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Re: "git gc" doesn't seem to remove loose objects any more

From
Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
Date
Dec 15, 2008, 16:59 UTC
Message-ID
<200812151759.44420.johan@herland.net>
In-Reply-To
<20081215161212.GE31145@sirena.org.uk>
On Monday 15 December 2008, Mark Brown wrote:
Show 19 quoted lines
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:56:10AM -0500, Theodore Tso wrote:
> > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 03:08:34PM +0100, Bj?rn Steinbrink wrote:
> > > To clarify that a bit more: git gc keeps unreachable objects
> > > unpacked, so that git prune can drop them. And git gc invokes git
> > > prune so that only unreachable objects older than 2 weeks are
> > > dropped.
> >
> > To be even more explicit, "git gc" will **unpack** objects that
> > have become unreachable and were currently in packs.  As a result,
> > the amount of disk space used by a git repository can actually go
> > **up** dramatically after a "git gc" operation, which could be
> > surprising for someone who is running close to full on their
> > filesystem, deletes a number of branches from a tracking
> > repository, and then does a "git gc" may get a very unpleasant
> > surprise.
>
> It can also cause things like the "please repack" warning in git gui
> to go off.  This is especially unhelpful since they tend to tell you
> to go and do a gc to resolve the problem.

Instead of exploding all unreachable objects into loose objects, does it make sense to repack them into a separate pack? AFAICS, that would solve both the disk usage problem and the git-gui-"please repack" problem. Also, it might make git-prune's job much easier, since unreachable objects are now located in a single pack only?

Have fun!
...Johan
-- 
Johan Herland, <johan@herland.net>
www.herland.net
Previous: Mark BrownNext: Mikael Magnusson
Message 7 of 12 in “"git gc" doesn't seem to remove loose objects any more”
  1. Bruce StephensDec 15, 2008
  2. Mikael MagnussonDec 15, 2008
  3. Bruce StephensDec 15, 2008
  4. Björn SteinbrinkDec 15, 2008
  5. Theodore TsoDec 15, 2008
  6. Mark BrownDec 15, 2008
  7. Johan HerlandDec 15, 2008
  8. Mikael MagnussonDec 15, 2008
  9. Jakub NarebskiDec 15, 2008
  10. Theodore TsoDec 15, 2008
  11. Brandon CaseyDec 15, 2008
  12. objects to be pruned immediately don't have to be loosenedNicolas Pitre, Dec 15, 2008

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