Documentation/git-repack.txt

   1 git-repack(1)
   2 =============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-repack - Pack unpacked objects in a repository
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git repack' [-a] [-A] [-d] [-f] [-F] [-l] [-n] [-q] [-b] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
  13
  14 DESCRIPTION
  15 -----------
  16
  17 This command is used to combine all objects that do not currently
  18 reside in a "pack", into a pack.  It can also be used to re-organize
  19 existing packs into a single, more efficient pack.
  20
  21 A pack is a collection of objects, individually compressed, with
  22 delta compression applied, stored in a single file, with an
  23 associated index file.
  24
  25 Packs are used to reduce the load on mirror systems, backup
  26 engines, disk storage, etc.
  27
  28 OPTIONS
  29 -------
  30
  31 -a::
  32         Instead of incrementally packing the unpacked objects,
  33         pack everything referenced into a single pack.
  34         Especially useful when packing a repository that is used
  35         for private development. Use
  36         with `-d`.  This will clean up the objects that `git prune`
  37         leaves behind, but `git fsck --full --dangling` shows as
  38         dangling.
  39 +
  40 Note that users fetching over dumb protocols will have to fetch the
  41 whole new pack in order to get any contained object, no matter how many
  42 other objects in that pack they already have locally.
  43
  44 -A::
  45         Same as `-a`, unless `-d` is used.  Then any unreachable
  46         objects in a previous pack become loose, unpacked objects,
  47         instead of being left in the old pack.  Unreachable objects
  48         are never intentionally added to a pack, even when repacking.
  49         This option prevents unreachable objects from being immediately
  50         deleted by way of being left in the old pack and then
  51         removed.  Instead, the loose unreachable objects
  52         will be pruned according to normal expiry rules
  53         with the next 'git gc' invocation. See linkgit:git-gc[1].
  54
  55 -d::
  56         After packing, if the newly created packs make some
  57         existing packs redundant, remove the redundant packs.
  58         Also run  'git prune-packed' to remove redundant
  59         loose object files.
  60
  61 -l::
  62         Pass the `--local` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
  63         linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  64
  65 -f::
  66         Pass the `--no-reuse-delta` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
  67         linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  68
  69 -F::
  70         Pass the `--no-reuse-object` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
  71         linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  72
  73 -q::
  74         Pass the `-q` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
  75         linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  76
  77 -n::
  78         Do not update the server information with
  79         'git update-server-info'.  This option skips
  80         updating local catalog files needed to publish
  81         this repository (or a direct copy of it)
  82         over HTTP or FTP.  See linkgit:git-update-server-info[1].
  83
  84 --window=<n>::
  85 --depth=<n>::
  86         These two options affect how the objects contained in the pack are
  87         stored using delta compression. The objects are first internally
  88         sorted by type, size and optionally names and compared against the
  89         other objects within `--window` to see if using delta compression saves
  90         space. `--depth` limits the maximum delta depth; making it too deep
  91         affects the performance on the unpacker side, because delta data needs
  92         to be applied that many times to get to the necessary object.
  93         The default value for --window is 10 and --depth is 50.
  94
  95 --window-memory=<n>::
  96         This option provides an additional limit on top of `--window`;
  97         the window size will dynamically scale down so as to not take
  98         up more than '<n>' bytes in memory.  This is useful in
  99         repositories with a mix of large and small objects to not run
 100         out of memory with a large window, but still be able to take
 101         advantage of the large window for the smaller objects.  The
 102         size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".
 103         `--window-memory=0` makes memory usage unlimited.  The default
 104         is taken from the `pack.windowMemory` configuration variable.
 105         Note that the actual memory usage will be the limit multiplied
 106         by the number of threads used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
 107
 108 --max-pack-size=<n>::
 109         Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with
 110         "k", "m", or "g". The minimum size allowed is limited to 1 MiB.
 111         If specified, multiple packfiles may be created, which also
 112         prevents the creation of a bitmap index.
 113         The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
 114         `pack.packSizeLimit` is set.
 115
 116 -b::
 117 --write-bitmap-index::
 118         Write a reachability bitmap index as part of the repack. This
 119         only makes sense when used with `-a` or `-A`, as the bitmaps
 120         must be able to refer to all reachable objects. This option
 121         overrides the setting of `repack.writeBitmaps`.  This option
 122         has no effect if multiple packfiles are created.
 123
 124 --pack-kept-objects::
 125         Include objects in `.keep` files when repacking.  Note that we
 126         still do not delete `.keep` packs after `pack-objects` finishes.
 127         This means that we may duplicate objects, but this makes the
 128         option safe to use when there are concurrent pushes or fetches.
 129         This option is generally only useful if you are writing bitmaps
 130         with `-b` or `repack.writeBitmaps`, as it ensures that the
 131         bitmapped packfile has the necessary objects.
 132
 133 --unpack-unreachable=<when>::
 134         When loosening unreachable objects, do not bother loosening any
 135         objects older than `<when>`. This can be used to optimize out
 136         the write of any objects that would be immediately pruned by
 137         a follow-up `git prune`.
 138
 139 -k::
 140 --keep-unreachable::
 141         When used with `-ad`, any unreachable objects from existing
 142         packs will be appended to the end of the packfile instead of
 143         being removed. In addition, any unreachable loose objects will
 144         be packed (and their loose counterparts removed).
 145
 146 Configuration
 147 -------------
 148
 149 By default, the command passes `--delta-base-offset` option to
 150 'git pack-objects'; this typically results in slightly smaller packs,
 151 but the generated packs are incompatible with versions of Git older than
 152 version 1.4.4. If you need to share your repository with such ancient Git
 153 versions, either directly or via the dumb http protocol, then you
 154 need to set the configuration variable `repack.UseDeltaBaseOffset` to
 155 "false" and repack. Access from old Git versions over the native protocol
 156 is unaffected by this option as the conversion is performed on the fly
 157 as needed in that case.
 158
 159 SEE ALSO
 160 --------
 161 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 162 linkgit:git-prune-packed[1]
 163
 164 GIT
 165 ---
 166 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite