Re: [PATCH] Documentation/git-gc.txt: change --aggressive description

From: Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi>
Date: May 13, 2008, 11:08 UTC
Message-ID: <20080513110842.GB3088@mithlond.arda.local>
In-Reply-To: <20080513105728.GA3088@mithlond.arda.local>

Teemu Likonen wrote (2008-05-13 13:57 +0300):

Show 18 quoted lines

> Pieter de Bie wrote (2008-05-13 11:53 +0200):
> 
> > I keep seeing people regularly packing their repo with git gc
> > --aggressive. However, in my experience, this seldom results in
> > a smaller repository. This can be because the repository was
> > repacked tightly previously (for example, with a high --window
> > value) or because incremental "git gc" just makes better packs
> > anyway. Throwing away that information is often not a good idea.
> >
> > The documentation for the --aggressive flag was misleading, in that
> > it hints that you'll get a smaller pack, which is often not the
> > case.
> 
> This patch might be a good thing. But from ordinary user's point of
> view this raises questions: if gc --aggressive really is not that
> aggressive then the option itself is misleading. Why not change gc
> --aggressive to be really effective? Using high --window/--depth value
> etc.

I mean, what I'm seeing many places is suggestions to run

  git repack -a -d -f --window=100 --depth=100

to get the repo small. _If_ there's such a common need for this then wouldn't it be good thing if there was easy and self-descriptive command for it, such as gc --aggressive?