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

[GSoC PATCH v4 0/7] repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clones

From
Siddharth Shrimali <r.siddharth.shrimali@gmail.com>
Date
Aug 10, 2026, 17:40 UTC
Message-ID
<20260810174047.6524-1-r.siddharth.shrimali@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<20260806112202.75067-1-r.siddharth.shrimali@gmail.com>
This is v4. v3 was at [1].

Partial clones let you work with large repositories without downloading every blob up front. Missing blobs are lazily fetched from the promisor remote on demand. Over time these accumulate locally and there is currently no safe, built-in way to reclaim that space short of re-cloning. This series adds that reverse direction: enumerate promisor blobs over a size threshold, drop them locally, and rely on the existing lazy-fetch machinery to bring them back transparently when needed.

How it works:
  * Enumerate promisor objects directly (ODB_FOR_EACH_OBJECT_PROMISOR_ONLY)
    and select the blobs exceeding the filter threshold. Every enumerated
    object is a promisor object, so it is recoverable from the promisor
    remote as long as the remote still has it, the same assumption the
    rest of partial clone relies on.
  * Rebuild the promisor pack without the selected blobs, reusing the
    existing repack machinery, so the drop is crash-safe (write, fsync,
    install, then delete the old pack).
  * --dry-run lists the candidates and changes nothing.

The guards refuse to run while a merge, rebase, am, cherry-pick, revert, or bisect is in progress, and refuse to drop a blob referenced by the current index. Dropped objects stay recoverable via lazy fetch, so these are a convenience (avoid pointless re-fetch and a surprising mid-operation fetch) rather than a correctness measure. Both are skipped for bare repositories.

Changes since v3:
  * fixed the git repack -h usage string to include --drop-filtered and
    --dry-run, so it matches the SYNOPSIS in the documentation (t0450
    was failing - caught by Junio)
  * converted a bare grep in the test to test_grep (test-lint error -
    caught by Junio)
  * removed a stray bracket in the documentation SYNOPSIS
To do:
  * remote verification: verifying against the remote awaits the
    "remote-object-info" cat-file protocol command
  * recency: a "don't cull recently-fetched objects" rule as another
    selection criterion alongside size
  * drop log: introduce with the error-path change that reads it
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/20260806112202.75067-1-r.siddharth.shrimali@gmail.com/
Siddharth Shrimali (7):
  builtin/repack.c: add --drop-filtered and --dry-run options
  list-objects-filter: add list_objects_filter__filter_oidset()
  repack-promisor: allow excluding objects from the rebuilt promisor
    pack
  builtin/repack: enumerate promisor blobs for --drop-filtered
  builtin/repack: actually drop filtered promisor blobs
  builtin/repack: add guards for --drop-filtered
  Documentation/git-repack: document --drop-filtered and --dry-run
 Documentation/git-repack.adoc   |  37 +++++++
 builtin/repack.c                | 151 +++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 list-objects-filter.c           |  45 ++++++++
 list-objects-filter.h           |  16 +++
 repack-filtered.c               |  82 ++++++++++++++
 repack-promisor.c               |  15 ++-
 repack.h                        |   8 +-
 t/meson.build                   |   1 +
 t/t7706-repack-drop-filtered.sh | 185 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 9 files changed, 533 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
 create mode 100755 t/t7706-repack-drop-filtered.sh
-- 
2.54.0
Previous: Siddharth ShrimaliNext: Siddharth Shrimali
Message 48 of 76 in “repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clones”
  1. 0/7 repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clonesSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  2. 1/7 builtin/repack.c: add --drop-filtered and --dry-run optionsSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  3. Junio C HamanoJul 16, 2026
  4. Siddharth ShrimaliJul 17, 2026
  5. Siddharth AsthanaJul 23, 2026
  6. Christian CouderJul 18, 2026
  7. Siddharth ShrimaliJul 20, 2026
  8. 2/7 list-objects-filter: add list_objects_filter__filter_oidset()Siddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  9. 3/7 repack-promisor: allow excluding objects from the rebuilt promisor packSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  10. 4/7 builtin/repack: enumerate promisor blobs for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  11. 5/7 t7706: test --drop-filtered enumeration and validationSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  12. 6/7 builtin/repack: actually drop filtered promisor blobsSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  13. Siddharth AsthanaJul 23, 2026
  14. Siddharth ShrimaliJul 25, 2026
  15. 7/7 repack-promisor: record dropped objects in a drop logSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 16, 2026
  16. Siddharth AsthanaJul 23, 2026
  17. Siddharth ShrimaliJul 25, 2026
  18. Siddharth AsthanaJul 23, 2026
  19. Siddharth ShrimaliJul 25, 2026
  20. 0/7 repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clonesSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  21. 1/7 builtin/repack.c: add --drop-filtered and --dry-run optionsSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  22. Siddharth AsthanaAug 4, 2026
  23. 2/7 list-objects-filter: add list_objects_filter__filter_oidset()Siddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  24. 3/7 repack-promisor: allow excluding objects from the rebuilt promisor packSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  25. 4/7 builtin/repack: enumerate promisor blobs for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  26. 5/7 builtin/repack: actually drop filtered promisor blobsSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  27. 6/7 builtin/repack: add safety guards for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  28. Siddharth AsthanaAug 4, 2026
  29. 7/7 Documentation/git-repack: document --drop-filtered and --dry-runSiddharth Shrimali, Jul 30, 2026
  30. Junio C HamanoJul 31, 2026
  31. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 1, 2026
  32. Junio C HamanoAug 2, 2026
  33. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 2, 2026
  34. Siddharth AsthanaAug 4, 2026
  35. 0/7 repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clonesSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  36. 1/7 builtin/repack.c: add --drop-filtered and --dry-run optionsSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  37. 2/7 list-objects-filter: add list_objects_filter__filter_oidset()Siddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  38. 3/7 repack-promisor: allow excluding objects from the rebuilt promisor packSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  39. 4/7 builtin/repack: enumerate promisor blobs for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  40. 5/7 builtin/repack: actually drop filtered promisor blobsSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  41. 6/7 builtin/repack: add guards for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  42. 7/7 Documentation/git-repack: document --drop-filtered and --dry-runSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 6, 2026
  43. Junio C HamanoAug 6, 2026
  44. Junio C HamanoAug 6, 2026
  45. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 7, 2026
  46. Junio C HamanoAug 7, 2026
  47. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 8, 2026
  48. 0/7 repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clonesSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  49. 1/7 builtin/repack.c: add --drop-filtered and --dry-run optionsSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  50. 2/7 list-objects-filter: add list_objects_filter__filter_oidset()Siddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  51. Christian CouderAug 12, 2026
  52. Junio C HamanoAug 12, 2026
  53. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 12, 2026
  54. 3/7 repack-promisor: allow excluding objects from the rebuilt promisor packSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  55. 4/7 builtin/repack: enumerate promisor blobs for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  56. Christian CouderAug 12, 2026
  57. 5/7 builtin/repack: actually drop filtered promisor blobsSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  58. 6/7 builtin/repack: add guards for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  59. Christian CouderAug 12, 2026
  60. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 12, 2026
  61. 7/7 Documentation/git-repack: document --drop-filtered and --dry-runSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 10, 2026
  62. Christian CouderAug 12, 2026
  63. Junio C HamanoAug 11, 2026
  64. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 12, 2026
  65. 0/6 repack: add --drop-filtered to reclaim space in partial clonesSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  66. 1/6 builtin/repack: add --drop-filtered and --dry-run optionsSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  67. 2/6 list-objects-filter: add list_objects_filter__filter_oidset()Siddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  68. 3/6 repack-promisor: allow excluding objects from the rebuilt promisor packSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  69. 4/6 builtin/repack: enumerate promisor blobs for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  70. 5/6 builtin/repack: actually drop filtered promisor blobsSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  71. 6/6 builtin/repack: add guards for --drop-filteredSiddharth Shrimali, Aug 13, 2026
  72. Samuel BronsonSep 3, 2026
  73. Siddharth ShrimaliSep 4, 2026
  74. Christian CouderAug 14, 2026
  75. Junio C HamanoAug 14, 2026
  76. Siddharth ShrimaliAug 14, 2026

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.