When given as the verb, write a new MIDX file to + `<dir>/packs/multi-pack-index`. + + +EXAMPLES +-------- + +* Write a MIDX file for the packfiles in the current .git folder. ++ +----------------------------------------------- +$ git multi-pack-index write +----------------------------------------------- + +* Write a MIDX file for the packfiles in an alternate object store. ++ +----------------------------------------------- +$ git multi-pack-index --object-dir <alt> write +----------------------------------------------- + + +SEE ALSO +-------- +See link:technical/multi-pack-index.html[The Multi-Pack-Index Design +Document] and link:technical/pack-format.html[The Multi-Pack-Index +Format] for more information on the multi-pack-index feature. + + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite diff --git a/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt b/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..d7e57639f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/multi-pack-index.txt @@ -0,0 +1,109 @@ +Multi-Pack-Index (MIDX) Design Notes +==================================== + +The Git object directory contains a 'pack' directory containing +packfiles (with suffix ".pack") and pack-indexes (with suffix +".idx"). The pack-indexes provide a way to lookup objects and +navigate to their offset within the pack, but these must come +in pairs with the packfiles. This pairing depends on the file +names, as the pack-index differs only in suffix with its pack- +file. While the pack-indexes provide fast lookup per packfile, +this performance degrades as the number of packfiles increases, +because abbreviations need to inspect every packfile and we are +more likely to have a miss on our most-recently-used packfile. +For some large repositories, repacking into a single packfile +is not feasible due to storage space or excessive repack times. + +The multi-pack-index (MIDX for short) stores a list of objects +and their offsets into multiple packfiles. It contains: + +- A list of packfile names. +- A sorted list of object IDs. +- A list of metadata for the ith object ID including: + - A value j referring to the jth packfile. + - An offset within the jth packfile for the object. +- If large offsets are required, we use another list of large + offsets similar to version 2 pack-indexes. + +Thus, we can provide O(log N) lookup time for any number +of packfiles. + +Design Details +-------------- + +- The MIDX is stored in a file named 'multi-pack-index' in the + .git/objects/pack directory. This could be stored in the pack + directory of an alternate. It refers only to packfiles in that + same directory. + +- The pack.multiIndex config setting must be on to consume MIDX files. + +- The file format includes parameters for the object ID hash + function, so a future change of hash algorithm does not require + 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. + +- If there exist packfiles in the pack directory not registered in + the MIDX, then those packfiles are loaded into the `packed_git` + list and `packed_git_mru` cache. + +- The pack-indexes (.idx files) remain in the pack directory so we + can delete the MIDX file, set core.midx to false, or downgrade + without any loss of information. + +- The MIDX file format uses a chunk-based approach (similar to the + commit-graph file) that allows optional data to be added. + +Future Work +----------- + +- Add a 'verify' subcommand to the 'git midx' builtin to verify the + contents of the multi-pack-index file match the offsets listed in + the corresponding pack-indexes. + +- The multi-pack-index allows many packfiles, especially in a context + where repacking is expensive (such as a very large repo), or + unexpected maintenance time is unacceptable (such as a high-demand + build machine). However, the multi-pack-index needs to be rewritten + in full every time. We can extend the format to be incremental, so + writes are fast. By storing a small "tip" multi-pack-index that + points to large "base" MIDX files, we can keep writes fast while + still reducing the number of binary searches required for object + lookups. + +- The reachability bitmap is currently paired directly with a single + packfile, using the pack-order as the object order to hopefully + compress the bitmaps well using run-length encoding. This could be + extended to pair a reachability bitmap with a multi-pack-index. If + the multi-pack-index is extended to store a "stable object order" + (a function Order(hash) = integer that is constant for a given hash, + even as the multi-pack-index is updated) then a reachability bitmap + could point to a multi-pack-index and be updated independently. + +- Packfiles can be marked as "special" using empty files that share + the initial name but replace ".pack" with ".keep" or ".promisor". + We can add an optional chunk of data to the multi-pack-index that + records flags of information about the packfiles. This allows new + states, such as 'repacked' or 'redeltified', that can help with + pack maintenance in a multi-pack environment. It may also be + helpful to organize packfiles by object type (commit, tree, blob, + etc.) and use this metadata to help that maintenance. + +- The partial clone feature records special "promisor" packs that + may point to objects that are not stored locally, but available + on request to a server. The multi-pack-index does not currently + track these promisor packs. + +Related Links +------------- +[0] https://bugs.chromium.org/p/git/issues/detail?id=6 + Chromium work item for: Multi-Pack Index (MIDX) + +[1] https://public-inbox.org/git/20180107181459.222909-1-dstolee@microsoft.com/ + An earlier RFC for the multi-pack-index feature + +[2] https://public-inbox.org/git/alpine.DEB.2.20.1803091557510.23109@alexmv-linux/ + Git Merge 2018 Contributor's summit notes (includes discussion of MIDX) diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt index 70a99fd142..cab5bdd2ff 100644 --- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt +++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt @@ -252,3 +252,80 @@ Pack file entry: <+ corresponding packfile. 20-byte SHA-1-checksum of all of the above. + +== multi-pack-index (MIDX) files have the following format: + +The multi-pack-index files refer to multiple pack-files and loose objects. + +In order to allow extensions that add extra data to the MIDX, we organize +the body into "chunks" and provide a lookup table at the beginning of the +body. The header includes certain length values, such as the number of packs, +the number of base MIDX files, hash lengths and types. + +All 4-byte numbers are in network order. + +HEADER: + + 4-byte signature: + The signature is: {'M', 'I', 'D', 'X'} + + 1-byte version number: + Git only writes or recognizes version 1. + + 1-byte Object Id Version + Git only writes or recognizes version 1 (SHA1). + + 1-byte number of "chunks" + + 1-byte number of base multi-pack-index files: + This value is currently always zero. + + 4-byte number of pack files + +CHUNK LOOKUP: + + (C + 1) * 12 bytes providing the chunk offsets: + First 4 bytes describe chunk id. Value 0 is a terminating label. + Other 8 bytes provide offset in current file for chunk to start. + (Chunks are provided in file-order, so you can infer the length + using the next chunk position if necessary.) + + 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. + +CHUNK DATA: + + Packfile Names (ID: {'P', 'N', 'A', 'M'}) + Stores the packfile names as concatenated, null-terminated strings. + Packfiles must be listed in lexicographic order for fast lookups by + name. This is the only chunk not guaranteed to be a multiple of four + bytes in length, so should be the last chunk for alignment reasons. + + OID Fanout (ID: {'O', 'I', 'D', 'F'}) + The ith entry, F[i], stores the number of OIDs with first + byte at most i. Thus F[255] stores the total + number of objects. + + OID Lookup (ID: {'O', 'I', 'D', 'L'}) + The OIDs for all objects in the MIDX are stored in lexicographic + order in this chunk. + + Object Offsets (ID: {'O', 'O', 'F', 'F'}) + 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 + 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 + 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. + + [Optional] Object Large Offsets (ID: {'L', 'O', 'F', 'F'}) + 8-byte offsets into large packfiles. + +TRAILER: + + 20-byte SHA1-checksum of the above contents. |