[PATCH v8 10/10] commit-reach: remove commit-date ordering fallback

From: Kristofer Karlsson via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 11, 2026, 09:28 UTC
Message-ID: <677e25077ce131fbd0ee52bfd61fbbefc23f9056.1786440533.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <pull.2149.v8.git.1786440533.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Kristofer Karlsson <krka@spotify.com>

Remove the fallback that switched paint_down_to_common() from generation ordering to commit-date ordering when the commit-graph lacks corrected commit dates (v1 graph with topo levels only).

The fallback was added in 091f4cf3 (commit: don't use generation numbers if not needed, 2018-08-30) to avoid a performance regression on the Linux kernel repo where v1 topo levels caused "git merge-base v4.8 v4.9" to walk 636k commits instead of 167k. A side branch with a low topo level stayed in the queue behind a long chain, preventing early STALE propagation.

Side-exhaustion (added in the previous commits) solves this differently by terminating the walk as soon as one paint side empties from the queue, preventing the deep walk regardless of queue ordering. Benchmarks of "git merge-base --all v4.8 v4.9" on the Linux kernel repo show that side-exhaustion reduces the step count far below what the date-ordering fallback achieved:

                         steps      time
  no graph, baseline:   167,413    3.25 s
  v1 graph, baseline:   167,413    0.25 s
  v2 graph, baseline:   167,441    0.29 s
  v1 graph, this series:  5,725    0.02 s
  v2 graph, this series:  3,887    0.01 s

With generation ordering always active, the existing min_generation check in paint_queue_get() can safely terminate once the walk crosses below the caller's generation floor. The date ordering fallback broke this invariant: a commit could have a finite topo level while the queue was date-ordered, causing the early exit to fire before all merge bases were found.

With the fallback removed, gen_ordered is always true and can be dropped. The topo_ceiling field (introduced earlier) already handles V1_MAX saturation, so the early exit gates need no further changes.

Signed-off-by: Kristofer Karlsson <krka@spotify.com>
---
 .../technical/paint-down-to-common.adoc       | 37 -------------------
 commit-reach.c                                | 15 +++-----
 t/t6600-test-reach.sh                         |  8 ++--
 3 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 50 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/technical/paint-down-to-common.adoc b/Documentation/technical/paint-down-to-common.adoc
index 2393bb03b6..c33c7ea7c1 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/paint-down-to-common.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/technical/paint-down-to-common.adoc
@@ -148,43 +148,6 @@ candidate (generation ordering guarantees children are visited
 first), so it cannot be redundant and the walk can stop
 immediately.
 
-This optimization is NOT safe when the date-ordering fallback is
-active, because commit-date order can visit a deeper ancestor
-before a shallower one -- see <<date-ordering-fallback>>.
-
-[[date-ordering-fallback]]
-Date-ordering fallback
-----------------------
-
-When the commit-graph has generation numbers v1 and no
-generation floor is specified, topological ordering
-(via generation numbers) is disabled. Topological levels are
-correct but unbalanced -- ordering by such generation numbers
-can sometimes cause the walk to detour too far before finding
-merge bases. Commit-date ordering typically reaches them in
-fewer steps -- see this change for more details:
-
-   091f4cf3 (commit: don't use generation numbers if not needed,
-   2018-08-30)
-
-With generation number v2 (corrected commit dates) we have the best
-of both worlds and do not need this fallback.
-
-For v1, `paint_down_to_common()` falls back to pure commit-date
-ordering via `compare_commits_by_commit_date`. Because commit
-dates are not monotonic (clock skew, rebases, etc.), the queue
-may visit commits out of topological order.
-
-This disables the optimizations that depend on generation ordering:
-
-  - *Single result*: the first merge-base candidate found may not
-    be the shallowest, because a deeper ancestor with a higher
-    commit date can be dequeued first.
-
-  - *Side exhaustion*: one paint side can appear to drain from the
-    queue while commits from that side are still waiting with lower
-    dates, causing premature termination.
-
 Related documentation
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/commit-reach.c b/commit-reach.c
index 32e65a52b5..ace49c0d91 100644
--- a/commit-reach.c
+++ b/commit-reach.c
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ struct paint_state {
 	size_t parent1_count;
 	size_t parent2_count;
 	size_t mb_candidate_count;
-	int gen_ordered;
 	timestamp_t min_generation;
 	timestamp_t last_gen;
 	timestamp_t topo_ceiling;
@@ -172,7 +171,6 @@ static struct commit *paint_queue_get(struct paint_state *state)
 
 		/* one side is exhausted */
 		if ((!state->parent1_count || !state->parent2_count) &&
-		    state->gen_ordered &&
 		    generation < state->topo_ceiling)
 			return NULL;
 	}
@@ -193,9 +191,13 @@ static int paint_down_to_common(struct repository *r,
 				enum merge_base_flags mb_flags,
 				struct commit_list **result)
 {
+	/*
+	 * Generation ordering is required for the side-exhaustion and
+	 * single-result early exits, which rely on topological traversal
+	 * order (children visited before parents) in the ordered region.
+	 */
 	struct paint_state state = {
-		.queue = { compare_commits_by_gen_then_commit_date },
-		.gen_ordered = 1,
+		.queue = { compare_commits_by_gen_then_commit_date }
 	};
 	struct commit *commit;
 	int i;
@@ -207,10 +209,6 @@ static int paint_down_to_common(struct repository *r,
 	state.topo_ceiling = corrected_commit_dates_enabled(r)
 		? GENERATION_NUMBER_INFINITY
 		: GENERATION_NUMBER_V1_MAX;
-	if (!min_generation && !corrected_commit_dates_enabled(r)) {
-		state.queue.compare = compare_commits_by_commit_date;
-		state.gen_ordered = 0;
-	}
 
 	one->object.flags |= PARENT1;
 	if (!n) {
@@ -238,7 +236,6 @@ static int paint_down_to_common(struct repository *r,
 				 * descendant of this one.
 				 */
 				if (!(mb_flags & MERGE_BASE_FIND_ALL) &&
-				    state.gen_ordered &&
 				    state.last_gen < state.topo_ceiling)
 					break;
 			}
diff --git a/t/t6600-test-reach.sh b/t/t6600-test-reach.sh
index 23417897c8..13c84e0a42 100755
--- a/t/t6600-test-reach.sh
+++ b/t/t6600-test-reach.sh
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ test_expect_success 'get_merge_bases_many:infinity-both-sides' '
 		git rev-parse pi-B
 	} >expect &&
 	test_all_modes get_merge_bases_many &&
-	test_paint_down_steps 5 4 5 5
+	test_paint_down_steps 5 4 5 4
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'setup mixed finite/INFINITY topology' '
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ test_expect_success 'merge-base --all commit-walk steps' '
 	>input &&
 	git rev-parse commit-9-1 >expect &&
 	run_all_modes git merge-base --all commit-9-9 commit-9-1 &&
-	test_paint_down_steps 81 9 57 81
+	test_paint_down_steps 81 9 57 37
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'merge-base --all with clock skew (side-exhaustion)' '
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ test_expect_success 'merge-base --all with clock skew (side-exhaustion)' '
 	>input &&
 	git rev-parse se-D >expect &&
 	run_all_modes git merge-base --all se-A se-B &&
-	test_paint_down_steps 6 4 6 6
+	test_paint_down_steps 6 4 6 4
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'merge-base --all with clock skew and redundant ancestor (side-exhaustion)' '
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@ test_expect_success 'merge-base --all with clock skew and redundant ancestor (si
 	>input &&
 	git rev-parse se2-MB1 >expect &&
 	run_all_modes git merge-base --all se2-A se2-B &&
-	test_paint_down_steps 8 6 8 8
+	test_paint_down_steps 8 6 8 6
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'reduce_heads' '

-- 
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