From: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2017 22:15:25 GMT
Subject: Re: [RFC 00/14] Allow fetch-pack to send ref names (globs allowed)
Message-ID: <CAGZ79kZgx1wQSCQv2xHYK341+nb=EOSTZacoznebNE=_M3JweQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <cover.1485381677.git.jonathantanmy@google.com>

On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 2:02 PM, Jonathan Tan <jonathantanmy@google.com> wrote:
> Hello everyone - this is a proposal for a protocol change to allow the
> fetch-pack/upload-pack to converse in terms of ref names (globs
> allowed), and also an implementation of the server (upload-pack) and
> fetch-from-HTTP client (fetch-pack invoked through fetch).
>
> Negotiation currently happens by upload-pack initially sending a list of
> refs with names and SHA-1 hashes, and then several request/response
> pairs in which the request from fetch-pack consists of SHA-1 hashes
> (selected from the initial list). Allowing the request to consist of
> names instead of SHA-1 hashes increases tolerance to refs changing
> (due to time, and due to having load-balanced servers without strong
> consistency), and is a step towards eliminating the need for the server
> to send the list of refs first (possibly improving performance).
>
> The protocol is extended by allowing fetch-pack to send
> "want-ref <name>", where <name> is a full name (refs/...) [1], possibly
> including glob characters. Upload-pack will inform the client of the
> refs actually matched by sending "wanted-ref <SHA-1> <name>" before
> sending the last ACK or NAK.

I have reviewed the patches and think they are a good idea,
cc'ing Jeff who you linked to and who had some ideas about the protocol as well.

Stefan