Re: [PATCH 00/22] Lockfile refactoring and pre-activation

> I've had this patch series kicking around for a long time, along with
> some followup patches to fix a race in reference deletion.  I haven't
> had the time to get everything done and tested, but let me at least
> push this first series out there.  I especially want to submit it in
> case we accept a GSoC student for the project "Refactor tempfile
> handling", because (1) I don't want me and the student to be stepping
> on each others' toes, and (2) there are some cleanups and
> documentation improvements here that will hopefully be useful to the
> student.

> The first patch actually demonstrates the race condition that I hope
> to fix someday.  The last patch introduces the lockfile feature that I
> think is needed to fix it: the ability to activate a packed-refs file
> while still holding the lock to prevent another process from
> overwriting it before the accompanying loose reference updates are all
> finished.  But the fix itself is not included here, so you might want
> to keep the last patch on hold until there is a concrete user of the
> feature.