Re: [PATCH] fsck: do not loop infinitely when processing packs

> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 04:25:23AM -0500, Jeff King wrote:
> > On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 09:46:00AM +0100, Patrick Steinhardt wrote:
> > 
> > > As pointed out in [1] the root cause is actually something different,
> > > and we merely expose this now with the MRU-based iteration. But I
> > > wouldn't mind if we eventually switched back to maintaining two lists,
> > > or finding a different way for how to maintain the iteration order.
> > 
> > Maybe I don't understand what you're saying, but isn't the root cause
> > the same?
> > 
> > Code is iterating the list, and then during that iteration calls
> > find_pack_entry(). The fact that fsck only calls find_pack_entry() in
> > some subset of cases is immaterial, I'd think. The risk is always there
> > when iterating now.
> 
> It is, true. All I'm saying is that the problem runs a bit deeper, and
> that fixing the actual root cause would also fix the issue reported by
> brian.

> So we might want to have another look at hardening packfile iteration
> either by reinstating the second list for iteration or by extending
> `repo_for_each_pack()` to also set the `skip_updating_mru` bit. Over
> time though I'd rather get rid of `repo_for_each_pack()`, and once that
> is the case and packed object iteration is neatly encapsulated in the
> backend the risk of only having the MRU will be significantly reduced.