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[PATCH] index-pack: retain child bases in delta cache

From
AGArijit Banerjee via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
May 29, 2026, 16:06 UTC
Message-ID
<pull.2131.git.1780070763044.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Arijit Banerjee <arijit@effectiveailabs.com>

When resolving a delta whose result has children of its own, index-pack adds the result to work_head, accounts its data in base_cache_used, and calls prune_base_data(). It then immediately frees that same data.

This bypasses the existing delta base cache policy and can force later descendants to reconstruct the queued base again. Let the existing delta_base_cache_limit pruning policy decide whether to keep or evict the data instead.

Signed-off-by: Arijit Banerjee <arijit@effectiveailabs.com>
---
    index-pack: retain child bases in delta cache
    
    Speed up the local pack indexing phase of clone/fetch for large
    delta-compressed packs by keeping reconstructed delta bases available
    for reuse when they are queued for later delta resolution.
    
    When index-pack reconstructs a child base and queues it for resolving
    descendant deltas, it currently frees that data immediately. This can
    force the same base to be reconstructed again. Instead, keep it in the
    existing delta base cache and let the existing delta_base_cache_limit
    policy decide whether to retain or evict it.
    
    This does not add a new cache or increase the cache limit. The object
    data is already accounted in base_cache_used, and prune_base_data() is
    already called at this point.
    
    Correctness:
    
     * t/t5302-pack-index.sh passed all 36 tests.
    
    Benchmarks on a quiet Ubuntu 24.04 VM, 16 vCPU, 32 GiB RAM, local SSD:
    
    pack baseline patched wall-time change RSS change linux blobless 69.17s
    57.98s 16.2% faster -0.0% linux full 280.72s 236.32s 15.8% faster +1.9%
    
    Five-repeat public-repo medians also improved: git.git 13.1%, libgit2
    14.0%, redis 13.5%, cpython 4.8%.
    
    Perf on the linux blobless pack showed the same direction under
    profiling: 76.64s baseline vs 61.09s patched, with similar RSS.
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2131%2Farijit91%2Findex-pack-retain-child-base-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2131/arijit91/index-pack-retain-child-base-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2131
 builtin/index-pack.c | 1 -
 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/builtin/index-pack.c b/builtin/index-pack.c
index cf0bd8280d..027c64b522 100644
--- a/builtin/index-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/index-pack.c
@@ -1212,7 +1212,6 @@ static void *threaded_second_pass(void *data)
 			list_add(&child->list, &work_head);
 			base_cache_used += child->size;
 			prune_base_data(NULL);
-			free_base_data(child);
 		} else if (child) {
 			/*
 			 * This child does not have its own children. It may be

base-commit: c69baaf57ba26cf117c2b6793802877f19738b0d
-- 
gitgitgadget
Next: Derrick Stolee
Message 1 of 11 in “index-pack: retain child bases in delta cache”
  1. index-pack: retain child bases in delta cacheArijit Banerjee via GitGitGadget, May 29, 2026
  2. Derrick StoleeJun 1, 2026
  3. index-pack: retain child bases in delta cacheArijit Banerjee via GitGitGadget, Jun 1, 2026
  4. Jeff KingJun 2, 2026
  5. index-pack: retain child bases in delta cacheArijit Banerjee via GitGitGadget, Jun 3, 2026
  6. Derrick StoleeJun 3, 2026
  7. Jeff KingJun 4, 2026
  8. Arijit BanerjeeJun 5, 2026
  9. Junio C HamanoJun 10, 2026
  10. Jeff KingJun 11, 2026
  11. Junio C HamanoJun 11, 2026

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