Re: [PATCH] commit: fall back to full read when maybe_tree is NULL
- From
Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
- Date
- May 20, 2026, 16:20 UTC
- Message-ID
- <431a3b73-1819-4798-a0ba-b7351efe6aa1@gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <20260519050513.GA1635924@coredump.intra.peff.net>
On 5/19/2026 1:05 AM, Jeff King wrote:
Show 10 quoted lines
> When we load a commit object from the commit graph (rather than reading > the object contents), we don't fill in its "maybe_tree" entry, but > rather wait to lazy-load it. This goes back to 7b8a21dba1 (commit-graph: > lazy-load trees for commits, 2018-04-06), and saves the work of > instantiating tree objects that nobody cares about. > > But it creates a data dependency: now the commit struct depends on the > graph file to do that lazy load. This is a problem if we close the graph > file; now we have a commit struct that claims to be parsed but is > missing some of its data.
Show 9 quoted lines
> Reported twice recently: > > - https://lore.kernel.org/git/87h5onsi0f.fsf@prevas.dk/ > > - https://lore.kernel.org/git/6ae85515-9373-4c9e-90d2-5e4176590c5b@suse.com/ > > I don't why we suddenly got two reports. AFAICT the bug goes back to > 2018, though it would become more prominent as use of commit graphs > increased.
Likely, this may have changed with the switch to using geometric maintenance instead of gc maintenance by default in Git 2.54.0. That perhaps increased the amount of commit-graphs being present.
Show 21 quoted lines
> +static void load_tree_from_commit_contents(struct repository *r, struct commit *commit)
> +{
> + enum object_type type;
> + unsigned long size;
> + char *buf;
> + const char *p;
> + struct object_id tree_oid;
> +
> + buf = odb_read_object(r->objects, &commit->object.oid, &type, &size);
> + if (!buf)
> + return;
> +
> + if (type == OBJ_COMMIT &&
> + skip_prefix(buf, "tree ", &p) &&
> + !parse_oid_hex(p, &tree_oid, &p) &&
> + *p == '\n')
> + set_commit_tree(commit, lookup_tree(r, &tree_oid));
> +
> + free(buf);
> +}
> +I like this focused parsing of the commit contents. I also briefly considered "unparsing" the commit, but you make a good point in your message why a focused parse here is important, especially around munging of the parent list.
Show 20 quoted lines
> struct tree *repo_get_commit_tree(struct repository *r,
> const struct commit *commit)
> {
> @@ -443,7 +464,17 @@ struct tree *repo_get_commit_tree(struct repository *r,
> if (commit_graph_position(commit) != COMMIT_NOT_FROM_GRAPH)
> return get_commit_tree_in_graph(r, commit);
>
> - return NULL;
> + /*
> + * This is either a corrupt commit, or one which we partially loaded
> + * from a graph file but then subsequently threw away the graph data.
> + *
> + * Optimistically assume it's the latter and try to reload from
> + * scratch. This gives a performance penalty if it really is a corrupt
> + * commit, but presumably that happens rarely (and only once per
> + * process).
> + */
> + load_tree_from_commit_contents(r, (struct commit *)commit);
> + return commit->maybe_tree;
> }I agree that this is the right place to insert this logic.
Show 23 quoted lines
> +test_expect_success 'dissociate from repo with commit graph' ' > + git init orig && > + # We are trying to make sure the dissociated repo can > + # find the tree of the tip commit, so the test could still > + # serve its purpose with an empty tree. But having actual > + # content future-proofs us against any kind of internal > + # empty-tree optimizations. > + echo content >orig/file && > + git -C orig add . && > + git -C orig commit -m foo && > + > + # We will use graph.git as our "local" source to dissociate > + # from. > + git clone --bare orig graph.git && > + git -C graph.git commit-graph write --reachable && > + > + # And then finally clone orig, using graph.git to get our objects. This > + # must be non-bare so that we perform the checkout step, which will > + # need to access the tree of HEAD, which we will have originally loaded > + # via the commit graph. > + git clone --no-local --reference graph.git --dissociate orig clone > +' > +
Thanks for the clear extra coverage here.
-Stolee