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, which is the
 104         default.
 105
 106 --max-pack-size=<n>::
 107         Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with
 108         "k", "m", or "g". The minimum size allowed is limited to 1 MiB.
 109         If specified, multiple packfiles may be created, which also
 110         prevents the creation of a bitmap index.
 111         The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
 112         `pack.packSizeLimit` is set.
 113
 114 -b::
 115 --write-bitmap-index::
 116         Write a reachability bitmap index as part of the repack. This
 117         only makes sense when used with `-a` or `-A`, as the bitmaps
 118         must be able to refer to all reachable objects. This option
 119         overrides the setting of `repack.writeBitmaps`.  This option
 120         has no effect if multiple packfiles are created.
 121
 122 --pack-kept-objects::
 123         Include objects in `.keep` files when repacking.  Note that we
 124         still do not delete `.keep` packs after `pack-objects` finishes.
 125         This means that we may duplicate objects, but this makes the
 126         option safe to use when there are concurrent pushes or fetches.
 127         This option is generally only useful if you are writing bitmaps
 128         with `-b` or `repack.writeBitmaps`, as it ensures that the
 129         bitmapped packfile has the necessary objects.
 130
 131 Configuration
 132 -------------
 133
 134 By default, the command passes `--delta-base-offset` option to
 135 'git pack-objects'; this typically results in slightly smaller packs,
 136 but the generated packs are incompatible with versions of Git older than
 137 version 1.4.4. If you need to share your repository with such ancient Git
 138 versions, either directly or via the dumb http protocol, then you
 139 need to set the configuration variable `repack.UseDeltaBaseOffset` to
 140 "false" and repack. Access from old Git versions over the native protocol
 141 is unaffected by this option as the conversion is performed on the fly
 142 as needed in that case.
 143
 144 SEE ALSO
 145 --------
 146 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 147 linkgit:git-prune-packed[1]
 148
 149 GIT
 150 ---
 151 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite