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[PATCH 15/23] Introduce "sparse checkout"

From
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com>
Date
Dec 14, 2009, 10:30 UTC
Message-ID
<1260786666-8405-16-git-send-email-pclouds@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<1260786666-8405-1-git-send-email-pclouds@gmail.com>

With skip-worktree bit, you can manually set it to unwanted files, then remove them: you would have the so-called sparse checkout. The disadvantages are:

 - Porcelain tools are not aware of this. Everytime you do an
   operation that may update working directory, skip-worktree may be
   cleared out. You have to set them again.
 - You still have to remove skip-worktree'd files manually, which is
   boring and ineffective.

These will be addressed in the following patches. This patch gives an idea what is "sparse checkout" in Documentation/git-read-tree.txt. This file is chosen instead of git-checkout.txt because it is quite technical and user-unfriendly. I'd expect git-checkout.txt to have something when Porcelain support is done.

Signed-off-by: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 Documentation/git-read-tree.txt |   44 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 files changed, 44 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt
index 4a932b0..8b39716 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-read-tree.txt
@@ -360,6 +360,50 @@ middle of doing, and when your working tree is ready (i.e. you
 have finished your work-in-progress), attempt the merge again.
 
 
+Sparse checkout
+---------------
+
+"Sparse checkout" allows to sparsely populate working directory.
+It uses skip-worktree bit (see linkgit:git-update-index[1]) to tell
+Git whether a file on working directory is worth looking at.
+
+"git read-tree" and other merge-based commands ("git merge", "git
+checkout"...) can help maintaining skip-worktree bitmap and working
+directory update. `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` is used to
+define the skip-worktree reference bitmap. When "git read-tree" needs
+to update working directory, it will reset skip-worktree bit in index
+based on this file, which uses the same syntax as .gitignore files.
+If an entry matches a pattern in this file, skip-worktree will be
+set on that entry. Otherwise, skip-worktree will be unset.
+
+Then it compares the new skip-worktree value with the previous one. If
+skip-worktree turns from unset to set, it will add the corresponding
+file back. If it turns from set to unset, that file will be removed.
+
+While `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` is usually used to specify what
+files are in. You can also specify what files are _not_ in, using
+negate patterns. For example, to remove file "unwanted":
+
+----------------
+*
+!unwanted
+----------------
+
+Another tricky thing is fully repopulating working directory when you
+no longer want sparse checkout. You cannot just disable "sparse
+checkout" because skip-worktree are still in the index and you working
+directory is still sparsely populated. You should re-populate working
+directory with the `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` file content as
+follows:
+
+----------------
+*
+----------------
+
+Then you can disable sparse checkout. Sparse checkout support in "git
+read-tree" and similar commands is disabled by default.
+
+
 SEE ALSO
 --------
 linkgit:git-write-tree[1]; linkgit:git-ls-files[1];
-- 
1.6.5.2.216.g9c1ec
Previous: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc DuyNext: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy
Message 20 of 30 in “nd/sparse reroll”
  1. 00/23 nd/sparse rerollNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  2. 01/23 update-index: refactor mark_valid() in preparation for new optionsNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  3. 02/23 Add test-index-versionNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  4. 03/23 Introduce "skip-worktree" bit in index, teach Git to get/set this bitNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  5. Greg PriceDec 14, 2009
  6. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyDec 15, 2009
  7. Johannes SixtDec 15, 2009
  8. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyDec 15, 2009
  9. 04/23 update-index: ignore update request if it's skip-worktreeNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  10. 05/23 Teach ls-files and update-index to respect skip-worktree bitNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  11. 06/23 Teach diff machinery to respect skip-worktree bitNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  12. 07/23 Teach grep to respect skip-worktree bitNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  13. 08/23 Teach commit to respect skip-worktree bitNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  14. 09/23 Teach Git to respect skip-worktree bit (writing part)Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  15. 10/23 Avoid writing to buffer in add_excludes_from_file_1()Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  16. 11/23 Read .gitignore from index if it is skip-worktreeNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  17. 12/23 unpack-trees(): carry skip-worktree bit over in merged_entry()Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  18. 13/23 excluded_1(): support exclude files in indexNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  19. 14/23 dir.c: export excluded_1() and add_excludes_from_file_1()Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  20. 15/23 Introduce "sparse checkout"Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  21. 16/23 unpack-trees(): add CE_WT_REMOVE to remove on worktree aloneNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  22. 17/23 unpack-trees.c: generalize verify_* functionsNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  23. 18/23 unpack-trees(): "enable" sparse checkout and load $GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkoutNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  24. 19/23 unpack_trees(): apply $GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout to the final indexNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  25. 20/23 unpack-trees(): ignore worktree check outside checkout areaNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  26. 21/23 read-tree: add --no-sparse-checkout to disable sparse checkout supportNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  27. 22/23 Add tests for sparse checkoutNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  28. 23/23 sparse checkout: inhibit empty worktreeNguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy, Dec 14, 2009
  29. Johannes SixtDec 14, 2009
  30. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyDec 14, 2009

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