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Re: [PATCH 2/2] git-gc: skip stashes when expiring reflogs

From
Brandon Casey <casey@nrlssc.navy.mil>
Date
Jun 12, 2008, 16:46 UTC
Message-ID
<u5dYyGz0Q8KNQXnvGOEGmG2BTfT-vJCEFeSUa2I_99Q@cipher.nrlssc.navy.mil>
In-Reply-To
<20080612041847.GB24868@sigill.intra.peff.net>
Jeff King wrote:
Show 16 quoted lines
> On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 06:25:23PM -0500, Brandon Casey wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I think usually stashes are used for very short term storage. At the
>> same time, I don't expect a stash (however old) to disappear without me
>> explicitly deleting it.
>>
>> In particular, I don't want to experience this:
>>
>> $ git stash list
>> stash@{0}: WIP on master: 8c372fb... git-cvsimport: do not fail when CVS is /
>> $ git pull
>> $ git stash apply
>> fatal: Needed a single revision
>> : no valid stashed state found
> 
> Did that actually happen to you?

It has happened and that is what brought it to my attention. But I don't remember whether I was testing reflog or gc, or whether they had reached the expiration date naturally or not. The stashes that were lost were not important, so the incident was enough to put the idea in the back of my mind, but not enough for me to yell and scream. Maybe that's proof that persistent stashes are unnecessary?, I don't know.

Show 5 quoted lines
> Because it seems kind of unlikely to me
> that you would perform this exact sequence of events, _exactly_ 90 days
> after stashing (i.e., the 90 day period expires sometime between "git
> stash list" and "git pull"). Not to mention that you actually _care_
> about the stash 90 days later.
Wouldn't it usually be 30 days? Wouldn't stash objects generally be unreachable?

Also, the sequence above would not have to be performed _exactly_ at the expiration date. The listing of the stashes i.e. git-log, does not perform reflog expiration AFAIK. So the initial 'stash list' and the 'git pull' do not have to straddle the expiration date, they can all be performed any time after the expiration point to produce the above behavior.

> So yes, I would hate for that to happen, too. However, I think there is
> a real benefit to garbage collecting stashes, and the scenario you
> describe seems implausibly unlikely.

I really hate special cases, so special casing stashes is something I was reluctant to do. At the same time I see stashes as something very different from reflogs even though stashes are implemented using reflogs. The big difference is that reflogs are created automatically and stashes are created by explicit user action. Automatically deleting something that git creates automatically is ok and desirable, doing so for something the user explicitly created is not necessarily so.

Now that I have read some of my email, I see that this conversation has been continued without me and this same point has already been made much more elikwintlee by Wincent Colaiuta.

-brandon
Previous: Jeff KingNext: Jeff King
Message 59 of 69 in “git-gc: skip stashes when expiring reflogs”
  1. 2/2 git-gc: skip stashes when expiring reflogsBrandon Casey, Jun 11, 2008
  2. Mike HommeyJun 11, 2008
  3. Johannes SchindelinJun 11, 2008
  4. Jeff KingJun 11, 2008
  5. Nicolas PitreJun 11, 2008
  6. Eric RaibleJun 12, 2008
  7. Wincent ColaiutaJun 12, 2008
  8. Nicolas PitreJun 12, 2008
  9. Junio C HamanoJun 12, 2008
  10. Eric RaibleJun 12, 2008
  11. Junio C HamanoJun 12, 2008
  12. Eric RaibleJun 12, 2008
  13. Johannes SchindelinJun 13, 2008
  14. Wincent ColaiutaJun 13, 2008
  15. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  16. Johannes SchindelinJun 13, 2008
  17. Christian JaegerJun 13, 2008
  18. Wincent ColaiutaJun 14, 2008
  19. しらいしななこJun 14, 2008
  20. Junio C HamanoJun 15, 2008
  21. Eric RaibleJun 16, 2008
  22. Junio C HamanoJun 16, 2008
  23. Johannes SchindelinJun 17, 2008
  24. Junio C HamanoJun 17, 2008
  25. Johannes SchindelinJun 18, 2008
  26. Junio C HamanoJun 18, 2008
  27. Brandon CaseyJun 16, 2008
  28. Jakub NarebskiJun 16, 2008
  29. Mikael MagnussonJun 13, 2008
  30. Brandon CaseyJun 12, 2008
  31. Junio C HamanoJun 12, 2008
  32. Brandon CaseyJun 12, 2008
  33. しらいしななこJun 13, 2008
  34. Andreas EricssonJun 13, 2008
  35. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  36. Andreas EricssonJun 13, 2008
  37. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  38. Andreas EricssonJun 13, 2008
  39. Jakub NarebskiJun 13, 2008
  40. Sverre RabbelierJun 13, 2008
  41. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  42. Miles BaderJun 13, 2008
  43. Junio C HamanoJun 13, 2008
  44. Jakub NarebskiJun 13, 2008
  45. Sverre RabbelierJun 13, 2008
  46. Olivier MarinJun 13, 2008
  47. Junio C HamanoJun 13, 2008
  48. Wincent ColaiutaJun 13, 2008
  49. Brandon CaseyJun 13, 2008
  50. Olivier MarinJun 13, 2008
  51. しらいしななこJun 14, 2008
  52. Wincent ColaiutaJun 13, 2008
  53. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  54. Olivier MarinJun 13, 2008
  55. Jon LoeligerJun 13, 2008
  56. Brandon CaseyJun 13, 2008
  57. Brandon CaseyJun 11, 2008
  58. Jeff KingJun 12, 2008
  59. Brandon CaseyJun 12, 2008
  60. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  61. Wincent ColaiutaJun 13, 2008
  62. Sverre RabbelierJun 13, 2008
  63. Teemu LikonenJun 13, 2008
  64. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  65. Miles BaderJun 13, 2008
  66. Brandon CaseyJun 13, 2008
  67. Jeff KingJun 13, 2008
  68. Brandon CaseyJun 11, 2008
  69. Johannes SchindelinJun 15, 2008

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