git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH v2 09/10] gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objects

From
Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Date
Mar 21, 2019, 20:50 UTC
Message-ID
<20190321205054.17109-10-avarab@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<20190318161502.7979-1-avarab@gmail.com>

Amend the "NOTES" section to fix up wording that's been with us since 3ffb58be0a ("doc/git-gc: add a note about what is collected", 2008-04-23).

I can't remember when/where anymore (I think Freenode #Git), but at some point I was having a conversation with someone who was convinced that "gc" would prune things only referenced by e.g. refs/pull/*, and pointed to this section as proof.

It turned out that they'd read the "branches and tags" wording here and thought just refs/{heads,tags}/* and refs/remotes/* etc. would be kept, which is what we enumerate explicitly.

So let's say "other refs", even though just above we say "objects that are referenced anywhere in your repository".

Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/git-gc.txt | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-gc.txt b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
index c50ec30c83..dced7cde09 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-gc.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@ anywhere in your repository. In
 particular, it will keep not only objects referenced by your current set
 of branches and tags, but also objects referenced by the index,
 remote-tracking branches, refs saved by 'git filter-branch' in
-refs/original/, or reflogs (which may reference commits in branches
-that were later amended or rewound).
+refs/original/, reflogs (which may reference commits in branches
+that were later amended or rewound), and anything else in the refs/* namespace.
 If you are expecting some objects to be deleted and they aren't, check
 all of those locations and decide whether it makes sense in your case to
 remove those references.

-- 
2.21.0.360.g471c308f928
Previous: Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonNext: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
Message 63 of 64 in “gc docs: modernize and fix the documentation”
  1. 0/4 gc docs: modernize and fix the documentationÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 18, 2019
  2. 1/4 gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 18, 2019
  3. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  4. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 18, 2019
  5. 2/4 gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 18, 2019
  6. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  7. Andreas HeidukMar 21, 2019
  8. Duy NguyenMar 19, 2019
  9. 3/4 gc docs: de-duplicate "OPTIONS" and "CONFIGURATION"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 18, 2019
  10. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  11. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 18, 2019
  12. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  13. 4/4 gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressiveÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 18, 2019
  14. Jonathan NiederMar 18, 2019
  15. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  16. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 18, 2019
  17. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  18. Johannes SixtMar 19, 2019
  19. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 19, 2019
  20. Jeff KingMar 18, 2019
  21. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 18, 2019
  22. Jeff KingMar 19, 2019
  23. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMay 6, 2019
  24. Jeff KingMay 7, 2019
  25. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMay 9, 2019
  26. Jeff KingJul 31, 2019
  27. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonJul 31, 2019
  28. 00/10 gc docs: modernize and fix the documentationÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  29. 00/11 gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  30. 01/11 gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  31. 02/11 gc docs: stop noting "repack" flagsÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  32. 03/11 gc docs: clean grammar for "gc.bigPackThreshold"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  33. 06/11 gc docs: fix formatting for "gc.writeCommitGraph"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  34. 05/11 gc docs: re-flow the "gc.*" section in "config"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  35. 07/11 gc docs: note how --aggressive impacts --window & --depthÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  36. 04/11 gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  37. Todd ZullingerMar 30, 2019
  38. 00/11 gc docs: modernize and fix the documentationÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  39. 01/11 gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  40. 02/11 gc docs: stop noting "repack" flagsÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  41. 03/11 gc docs: clean grammar for "gc.bigPackThreshold"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  42. 04/11 gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  43. 05/11 gc docs: re-flow the "gc.*" section in "config"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  44. 06/11 gc docs: fix formatting for "gc.writeCommitGraph"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  45. 07/11 gc docs: note how --aggressive impacts --window & --depthÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  46. 09/11 gc docs: note "gc --aggressive" in "fast-import"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  47. 10/11 gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objectsÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  48. 11/11 gc docs: remove incorrect reference to gc.auto=0Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  49. 08/11 gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressiveÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Apr 7, 2019
  50. 10/11 gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objectsÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  51. 08/11 gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressiveÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  52. 11/11 gc docs: remove incorrect reference to gc.auto=0Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  53. 09/11 gc docs: note "gc --aggressive" in "fast-import"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 22, 2019
  54. 02/10 gc docs: stop noting "repack" flagsÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  55. 01/10 gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  56. Junio C HamanoMar 22, 2019
  57. 03/10 gc docs: clean grammar for "gc.bigPackThreshold"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  58. 04/10 gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  59. 05/10 gc docs: re-flow the "gc.*" section in "config"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  60. 06/10 gc docs: note how --aggressive impacts --window & --depthÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  61. 07/10 gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressiveÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  62. 08/10 gc docs: note "gc --aggressive" in "fast-import"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  63. 09/10 gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objectsÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019
  64. 10/10 gc docs: remove incorrect reference to gc.auto=0Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 21, 2019

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.