diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/Makefile | 1 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/RelNotes/2.32.0.txt | 32 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/config/checkout.txt | 21 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/config/index.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/config/log.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/diff-options.txt | 20 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/fetch-options.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-maintenance.txt | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt | 14 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git.txt | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/index-format.txt | 19 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/parallel-checkout.txt | 270 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/sparse-index.txt | 208 |
13 files changed, 598 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile index 874a01d7a8..c2baad0bd8 100644 --- a/Documentation/Makefile +++ b/Documentation/Makefile @@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ TECH_DOCS += technical/multi-pack-index TECH_DOCS += technical/pack-format TECH_DOCS += technical/pack-heuristics TECH_DOCS += technical/pack-protocol +TECH_DOCS += technical/parallel-checkout TECH_DOCS += technical/partial-clone TECH_DOCS += technical/protocol-capabilities TECH_DOCS += technical/protocol-common diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.32.0.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.32.0.txt index 3f73411286..f4e5191ae2 100644 --- a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.32.0.txt +++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.32.0.txt @@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ UI, Workflows & Features * Userdiff patterns for "Scheme" has been added. + * "git log" learned "--diff-merges=<style>" option, with an + associated configuration variable log.diffMerges. + Performance, Internal Implementation, Development Support etc. @@ -131,6 +134,21 @@ Performance, Internal Implementation, Development Support etc. * A bit of code clean-up and a lot of test clean-up around userdiff area. + * Handling of "promisor packs" that allows certain objects to be + missing and lazily retrievable has been optimized (a bit). + + * When packet_write() fails, we gave an extra error message + unnecessarily, which has been corrected. + + * The checkout machinery has been taught to perform the actual + write-out of the files in parallel when able. + + * Show errno in the trace output in the error codepath that calls + read_raw_ref method. + + * Effort to make the command line completion (in contrib/) safe with + "set -u" continues. + Fixes since v2.31 ----------------- @@ -230,6 +248,20 @@ Fixes since v2.31 corrected. (merge 56550ea718 sg/bugreport-fixes later to maint). + * "git push --quiet --set-upstream" was not quiet when setting the + upstream branch configuration, which has been corrected. + (merge f3cce896a8 ow/push-quiet-set-upstream later to maint). + + * The prefetch task in "git maintenance" assumed that "git fetch" + from any remote would fetch all its local branches, which would + fetch too much if the user is interested in only a subset of + branches there. + (merge 32f67888d8 ds/maintenance-prefetch-fix later to maint). + + * Clarify that pathnames recorded in Git trees are most often (but + not necessarily) encoded in UTF-8. + (merge 9364bf465d ab/pathname-encoding-doc later to maint). + * Other code cleanup, docfix, build fix, etc. (merge f451960708 dl/cat-file-doc-cleanup later to maint). (merge 12604a8d0c sv/t9801-test-path-is-file-cleanup later to maint). diff --git a/Documentation/config/checkout.txt b/Documentation/config/checkout.txt index 2cddf7b4b4..bfbca90f0e 100644 --- a/Documentation/config/checkout.txt +++ b/Documentation/config/checkout.txt @@ -21,3 +21,24 @@ checkout.guess:: Provides the default value for the `--guess` or `--no-guess` option in `git checkout` and `git switch`. See linkgit:git-switch[1] and linkgit:git-checkout[1]. + +checkout.workers:: + The number of parallel workers to use when updating the working tree. + The default is one, i.e. sequential execution. If set to a value less + than one, Git will use as many workers as the number of logical cores + available. This setting and `checkout.thresholdForParallelism` affect + all commands that perform checkout. E.g. checkout, clone, reset, + sparse-checkout, etc. ++ +Note: parallel checkout usually delivers better performance for repositories +located on SSDs or over NFS. For repositories on spinning disks and/or machines +with a small number of cores, the default sequential checkout often performs +better. The size and compression level of a repository might also influence how +well the parallel version performs. + +checkout.thresholdForParallelism:: + When running parallel checkout with a small number of files, the cost + of subprocess spawning and inter-process communication might outweigh + the parallelization gains. This setting allows to define the minimum + number of files for which parallel checkout should be attempted. The + default is 100. diff --git a/Documentation/config/index.txt b/Documentation/config/index.txt index 7cb50b37e9..75f3a2d105 100644 --- a/Documentation/config/index.txt +++ b/Documentation/config/index.txt @@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ index.recordOffsetTable:: Defaults to 'true' if index.threads has been explicitly enabled, 'false' otherwise. +index.sparse:: + When enabled, write the index using sparse-directory entries. This + has no effect unless `core.sparseCheckout` and + `core.sparseCheckoutCone` are both enabled. Defaults to 'false'. + index.threads:: Specifies the number of threads to spawn when loading the index. This is meant to reduce index load time on multiprocessor machines. diff --git a/Documentation/config/log.txt b/Documentation/config/log.txt index 208d5fdcaa..456eb07800 100644 --- a/Documentation/config/log.txt +++ b/Documentation/config/log.txt @@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ log.excludeDecoration:: the config option can be overridden by the `--decorate-refs` option. +log.diffMerges:: + Set default diff format to be used for merge commits. See + `--diff-merges` in linkgit:git-log[1] for details. + Defaults to `separate`. + log.follow:: If `true`, `git log` will act as if the `--follow` option was used when a single <path> is given. This has the same limitations as `--follow`, diff --git a/Documentation/diff-options.txt b/Documentation/diff-options.txt index aa2b5c11f2..530d115914 100644 --- a/Documentation/diff-options.txt +++ b/Documentation/diff-options.txt @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ endif::git-diff[] endif::git-format-patch[] ifdef::git-log[] ---diff-merges=(off|none|first-parent|1|separate|m|combined|c|dense-combined|cc):: +--diff-merges=(off|none|on|first-parent|1|separate|m|combined|c|dense-combined|cc):: --no-diff-merges:: Specify diff format to be used for merge commits. Default is {diff-merges-default} unless `--first-parent` is in use, in which case @@ -45,17 +45,24 @@ ifdef::git-log[] Disable output of diffs for merge commits. Useful to override implied value. + +--diff-merges=on::: +--diff-merges=m::: +-m::: + This option makes diff output for merge commits to be shown in + the default format. `-m` will produce the output only if `-p` + is given as well. The default format could be changed using + `log.diffMerges` configuration parameter, which default value + is `separate`. ++ --diff-merges=first-parent::: --diff-merges=1::: This option makes merge commits show the full diff with respect to the first parent only. + --diff-merges=separate::: ---diff-merges=m::: --m::: This makes merge commits show the full diff with respect to each of the parents. Separate log entry and diff is generated - for each parent. `-m` doesn't produce any output without `-p`. + for each parent. + --diff-merges=combined::: --diff-merges=c::: @@ -293,11 +300,14 @@ explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath` (see linkgit:git-config[1]). --name-only:: - Show only names of changed files. + Show only names of changed files. The file names are often encoded in UTF-8. + For more information see the discussion about encoding in the linkgit:git-log[1] + manual page. --name-status:: Show only names and status of changed files. See the description of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean. + Just like `--name-only` the file names are often encoded in UTF-8. --submodule[=<format>]:: Specify how differences in submodules are shown. When specifying diff --git a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt index 07783deee3..9e7b4e189c 100644 --- a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt +++ b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt @@ -110,6 +110,11 @@ ifndef::git-pull[] setting `fetch.writeCommitGraph`. endif::git-pull[] +--prefetch:: + Modify the configured refspec to place all refs into the + `refs/prefetch/` namespace. See the `prefetch` task in + linkgit:git-maintenance[1]. + -p:: --prune:: Before fetching, remove any remote-tracking references that no diff --git a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt index 80ddd33ceb..1e738ad398 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt @@ -92,10 +92,8 @@ commit-graph:: prefetch:: The `prefetch` task updates the object directory with the latest objects from all registered remotes. For each remote, a `git fetch` - command is run. The refmap is custom to avoid updating local or remote - branches (those in `refs/heads` or `refs/remotes`). Instead, the - remote refs are stored in `refs/prefetch/<remote>/`. Also, tags are - not updated. + command is run. The configured refspec is modified to place all + requested refs within `refs/prefetch/`. Also, tags are not updated. + This is done to avoid disrupting the remote-tracking branches. The end users expect these refs to stay unmoved unless they initiate a fetch. With prefetch diff --git a/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt b/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt index a0eeaeb02e..fdcf43f87c 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt @@ -45,6 +45,20 @@ To avoid interfering with other worktrees, it first enables the When `--cone` is provided, the `core.sparseCheckoutCone` setting is also set, allowing for better performance with a limited set of patterns (see 'CONE PATTERN SET' below). ++ +Use the `--[no-]sparse-index` option to toggle the use of the sparse +index format. This reduces the size of the index to be more closely +aligned with your sparse-checkout definition. This can have significant +performance advantages for commands such as `git status` or `git add`. +This feature is still experimental. Some commands might be slower with +a sparse index until they are properly integrated with the feature. ++ +**WARNING:** Using a sparse index requires modifying the index in a way +that is not completely understood by external tools. If you have trouble +with this compatibility, then run `git sparse-checkout init --no-sparse-index` +to rewrite your index to not be sparse. Older versions of Git will not +understand the sparse directory entries index extension and may fail to +interact with your repository until it is disabled. 'set':: Write a set of patterns to the sparse-checkout file, as given as diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt index 3a9c44987f..ba5c8e9d98 100644 --- a/Documentation/git.txt +++ b/Documentation/git.txt @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ SYNOPSIS [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path] [-p|--paginate|-P|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare] [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>] - [--super-prefix=<path>] [--config-env <name>=<envvar>] + [--super-prefix=<path>] [--config-env=<name>=<envvar>] <command> [<args>] DESCRIPTION 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/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/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` |