Re: [PATCH v3 21/21] Documentation/git-update-index: explain splitIndex.*

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Dec 27, 2016, 19:13 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq8tr19ocs.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <20161226102222.17150-22-chriscool@tuxfamily.org>

Christian Couder <christian.couder@gmail.com> writes:

Show 14 quoted lines

>  --split-index::
>  --no-split-index::
> -	Enable or disable split index mode. If enabled, the index is
> -	split into two files, $GIT_DIR/index and $GIT_DIR/sharedindex.<SHA-1>.
> -	Changes are accumulated in $GIT_DIR/index while the shared
> -	index file contains all index entries stays unchanged. If
> -	split-index mode is already enabled and `--split-index` is
> -	given again, all changes in $GIT_DIR/index are pushed back to
> -	the shared index file. This mode is designed for very large
> -	indexes that take a significant amount of time to read or write.
> +	Enable or disable split index mode. If split-index mode is
> +	already enabled and `--split-index` is given again, all
> +	changes in $GIT_DIR/index are pushed back to the shared index
> +	file.

In the world after this series that introduced the percentage-based auto consolidation, it smells strange, or even illogical, that index is un-split after doing this:

    $ git update-index --split-index
    $ git update-index --split-index

Before this series, it may have been a quick and dirty way to force consolidating the split index without totally disabling the feature, i.e. it would have looked more like

    $ git update-index --split-index
    ... work work work to accumulate more modifications
    ... consolidate into one --- there was no other way than
    ... disabling it temporarily
    $ git update-index --no-split-index
    ... but the user likes the feature so re-enable it.
    $ git update-index --split-index

which I guess is where this strange behaviour comes from.

It may be something we need to fix to unconfuse the end-users after this series lands. Even though "first disable and then re-enable" takes two commands (as opposed to one), it is far more logical. And the percentage-based auto consolidation feature is meant to reduce the need for manual consolidation, so it probably makes sense to remove this illogical feature.

Show 9 quoted lines

> @@ -394,6 +390,31 @@ Although this bit looks similar to assume-unchanged bit, its goal is
>  different from assume-unchanged bit's. Skip-worktree also takes
>  precedence over assume-unchanged bit when both are set.
>  
> +Split index
> +-----------
> +
> +This mode is designed for very large indexes that take a significant
> +amount of time to read or write.

This is not a new problem, but it probably is incorrect to say "to read or write". It saves time by not rewriting the whole thing but instead write out only the updated bits. You'd still read the whole thing while populating the in-core index from the disk, and if anything, you'd probably spend _more_ cycles because you'd essentially be reading the base and then reading the delta to apply on top.

> +To avoid deleting a shared index file that is still used, its mtime is
> +updated to the current time everytime a new split index based on the
> +shared index file is either created or read from.

The same comment on the mention of "mtime" in another patch applies here as well.