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[PATCH 2/4] http: add exponential backoff without Retry-After

From
RGRavi Mistry via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
Oct 31, 2026, 15:57 UTC
Message-ID
<36cef34668b6e2ceb867ca99029e8bc11d9cd63f.1793462224.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<pull.2287.git.1793462224.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Ravi Mistry <rmistry@google.com>

When a server returns HTTP 429 without a Retry-After header, Git waits the same fixed http.retryAfter delay on every retry. If that delay is short (e.g., 1s), Git burns through all of its retries in just a few seconds before a busy server can recover. If that delay is long, even a brief glitch has to wait a long time on the first retry.

Pass the 1-based retry attempt count to handle_rate_limit_retry() and double http.retryAfter on each subsequent retry (1s, 2s, 4s, ..., via http.retryAfter * 2^(attempt - 1)), clamping the delay at http.maxRetryTime. This keeps the first retry fast while giving the server more time to recover on later attempts, matching curl's own --retry behavior. When the server provides an explicit Retry-After header, continue to honor the server-provided delay (or fail fast if it exceeds http.maxRetryTime).

Signed-off-by: Ravi Mistry <rmistry@google.com>
---
 Documentation/config/http.adoc | 11 ++++++++---
 http.c                         | 16 +++++++++++++---
 t/t5584-http-429-retry.sh      | 33 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 54 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/config/http.adoc b/Documentation/config/http.adoc
index 792a71b413..b387b0ad6a 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/http.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/config/http.adoc
@@ -327,9 +327,12 @@ http.keepAliveCount::
 	`GIT_HTTP_KEEPALIVE_COUNT` environment variable.
 
 http.retryAfter::
-	Default wait time in seconds before retrying when a server returns
+	Initial wait time in seconds before retrying when a server returns
 	HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) without a Retry-After header.
-	Defaults to 0 (retry immediately). When a Retry-After header is
+	Defaults to 0 (retry immediately). When set to a positive value and
+	no Retry-After header is present, the delay doubles on each
+	subsequent retry attempt (`http.retryAfter * 2^(attempt - 1)`),
+	capped at `http.maxRetryTime`. When a Retry-After header is
 	present, its value takes precedence over this setting; however,
 	automatic use of the server-provided `Retry-After` header requires
 	libcurl 7.66.0 or later. On older versions, configure this setting
@@ -348,7 +351,9 @@ http.maxRetryTime::
 	handling HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) responses. If the server
 	requests a delay (via Retry-After header) or if `http.retryAfter`
 	is configured with a value that exceeds this maximum, Git will fail
-	immediately rather than waiting. Default is 300 seconds (5 minutes).
+	immediately rather than waiting. Exponentially backed-off delays
+	computed from `http.retryAfter` are capped at this maximum. Default
+	is 300 seconds (5 minutes).
 	Can be overridden by the `GIT_HTTP_MAX_RETRY_TIME` environment
 	variable. See also `http.retryAfter` and `http.maxRetries`.
 
diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 0308f973a6..0dec6377dd 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -2411,7 +2411,7 @@ static int update_url_from_redirect(struct strbuf *base,
  * Returns a negative value if configuration is invalid (delay exceeds
  * http.maxRetryTime), otherwise returns the delay in seconds (>= 0).
  */
-static long handle_rate_limit_retry(long slot_retry_after)
+static long handle_rate_limit_retry(long slot_retry_after, int attempt)
 {
 	/* Use the slot-specific retry_after value or configured default */
 	if (slot_retry_after >= 0) {
@@ -2427,6 +2427,8 @@ static long handle_rate_limit_retry(long slot_retry_after)
 		}
 		return slot_retry_after;
 	} else {
+		long delay = http_retry_after;
+
 		/* No Retry-After header provided, use configured default */
 		if (http_retry_after > http_max_retry_time) {
 			error(_("configured http.retryAfter exceeds http.maxRetryTime (%ld > %ld seconds)"),
@@ -2437,7 +2439,14 @@ static long handle_rate_limit_retry(long slot_retry_after)
 		}
 		trace2_data_string("http", the_repository,
 			"http/429-retry-source", "config-default");
-		return http_retry_after;
+		for (int a = 1; a < attempt && delay > 0; a++) {
+			if (delay >= http_max_retry_time - delay) {
+				delay = http_max_retry_time;
+				break;
+			}
+			delay *= 2;
+		}
+		return delay;
 	}
 }
 
@@ -2449,6 +2458,7 @@ static int http_request_recoverable(const char *url,
 	int i = 3;
 	int ret;
 	int rate_limit_retries = http_max_retries;
+	int attempt = 0;
 
 	if (!options)
 		options = &empty_opts;
@@ -2498,7 +2508,7 @@ static int http_request_recoverable(const char *url,
 			BUG("Unknown http_request target");
 		}
 		if (ret == HTTP_RATE_LIMITED) {
-			retry_delay = handle_rate_limit_retry(options->retry_after);
+			retry_delay = handle_rate_limit_retry(options->retry_after, ++attempt);
 			if (retry_delay < 0)
 				return HTTP_ERROR;
 
diff --git a/t/t5584-http-429-retry.sh b/t/t5584-http-429-retry.sh
index d92a26893d..f0c3cc3b61 100755
--- a/t/t5584-http-429-retry.sh
+++ b/t/t5584-http-429-retry.sh
@@ -82,6 +82,39 @@ test_expect_success 'HTTP 429 without Retry-After uses configured default' '
 	test_grep "refs/heads/" output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'exponential backoff doubles http.retryAfter without Retry-After header' '
+	test_config http.maxRetries 3 &&
+	test_config http.retryAfter 1 &&
+	git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/http_429/exp-backoff-fail-3/none/repo.git" >output 2>err &&
+	test_grep "refs/heads/" output &&
+	test_grep "waiting 1 seconds before retry" err &&
+	test_grep "waiting 2 seconds before retry" err &&
+	test_grep "waiting 4 seconds before retry" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'exponential backoff clamps delay at http.maxRetryTime' '
+	test_config http.maxRetries 3 &&
+	test_config http.retryAfter 1 &&
+	test_config http.maxRetryTime 2 &&
+	GIT_TRACE2_EVENT="$(pwd)/trace-clamp.event" \
+		git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/http_429/exp-clamp-fail-3/none/repo.git" >output 2>err &&
+	test_grep "refs/heads/" output &&
+	test_grep "waiting 1 seconds before retry" err &&
+	test_grep "waiting 2 seconds before retry" err &&
+	test_grep ! "waiting 4 seconds before retry" err &&
+	grep "\"key\":\"http/retry-sleep-seconds\",\"value\":\"2\"" trace-clamp.event >clamped &&
+	test_line_count = 2 clamped
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'server Retry-After header overrides exponential backoff' '
+	test_config http.maxRetries 2 &&
+	test_config http.retryAfter 1 &&
+	git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/http_429/header-override-fail-2/1/repo.git" >output 2>err &&
+	test_grep "refs/heads/" output &&
+	test_grep "waiting 1 seconds before retry" err &&
+	test_grep ! "waiting 2 seconds before retry" err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'HTTP 429 retry delays are respected' '
 	# Enable retries
 	test_config http.maxRetries 3 &&

-- 
gitgitgadget
Previous: Ravi Mistry via GitGitGadgetNext: Ravi Mistry via GitGitGadget
Message 3 of 5 in “http: exponential backoff, configurable status codes, and post_rpc() retries”
  1. 0/4 http: exponential backoff, configurable status codes, and post_rpc() retriesRavi Mistry via GitGitGadget, Oct 31, 2026
  2. 1/4 http: fix retry count and Retry-After timingRavi Mistry via GitGitGadget, Oct 31, 2026
  3. 2/4 http: add exponential backoff without Retry-AfterRavi Mistry via GitGitGadget, Oct 31, 2026
  4. 3/4 http: add http.retryStatusCodes config optionRavi Mistry via GitGitGadget, Oct 31, 2026
  5. 4/4 remote-curl: retry transient HTTP errors in post_rpc()Ravi Mistry via GitGitGadget, Oct 31, 2026

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