[PATCH v2 0/2] fetch: write commit-graph using updated refs only
- From
Kristofer Karlsson via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
- Date
- Oct 6, 2026, 09:46 UTC
- Message-ID
- <pull.2239.v2.git.1791279992.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <pull.2239.git.1790930019.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
When fetch.writeCommitGraph is enabled, the commit-graph is rebuilt from all reachable refs after every fetch. This is unnecessarily expensive on repositories with many refs, since add_ref_to_set() validates each ref against the odb.
This series optimizes the commit-graph write by using only the newly updated refs as seeds instead of scanning all refs. Since fetch writes the commit-graph in split mode, the newly fetched history is added as a new layer on top of the existing chain. A three-mode enum (REACHABLE / TIPS / SKIP) makes the policy explicit:
* No-op fetch: skip the commit-graph write entirely * Updated refs + existing graph: write incrementally from updated tips only * No existing graph or multi-remote fetch: fall back to full reachable scan
Patch 1 adds a commit-info subcommand to test-tool read-graph for verifying graph contents in tests.
Patch 2 implements the optimization in builtin/fetch.c with tests covering the incremental, unrelated-commit, no-op, fallback, and shallow-rejected cases.
Benchmark on a synthetic setup: git.git with 200K extra packed refs (~206K total), a local file:// remote, an existing split commit-graph and a warm page cache. Times are the median of 9 runs of the trace2 region fetch/write-commit-graph:
scenario before after no-op fetch 380 ms (skipped) 1 ref updated 357 ms 9.3 ms 10 refs updated 359 ms 8.9 ms
Changes since v1:
* Explain in the commit message that fetch writes in split mode, so the new tips are added as a new layer on top of the existing chain, and that the incremental path relies on this (a non-split write would replace the graph with only the closure of the seeds). * Extend the incremental test to check that a local-only commit, which was in the graph before the fetch but is not reachable from the fetched tips, is still in the graph afterwards. * Add benchmark numbers to the commit message. * Add a comment explaining why shallow-rejected refs are skipped when collecting the updated tips (like store_updated_refs(), since their history is incomplete), and mention it in the commit message. * Add a test in t5537 for a fetch with fetch.writeCommitGraph where a ref is rejected because it would require changes to .git/shallow. Without the check, the commit-graph write dies on the missing parent.
Kristofer Karlsson (2): test-tool read-graph: add commit-info subcommand fetch: write commit-graph using updated refs only
builtin/fetch.c | 69 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----- commit-graph.c | 2 +- commit-graph.h | 1 + t/helper/test-read-graph.c | 23 ++++++++++++- t/t5510-fetch.sh | 59 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh | 28 ++++++++++++++++ 6 files changed, 171 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
base-commit: 0f8e75abebff0877cae681a3d5ff31ac47f54220 Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2239%2Fspkrka%2Fkrka%2Fincremental-commit-graph-v2 Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2239/spkrka/krka/incremental-commit-graph-v2 Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2239
Range-diff vs v1:
1: 36cc3ff3b3 = 1: 36cc3ff3b3 test-tool read-graph: add commit-info subcommand
2: fee92f3c20 ! 2: 7507354cc9 fetch: write commit-graph using updated refs only
@@ Commit message
Since do_fetch() already knows which refs were updated, collect them
into an oidset and then pass them directly to write_commit_graph().
- In split mode, close_reachable() walks from the updated tips and
- stops at commits already present in the graph, efficiently adding
- the newly fetched history. This reachability closure also covers
- auto-followed tags, since their targets are reachable from the
- fetched tips that caused them to be auto-followed.
+ fetch always writes the commit-graph in split mode, so this adds a
+ new layer on top of the existing chain rather than replacing it:
+ close_reachable() walks from the updated tips and stops at commits
+ already present in the graph, so the new layer only contains the
+ newly fetched history, and commits covered by the existing layers
+ remain covered. This relies on split mode; a non-split write would
+ replace the graph with just the closure of the seeds.
+
+ The reachability closure also covers auto-followed tags, since their
+ targets are reachable from the fetched tips that caused them to be
+ auto-followed.
+
+ Refs that are rejected because they would require changes to
+ .git/shallow are skipped, just like store_updated_refs() does. Their
+ objects are received but their history is incomplete, so walking from
+ them would make the commit-graph write fail.
After fetch_one() returns, call prepare_commit_graph() (which is
made non-static by this commit) to determine the graph-write mode:
@@ Commit message
which periodically rebuilds the commit-graph from all reachable
refs.
+ The effect was measured on a synthetic setup: git.git with 200K
+ extra packed refs (~206K total), a local file:// remote, an existing
+ split commit-graph and a warm page cache. The times below are the
+ median of 9 runs of the trace2 region fetch/write-commit-graph:
+
+ scenario before after
+ no-op fetch 380 ms (skipped)
+ 1 ref updated 357 ms 9.3 ms
+ 10 refs updated 359 ms 8.9 ms
+
Signed-off-by: Kristofer Karlsson <krka@spotify.com>
## builtin/fetch.c ##
@@ builtin/fetch.c: out:
+ struct ref *rm;
+ for (rm = ref_map; rm; rm = rm->next) {
+ struct commit *commit;
++ /*
++ * Like store_updated_refs(), skip shallow-rejected refs:
++ * they are not stored, and their history is incomplete.
++ */
+ if (rm->status == REF_STATUS_REJECT_SHALLOW)
+ continue;
+ if (is_null_oid(&rm->old_oid))
@@ t/t5510-fetch.sh: test_expect_success 'fetch.writeCommitGraph' '
+ git init incremental-source &&
+ test_commit -C incremental-source one &&
+ git clone incremental-source incremental-dest &&
++ test_commit -C incremental-dest local &&
+ git -C incremental-dest commit-graph write --reachable --split &&
+ test_commit -C incremental-source two &&
+ test_commit -C incremental-source three &&
+ (
+ cd incremental-dest &&
+ git -c fetch.writeCommitGraph=true fetch origin &&
-+ test-tool read-graph commit-info three two
++ test-tool read-graph commit-info three two local
+ )
+'
+
@@ t/t5510-fetch.sh: test_expect_success 'fetch.writeCommitGraph' '
test_expect_success 'fetch.writeCommitGraph with submodules' '
test_config_global protocol.file.allow always &&
git clone dups super &&
+
+ ## t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh ##
+@@ t/t5537-fetch-shallow.sh: test_expect_success 'fetch that requires changes in .git/shallow is filtered' '
+ )
+ '
+
++test_expect_success 'fetch.writeCommitGraph skips refs that require changes in .git/shallow' '
++ git clone --no-local --depth=2 .git shallow-graph &&
++ (
++ cd shallow-graph &&
++ git checkout --orphan no-shallow &&
++ commit no-shallow
++ ) &&
++ git init notshallow-graph &&
++ git -C notshallow-graph -c fetch.writeCommitGraph=true \
++ fetch ../shallow-graph/.git "refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/shallow/*" &&
++ (
++ cd shallow-graph &&
++ commit no-shallow-2
++ ) &&
++ rejected=$(git -C shallow-graph rev-parse main) &&
++ (
++ cd notshallow-graph &&
++ git -c fetch.writeCommitGraph=true \
++ fetch ../shallow-graph/.git "refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/shallow/*" &&
++ git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" >actual.refs &&
++ echo refs/remotes/shallow/no-shallow >expect.refs &&
++ test_cmp expect.refs actual.refs &&
++ test-tool read-graph commit-info shallow/no-shallow &&
++ test_expect_code 1 \
++ test-tool read-graph commit-info $rejected 2>/dev/null
++ )
++'
++
+ test_expect_success 'fetch --update-shallow' '
+ (
+ cd shallow &&-- gitgitgadget