patch, 17 partscruft packs

Documentation/Makefile, Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index ed656db2ae..0b01c9408e 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ TECH_DOCS += MyFirstContribution
 TECH_DOCS += MyFirstObjectWalk
 TECH_DOCS += SubmittingPatches
 TECH_DOCS += technical/bundle-format
+TECH_DOCS += technical/cruft-packs
 TECH_DOCS += technical/hash-function-transition
 TECH_DOCS += technical/http-protocol
 TECH_DOCS += technical/index-format
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bb54cce1b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+= Cruft packs
+
+Cruft packs offer an alternative to Git's traditional mechanism of removing
+unreachable objects. This document provides an overview of Git's pruning
+mechanism, and how cruft packs can be used instead to accomplish the same.
+
+== Background
+
+To remove unreachable objects from your repository, Git offers `git repack -Ad`
+(see linkgit:git-repack[1]). Quoting from the documentation:
+
+[quote]
+[...] unreachable objects in a previous pack become loose, unpacked objects,
+instead of being left in the old pack. [...] loose unreachable objects will be
+pruned according to normal expiry rules with the next 'git gc' invocation.
+
+Unreachable objects aren't removed immediately, since doing so could race with
+an incoming push which may reference an object which is about to be deleted.
+Instead, those unreachable objects are stored as loose object and stay that way
+until they are older than the expiration window, at which point they are removed
+by linkgit:git-prune[1].
+
+Git must store these unreachable objects loose in order to keep track of their
+per-object mtimes. If these unreachable objects were written into one big pack,
+then either freshening that pack (because an object contained within it was
+re-written) or creating a new pack of unreachable objects would cause the pack's
+mtime to get updated, and the objects within it would never leave the expiration
+window. Instead, objects are stored loose in order to keep track of the
+individual object mtimes and avoid a situation where all cruft objects are
+freshened at once.
+
+This can lead to undesirable situations when a repository contains many
+unreachable objects which have not yet left the grace period. Having large
+directories in the shards of `.git/objects` can lead to decreased performance in
+the repository. But given enough unreachable objects, this can lead to inode
+starvation and degrade the performance of the whole system. Since we
+can never pack those objects, these repositories often take up a large amount of
+disk space, since we can only zlib compress them, but not store them in delta
+chains.
+
+== Cruft packs
+
+Cruft packs are designed to eliminate the need for storing unreachable objects
+in a loose state by including the per-object mtimes in a separate file alongside
+a single pack containing all loose objects.
+
+A cruft pack is written by `git repack --cruft` when generating a new pack.
+linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]'s `--cruft` option. Note that `git repack --cruft`
+is a classic all-into-one repack, meaning that everything in the resulting pack is
+reachable, and everything else is unreachable. Once written, the `--cruft`
+option instructs `git repack` to generate another pack containing only objects
+not packed in the previous step (which equates to packing all unreachable
+objects together). This progresses as follows:
+
+  1. Enumerate every object, marking any object which is (a) not contained in a
+     kept-pack, and (b) whose mtime is within the grace period as a traversal
+     tip.
+
+  2. Perform a reachability traversal based on the tips gathered in the previous
+     step, adding every object along the way to the pack.
+
+  3. Write the pack out, along with a `.mtimes` file that records the per-object
+     timestamps.
+
+This mode is invoked internally by linkgit:git-repack[1] when instructed to
+write a cruft pack. Crucially, the set of in-core kept packs is exactly the set
+of packs which will not be deleted by the repack; in other words, they contain
+all of the repository's reachable objects.
+
+When a repository already has a cruft pack, `git repack --cruft` typically only
+adds objects to it. An exception to this is when `git repack` is given the
+`--cruft-expiration` option, which allows the generated cruft pack to omit
+expired objects instead of waiting for linkgit:git-gc[1] to expire those objects
+later on.
+
+It is linkgit:git-gc[1] that is typically responsible for removing expired
+unreachable objects.
+
+== Alternatives
+
+Notable alternatives to this design include:
+
+  - The location of the per-object mtime data, and
+  - Whether cruft packs should be incremental or not.
+
+On the location of mtime data, a new auxiliary file tied to the pack was chosen
+to avoid complicating the `.idx` format. If the `.idx` format were ever to gain
+support for optional chunks of data, it may make sense to consolidate the
+`.mtimes` format into the `.idx` itself.
+
+Incremental cruft packs (i.e., where each time a repository is repacked a new
+cruft pack is generated containing only the unreachable objects introduced since
+the last time a cruft pack was written) are significantly more complicated to
+construct, and so aren't pursued here. The obvious drawback to the current
+implementation is that the entire cruft pack must be re-written from scratch.

Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt, Makefile, builtin/repack.c, object-store.h, pack-mtimes.c, pack-mtimes.h, packfile.c, packfile.h

diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
index 8d2f42f29e..61d8d960e7 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
@@ -294,6 +294,28 @@ Pack file entry: <+
 
 All 4-byte numbers are in network order.
 
+== pack-*.mtimes files have the format:
+
+  - A 4-byte magic number '0x4d544d45' ('MTME').
+
+  - A 4-byte version identifier (= 1).
+
+  - A 4-byte hash function identifier (= 1 for SHA-1, 2 for SHA-256).
+
+  - A table of mtimes (one per packed object, num_objects in total, each
+    a 4-byte unsigned integer in network order), in the same order as
+    objects appear in the index file (e.g., the first entry in the mtime
+    table corresponds to the object with the lowest lexically-sorted
+    oid). The mtimes count standard epoch seconds.
+
+  - A trailer, containing a:
+
+    checksum of the corresponding packfile, and
+
+    a checksum of all of the above.
+
+All 4-byte numbers are in network order.
+
 == multi-pack-index (MIDX) files have the following format:
 
 The multi-pack-index files refer to multiple pack-files and loose objects.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 12be39ac49..efd5e00717 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -949,6 +949,7 @@ LIB_OBJS += oidtree.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-bitmap-write.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-bitmap.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-check.o
+LIB_OBJS += pack-mtimes.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-objects.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-revindex.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-write.o
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index 0b2d1e5d82..acbb7b8c3b 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ static struct {
 } exts[] = {
 	{".pack"},
 	{".rev", 1},
+	{".mtimes", 1},
 	{".bitmap", 1},
 	{".promisor", 1},
 	{".idx"},
diff --git a/object-store.h b/object-store.h
index 952efb6a4b..d87481f101 100644
--- a/object-store.h
+++ b/object-store.h
@@ -89,12 +89,15 @@ struct packed_git {
 		 freshened:1,
 		 do_not_close:1,
 		 pack_promisor:1,
-		 multi_pack_index:1;
+		 multi_pack_index:1,
+		 is_cruft:1;
 	unsigned char hash[GIT_MAX_RAWSZ];
 	struct revindex_entry *revindex;
 	const uint32_t *revindex_data;
 	const uint32_t *revindex_map;
 	size_t revindex_size;
+	const uint32_t *mtimes_map;
+	size_t mtimes_size;
 	/* something like ".git/objects/pack/xxxxx.pack" */
 	char pack_name[FLEX_ARRAY]; /* more */
 };
diff --git a/pack-mtimes.c b/pack-mtimes.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4c7c00fa67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pack-mtimes.c
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
+#include "object-store.h"
+#include "packfile.h"
+
+static char *pack_mtimes_filename(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	size_t len;
+	if (!strip_suffix(p->pack_name, ".pack", &len))
+		BUG("pack_name does not end in .pack");
+	/* NEEDSWORK: this could reuse code from pack-revindex.c. */
+	return xstrfmt("%.*s.mtimes", (int)len, p->pack_name);
+}
+
+int pack_has_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	struct stat st;
+	char *fname = pack_mtimes_filename(p);
+
+	if (stat(fname, &st) < 0) {
+		if (errno == ENOENT)
+			return 0;
+		die_errno(_("could not stat %s"), fname);
+	}
+
+	free(fname);
+	return 1;
+}
+
+#define MTIMES_HEADER_SIZE (12)
+#define MTIMES_MIN_SIZE (MTIMES_HEADER_SIZE + (2 * the_hash_algo->rawsz))
+
+struct mtimes_header {
+	uint32_t signature;
+	uint32_t version;
+	uint32_t hash_id;
+};
+
+static int load_pack_mtimes_file(char *mtimes_file,
+				 uint32_t num_objects,
+				 const uint32_t **data_p, size_t *len_p)
+{
+	int fd, ret = 0;
+	struct stat st;
+	void *data = NULL;
+	size_t mtimes_size;
+	uint32_t *hdr;
+
+	fd = git_open(mtimes_file);
+
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		ret = -1;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+	if (fstat(fd, &st)) {
+		ret = error_errno(_("failed to read %s"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	mtimes_size = xsize_t(st.st_size);
+
+	if (mtimes_size < MTIMES_MIN_SIZE) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s is too small"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	if (mtimes_size - MTIMES_MIN_SIZE != st_mult(sizeof(uint32_t), num_objects)) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s is corrupt"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	data = hdr = xmmap(NULL, mtimes_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, fd, 0);
+
+	if (ntohl(*hdr) != MTIMES_SIGNATURE) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s has unknown signature"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	if (ntohl(*++hdr) != 1) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s has unsupported version %"PRIu32),
+			    mtimes_file, ntohl(*hdr));
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+	hdr++;
+	if (!(ntohl(*hdr) == 1 || ntohl(*hdr) == 2)) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s has unsupported hash id %"PRIu32),
+			    mtimes_file, ntohl(*hdr));
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+cleanup:
+	if (ret) {
+		if (data)
+			munmap(data, mtimes_size);
+	} else {
+		*len_p = mtimes_size;
+		*data_p = (const uint32_t *)data;
+	}
+
+	close(fd);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+int load_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	char *mtimes_name = NULL;
+	int ret = 0;
+
+	if (!p->is_cruft)
+		return ret; /* not a cruft pack */
+	if (p->mtimes_map)
+		return ret; /* already loaded */
+
+	ret = open_pack_index(p);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		goto cleanup;
+
+	mtimes_name = pack_mtimes_filename(p);
+	ret = load_pack_mtimes_file(mtimes_name,
+				    p->num_objects,
+				    &p->mtimes_map,
+				    &p->mtimes_size);
+	if (ret)
+		goto cleanup;
+
+cleanup:
+	free(mtimes_name);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+uint32_t nth_packed_mtime(struct packed_git *p, uint32_t pos)
+{
+	if (!p->mtimes_map)
+		BUG("pack .mtimes file not loaded for %s", p->pack_name);
+	if (p->num_objects <= pos)
+		BUG("pack .mtimes out-of-bounds (%"PRIu32" vs %"PRIu32")",
+		    pos, p->num_objects);
+
+	return get_be32(p->mtimes_map + pos + 3);
+}
diff --git a/pack-mtimes.h b/pack-mtimes.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ac4247bb5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pack-mtimes.h
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#ifndef PACK_MTIMES_H
+#define PACK_MTIMES_H
+
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+
+#define MTIMES_SIGNATURE 0x4d544d45 /* "MTME" */
+#define MTIMES_VERSION 1
+
+struct packed_git;
+
+int pack_has_mtimes(struct packed_git *p);
+int load_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p);
+
+uint32_t nth_packed_mtime(struct packed_git *p, uint32_t pos);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/packfile.c b/packfile.c
index 89402cfc69..ae79ac644e 100644
--- a/packfile.c
+++ b/packfile.c
@@ -333,12 +333,21 @@ void close_pack_revindex(struct packed_git *p) {
 	p->revindex_data = NULL;
 }
 
+void close_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p) {
+	if (!p->mtimes_map)
+		return;
+
+	munmap((void *)p->mtimes_map, p->mtimes_size);
+	p->mtimes_map = NULL;
+}
+
 void close_pack(struct packed_git *p)
 {
 	close_pack_windows(p);
 	close_pack_fd(p);
 	close_pack_index(p);
 	close_pack_revindex(p);
+	close_pack_mtimes(p);
 	oidset_clear(&p->bad_objects);
 }
 
@@ -362,7 +371,7 @@ void close_object_store(struct raw_object_store *o)
 
 void unlink_pack_path(const char *pack_name, int force_delete)
 {
-	static const char *exts[] = {".pack", ".idx", ".rev", ".keep", ".bitmap", ".promisor"};
+	static const char *exts[] = {".pack", ".idx", ".rev", ".keep", ".bitmap", ".promisor", ".mtimes"};
 	int i;
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	size_t plen;
@@ -717,6 +726,10 @@ struct packed_git *add_packed_git(const char *path, size_t path_len, int local)
 	if (!access(p->pack_name, F_OK))
 		p->pack_promisor = 1;
 
+	xsnprintf(p->pack_name + path_len, alloc - path_len, ".mtimes");
+	if (!access(p->pack_name, F_OK))
+		p->is_cruft = 1;
+
 	xsnprintf(p->pack_name + path_len, alloc - path_len, ".pack");
 	if (stat(p->pack_name, &st) || !S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
 		free(p);
@@ -868,7 +881,8 @@ static void prepare_pack(const char *full_name, size_t full_name_len,
 	    ends_with(file_name, ".pack") ||
 	    ends_with(file_name, ".bitmap") ||
 	    ends_with(file_name, ".keep") ||
-	    ends_with(file_name, ".promisor"))
+	    ends_with(file_name, ".promisor") ||
+	    ends_with(file_name, ".mtimes"))
 		string_list_append(data->garbage, full_name);
 	else
 		report_garbage(PACKDIR_FILE_GARBAGE, full_name);
diff --git a/packfile.h b/packfile.h
index 186146779d..32201d8af7 100644
--- a/packfile.h
+++ b/packfile.h
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ uint32_t get_pack_fanout(struct packed_git *p, uint32_t value);
 unsigned char *use_pack(struct packed_git *, struct pack_window **, off_t, unsigned long *);
 void close_pack_windows(struct packed_git *);
 void close_pack_revindex(struct packed_git *);
+void close_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p);
 void close_pack(struct packed_git *);
 void close_object_store(struct raw_object_store *o);
 void unuse_pack(struct pack_window **);

chunk-format.c, chunk-format.h, commit-graph.c, midx.c, pack-write.c

diff --git a/chunk-format.c b/chunk-format.c
index 1c3dca62e2..0275b74a89 100644
--- a/chunk-format.c
+++ b/chunk-format.c
@@ -181,3 +181,15 @@ int read_chunk(struct chunkfile *cf,
 
 	return CHUNK_NOT_FOUND;
 }
+
+uint8_t oid_version(const struct git_hash_algo *algop)
+{
+	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(algop)) {
+	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
+		return 1;
+	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
+		return 2;
+	default:
+		die(_("invalid hash version"));
+	}
+}
diff --git a/chunk-format.h b/chunk-format.h
index 9ccbe00377..7885aa0848 100644
--- a/chunk-format.h
+++ b/chunk-format.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define CHUNK_FORMAT_H
 
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "hash.h"
 
 struct hashfile;
 struct chunkfile;
@@ -65,4 +66,6 @@ int read_chunk(struct chunkfile *cf,
 	       chunk_read_fn fn,
 	       void *data);
 
+uint8_t oid_version(const struct git_hash_algo *algop);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/commit-graph.c b/commit-graph.c
index 2706683acf..1f08152a35 100644
--- a/commit-graph.c
+++ b/commit-graph.c
@@ -193,18 +193,6 @@ char *get_commit_graph_chain_filename(struct object_directory *odb)
 	return xstrfmt("%s/info/commit-graphs/commit-graph-chain", odb->path);
 }
 
-static uint8_t oid_version(void)
-{
-	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(the_hash_algo)) {
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
-		return 1;
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
-		return 2;
-	default:
-		die(_("invalid hash version"));
-	}
-}
-
 static struct commit_graph *alloc_commit_graph(void)
 {
 	struct commit_graph *g = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*g));
@@ -365,9 +353,9 @@ struct commit_graph *parse_commit_graph(struct repository *r,
 	}
 
 	hash_version = *(unsigned char*)(data + 5);
-	if (hash_version != oid_version()) {
+	if (hash_version != oid_version(the_hash_algo)) {
 		error(_("commit-graph hash version %X does not match version %X"),
-		      hash_version, oid_version());
+		      hash_version, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
@@ -1908,7 +1896,7 @@ static int write_commit_graph_file(struct write_commit_graph_context *ctx)
 	hashwrite_be32(f, GRAPH_SIGNATURE);
 
 	hashwrite_u8(f, GRAPH_VERSION);
-	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version());
+	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 	hashwrite_u8(f, get_num_chunks(cf));
 	hashwrite_u8(f, ctx->num_commit_graphs_after - 1);
 
diff --git a/midx.c b/midx.c
index 8433086ac1..756ae6a206 100644
--- a/midx.c
+++ b/midx.c
@@ -40,18 +40,6 @@
 
 #define PACK_EXPIRED UINT_MAX
 
-static uint8_t oid_version(void)
-{
-	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(the_hash_algo)) {
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
-		return 1;
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
-		return 2;
-	default:
-		die(_("invalid hash version"));
-	}
-}
-
 const unsigned char *get_midx_checksum(struct multi_pack_index *m)
 {
 	return m->data + m->data_len - the_hash_algo->rawsz;
@@ -131,9 +119,9 @@ struct multi_pack_index *load_multi_pack_index(const char *object_dir, int local
 		      m->version);
 
 	hash_version = m->data[MIDX_BYTE_HASH_VERSION];
-	if (hash_version != oid_version()) {
+	if (hash_version != oid_version(the_hash_algo)) {
 		error(_("multi-pack-index hash version %u does not match version %u"),
-		      hash_version, oid_version());
+		      hash_version, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 		goto cleanup_fail;
 	}
 	m->hash_len = the_hash_algo->rawsz;
@@ -413,7 +401,7 @@ static size_t write_midx_header(struct hashfile *f,
 {
 	hashwrite_be32(f, MIDX_SIGNATURE);
 	hashwrite_u8(f, MIDX_VERSION);
-	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version());
+	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 	hashwrite_u8(f, num_chunks);
 	hashwrite_u8(f, 0); /* unused */
 	hashwrite_be32(f, num_packs);
diff --git a/pack-write.c b/pack-write.c
index d594e3008e..ff305b404c 100644
--- a/pack-write.c
+++ b/pack-write.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "pack.h"
 #include "csum-file.h"
 #include "remote.h"
+#include "chunk-format.h"
 
 void reset_pack_idx_option(struct pack_idx_option *opts)
 {
@@ -181,21 +182,9 @@ static int pack_order_cmp(const void *va, const void *vb, void *ctx)
 
 static void write_rev_header(struct hashfile *f)
 {
-	uint32_t oid_version;
-	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(the_hash_algo)) {
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
-		oid_version = 1;
-		break;
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
-		oid_version = 2;
-		break;
-	default:
-		die("write_rev_header: unknown hash version");
-	}
-
 	hashwrite_be32(f, RIDX_SIGNATURE);
 	hashwrite_be32(f, RIDX_VERSION);
-	hashwrite_be32(f, oid_version);
+	hashwrite_be32(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 }
 
 static void write_rev_index_positions(struct hashfile *f,

builtin/pack-objects.c, bulk-checkin.c, pack-write.c, pack.h

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 1a3dd445f8..bf45ffbc57 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -1254,7 +1254,8 @@ static void write_pack_file(void)
 
 			stage_tmp_packfiles(&tmpname, pack_tmp_name,
 					    written_list, nr_written,
-					    &pack_idx_opts, hash, &idx_tmp_name);
+					    &to_pack, &pack_idx_opts, hash,
+					    &idx_tmp_name);
 
 			if (write_bitmap_index) {
 				size_t tmpname_len = tmpname.len;
diff --git a/bulk-checkin.c b/bulk-checkin.c
index 8785b2ac80..99f7596c4e 100644
--- a/bulk-checkin.c
+++ b/bulk-checkin.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ static void finish_tmp_packfile(struct strbuf *basename,
 	char *idx_tmp_name = NULL;
 
 	stage_tmp_packfiles(basename, pack_tmp_name, written_list, nr_written,
-			    pack_idx_opts, hash, &idx_tmp_name);
+			    NULL, pack_idx_opts, hash, &idx_tmp_name);
 	rename_tmp_packfile_idx(basename, &idx_tmp_name);
 
 	free(idx_tmp_name);
diff --git a/pack-write.c b/pack-write.c
index a5846f3a34..d594e3008e 100644
--- a/pack-write.c
+++ b/pack-write.c
@@ -483,6 +483,7 @@ void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 			 const char *pack_tmp_name,
 			 struct pack_idx_entry **written_list,
 			 uint32_t nr_written,
+			 struct packing_data *to_pack,
 			 struct pack_idx_option *pack_idx_opts,
 			 unsigned char hash[],
 			 char **idx_tmp_name)
diff --git a/pack.h b/pack.h
index b22bfc4a18..fd27cfdfd7 100644
--- a/pack.h
+++ b/pack.h
@@ -109,11 +109,14 @@ int encode_in_pack_object_header(unsigned char *hdr, int hdr_len,
 #define PH_ERROR_PROTOCOL	(-3)
 int read_pack_header(int fd, struct pack_header *);
 
+struct packing_data;
+
 struct hashfile *create_tmp_packfile(char **pack_tmp_name);
 void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 			 const char *pack_tmp_name,
 			 struct pack_idx_entry **written_list,
 			 uint32_t nr_written,
+			 struct packing_data *to_pack,
 			 struct pack_idx_option *pack_idx_opts,
 			 unsigned char hash[],
 			 char **idx_tmp_name);

pack-objects.c, pack-objects.h, pack-write.c, pack.h

diff --git a/pack-objects.c b/pack-objects.c
index fe2a4eace9..272e8d4517 100644
--- a/pack-objects.c
+++ b/pack-objects.c
@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ struct object_entry *packlist_alloc(struct packing_data *pdata,
 
 		if (pdata->layer)
 			REALLOC_ARRAY(pdata->layer, pdata->nr_alloc);
+
+		if (pdata->cruft_mtime)
+			REALLOC_ARRAY(pdata->cruft_mtime, pdata->nr_alloc);
 	}
 
 	new_entry = pdata->objects + pdata->nr_objects++;
@@ -198,6 +201,9 @@ struct object_entry *packlist_alloc(struct packing_data *pdata,
 	if (pdata->layer)
 		pdata->layer[pdata->nr_objects - 1] = 0;
 
+	if (pdata->cruft_mtime)
+		pdata->cruft_mtime[pdata->nr_objects - 1] = 0;
+
 	return new_entry;
 }
 
diff --git a/pack-objects.h b/pack-objects.h
index dca2351ef9..f17119de26 100644
--- a/pack-objects.h
+++ b/pack-objects.h
@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ struct packing_data {
 	/* delta islands */
 	unsigned int *tree_depth;
 	unsigned char *layer;
+
+	/* cruft packs */
+	uint32_t *cruft_mtime;
 };
 
 void prepare_packing_data(struct repository *r, struct packing_data *pdata);
@@ -289,4 +292,21 @@ static inline void oe_set_layer(struct packing_data *pack,
 	pack->layer[e - pack->objects] = layer;
 }
 
+static inline uint32_t oe_cruft_mtime(struct packing_data *pack,
+				      struct object_entry *e)
+{
+	if (!pack->cruft_mtime)
+		return 0;
+	return pack->cruft_mtime[e - pack->objects];
+}
+
+static inline void oe_set_cruft_mtime(struct packing_data *pack,
+				      struct object_entry *e,
+				      uint32_t mtime)
+{
+	if (!pack->cruft_mtime)
+		CALLOC_ARRAY(pack->cruft_mtime, pack->nr_alloc);
+	pack->cruft_mtime[e - pack->objects] = mtime;
+}
+
 #endif
diff --git a/pack-write.c b/pack-write.c
index ff305b404c..8c3efda2c3 100644
--- a/pack-write.c
+++ b/pack-write.c
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 #include "csum-file.h"
 #include "remote.h"
 #include "chunk-format.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
+#include "oidmap.h"
+#include "chunk-format.h"
+#include "pack-objects.h"
 
 void reset_pack_idx_option(struct pack_idx_option *opts)
 {
@@ -276,6 +280,65 @@ const char *write_rev_file_order(const char *rev_name,
 	return rev_name;
 }
 
+static void write_mtimes_header(struct hashfile *f)
+{
+	hashwrite_be32(f, MTIMES_SIGNATURE);
+	hashwrite_be32(f, MTIMES_VERSION);
+	hashwrite_be32(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
+}
+
+static void write_mtimes_objects(struct hashfile *f,
+				 struct packing_data *to_pack,
+				 struct pack_idx_entry **objects,
+				 uint32_t nr_objects)
+{
+	uint32_t i;
+	for (i = 0; i < nr_objects; i++) {
+		struct object_entry *e = (struct object_entry*)objects[i];
+		hashwrite_be32(f, oe_cruft_mtime(to_pack, e));
+	}
+}
+
+static void write_mtimes_trailer(struct hashfile *f, const unsigned char *hash)
+{
+	hashwrite(f, hash, the_hash_algo->rawsz);
+}
+
+static const char *write_mtimes_file(const char *mtimes_name,
+				     struct packing_data *to_pack,
+				     struct pack_idx_entry **objects,
+				     uint32_t nr_objects,
+				     const unsigned char *hash)
+{
+	struct hashfile *f;
+	int fd;
+
+	if (!to_pack)
+		BUG("cannot call write_mtimes_file with NULL packing_data");
+
+	if (!mtimes_name) {
+		struct strbuf tmp_file = STRBUF_INIT;
+		fd = odb_mkstemp(&tmp_file, "pack/tmp_mtimes_XXXXXX");
+		mtimes_name = strbuf_detach(&tmp_file, NULL);
+	} else {
+		unlink(mtimes_name);
+		fd = xopen(mtimes_name, O_CREAT|O_EXCL|O_WRONLY, 0600);
+	}
+	f = hashfd(fd, mtimes_name);
+
+	write_mtimes_header(f);
+	write_mtimes_objects(f, to_pack, objects, nr_objects);
+	write_mtimes_trailer(f, hash);
+
+	if (mtimes_name && adjust_shared_perm(mtimes_name) < 0)
+		die(_("failed to make %s readable"), mtimes_name);
+
+	finalize_hashfile(f, NULL,
+			  CSUM_HASH_IN_STREAM | CSUM_CLOSE | CSUM_FSYNC);
+
+	return mtimes_name;
+}
+
 off_t write_pack_header(struct hashfile *f, uint32_t nr_entries)
 {
 	struct pack_header hdr;
@@ -478,6 +541,7 @@ void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 			 char **idx_tmp_name)
 {
 	const char *rev_tmp_name = NULL;
+	const char *mtimes_tmp_name = NULL;
 
 	if (adjust_shared_perm(pack_tmp_name))
 		die_errno("unable to make temporary pack file readable");
@@ -490,9 +554,19 @@ void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 	rev_tmp_name = write_rev_file(NULL, written_list, nr_written, hash,
 				      pack_idx_opts->flags);
 
+	if (pack_idx_opts->flags & WRITE_MTIMES) {
+		mtimes_tmp_name = write_mtimes_file(NULL, to_pack, written_list,
+						    nr_written,
+						    hash);
+		if (adjust_shared_perm(mtimes_tmp_name))
+			die_errno("unable to make temporary mtimes file readable");
+	}
+
 	rename_tmp_packfile(name_buffer, pack_tmp_name, "pack");
 	if (rev_tmp_name)
 		rename_tmp_packfile(name_buffer, rev_tmp_name, "rev");
+	if (mtimes_tmp_name)
+		rename_tmp_packfile(name_buffer, mtimes_tmp_name, "mtimes");
 }
 
 void write_promisor_file(const char *promisor_name, struct ref **sought, int nr_sought)
diff --git a/pack.h b/pack.h
index fd27cfdfd7..01d385903a 100644
--- a/pack.h
+++ b/pack.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ struct pack_idx_option {
 #define WRITE_IDX_STRICT 02
 #define WRITE_REV 04
 #define WRITE_REV_VERIFY 010
+#define WRITE_MTIMES 020
 
 	uint32_t version;
 	uint32_t off32_limit;

builtin/pack-objects.c, reachable.c, reachable.h

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index b12e79e4b1..2c592d369a 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -3951,7 +3951,7 @@ static void get_object_list(int ac, const char **av)
 	if (unpack_unreachable_expiration) {
 		revs.ignore_missing_links = 1;
 		if (add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(&revs,
-				unpack_unreachable_expiration))
+				unpack_unreachable_expiration, NULL, 0))
 			die(_("unable to add recent objects"));
 		if (prepare_revision_walk(&revs))
 			die(_("revision walk setup failed"));
diff --git a/reachable.c b/reachable.c
index 84e3d0d75e..0eb9909f47 100644
--- a/reachable.c
+++ b/reachable.c
@@ -60,9 +60,13 @@ static void mark_commit(struct commit *c, void *data)
 struct recent_data {
 	struct rev_info *revs;
 	timestamp_t timestamp;
+	report_recent_object_fn *cb;
+	int ignore_in_core_kept_packs;
 };
 
 static void add_recent_object(const struct object_id *oid,
+			      struct packed_git *pack,
+			      off_t offset,
 			      timestamp_t mtime,
 			      struct recent_data *data)
 {
@@ -103,13 +107,29 @@ static void add_recent_object(const struct object_id *oid,
 		die("unable to lookup %s", oid_to_hex(oid));
 
 	add_pending_object(data->revs, obj, "");
+	if (data->cb)
+		data->cb(obj, pack, offset, mtime);
+}
+
+static int want_recent_object(struct recent_data *data,
+			      const struct object_id *oid)
+{
+	if (data->ignore_in_core_kept_packs &&
+	    has_object_kept_pack(oid, IN_CORE_KEEP_PACKS))
+		return 0;
+	return 1;
 }
 
 static int add_recent_loose(const struct object_id *oid,
 			    const char *path, void *data)
 {
 	struct stat st;
-	struct object *obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
+	struct object *obj;
+
+	if (!want_recent_object(data, oid))
+		return 0;
+
+	obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
 
 	if (obj && obj->flags & SEEN)
 		return 0;
@@ -126,7 +146,7 @@ static int add_recent_loose(const struct object_id *oid,
 		return error_errno("unable to stat %s", oid_to_hex(oid));
 	}
 
-	add_recent_object(oid, st.st_mtime, data);
+	add_recent_object(oid, NULL, 0, st.st_mtime, data);
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -134,29 +154,43 @@ static int add_recent_packed(const struct object_id *oid,
 			     struct packed_git *p, uint32_t pos,
 			     void *data)
 {
-	struct object *obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
+	struct object *obj;
+
+	if (!want_recent_object(data, oid))
+		return 0;
+
+	obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
 
 	if (obj && obj->flags & SEEN)
 		return 0;
-	add_recent_object(oid, p->mtime, data);
+	add_recent_object(oid, p, nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos), p->mtime, data);
 	return 0;
 }
 
 int add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(struct rev_info *revs,
-					   timestamp_t timestamp)
+					   timestamp_t timestamp,
+					   report_recent_object_fn *cb,
+					   int ignore_in_core_kept_packs)
 {
 	struct recent_data data;
+	enum for_each_object_flags flags;
 	int r;
 
 	data.revs = revs;
 	data.timestamp = timestamp;
+	data.cb = cb;
+	data.ignore_in_core_kept_packs = ignore_in_core_kept_packs;
 
 	r = for_each_loose_object(add_recent_loose, &data,
 				  FOR_EACH_OBJECT_LOCAL_ONLY);
 	if (r)
 		return r;
-	return for_each_packed_object(add_recent_packed, &data,
-				      FOR_EACH_OBJECT_LOCAL_ONLY);
+
+	flags = FOR_EACH_OBJECT_LOCAL_ONLY | FOR_EACH_OBJECT_PACK_ORDER;
+	if (ignore_in_core_kept_packs)
+		flags |= FOR_EACH_OBJECT_SKIP_IN_CORE_KEPT_PACKS;
+
+	return for_each_packed_object(add_recent_packed, &data, flags);
 }
 
 static int mark_object_seen(const struct object_id *oid,
@@ -217,7 +251,8 @@ void mark_reachable_objects(struct rev_info *revs, int mark_reflog,
 
 	if (mark_recent) {
 		revs->ignore_missing_links = 1;
-		if (add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(revs, mark_recent))
+		if (add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(revs, mark_recent,
+							   NULL, 0))
 			die("unable to mark recent objects");
 		if (prepare_revision_walk(revs))
 			die("revision walk setup failed");
diff --git a/reachable.h b/reachable.h
index 5df932ad8f..b776761baa 100644
--- a/reachable.h
+++ b/reachable.h
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
 #ifndef REACHEABLE_H
 #define REACHEABLE_H
 
+#include "object.h"
+
 struct progress;
 struct rev_info;
 
+typedef void report_recent_object_fn(const struct object *, struct packed_git *,
+				     off_t, time_t);
+
 int add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(struct rev_info *revs,
-					   timestamp_t timestamp);
+					   timestamp_t timestamp,
+					   report_recent_object_fn cb,
+					   int ignore_in_core_kept_packs);
 void mark_reachable_objects(struct rev_info *revs, int mark_reflog,
 			    timestamp_t mark_recent, struct progress *);
 

Documentation/config/repack.txt, builtin/repack.c, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/config/repack.txt b/Documentation/config/repack.txt
index 9c413e177e..fd18d1fb89 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/repack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/repack.txt
@@ -25,3 +25,12 @@ repack.writeBitmaps::
 	space and extra time spent on the initial repack.  This has
 	no effect if multiple packfiles are created.
 	Defaults to true on bare repos, false otherwise.
+
+repack.cruftWindow::
+repack.cruftWindowMemory::
+repack.cruftDepth::
+repack.cruftThreads::
+	Parameters used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when generating
+	a cruft pack and the respective parameters are not given over
+	the command line. See similarly named `pack.*` configuration
+	variables for defaults and meaning.
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index 68b4bdf06f..cefa906344 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -40,9 +40,21 @@ static const char incremental_bitmap_conflict_error[] = N_(
 "--no-write-bitmap-index or disable the pack.writebitmaps configuration."
 );
 
+struct pack_objects_args {
+	const char *window;
+	const char *window_memory;
+	const char *depth;
+	const char *threads;
+	const char *max_pack_size;
+	int no_reuse_delta;
+	int no_reuse_object;
+	int quiet;
+	int local;
+};
 
 static int repack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {
+	struct pack_objects_args *cruft_po_args = cb;
 	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.usedeltabaseoffset")) {
 		delta_base_offset = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
@@ -61,6 +73,15 @@ static int repack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftwindow"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->window, var, value);
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftwindowmemory"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->window_memory, var, value);
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftdepth"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->depth, var, value);
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftthreads"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->threads, var, value);
+
 	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
@@ -153,18 +174,6 @@ static void remove_redundant_pack(const char *dir_name, const char *base_name)
 	strbuf_release(&buf);
 }
 
-struct pack_objects_args {
-	const char *window;
-	const char *window_memory;
-	const char *depth;
-	const char *threads;
-	const char *max_pack_size;
-	int no_reuse_delta;
-	int no_reuse_object;
-	int quiet;
-	int local;
-};
-
 static void prepare_pack_objects(struct child_process *cmd,
 				 const struct pack_objects_args *args)
 {
@@ -687,6 +696,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	struct string_list keep_pack_list = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
 	int no_update_server_info = 0;
 	struct pack_objects_args po_args = {NULL};
+	struct pack_objects_args cruft_po_args = {NULL};
 	int geometric_factor = 0;
 	int write_midx = 0;
 
@@ -741,7 +751,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
-	git_config(repack_config, NULL);
+	git_config(repack_config, &cruft_po_args);
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, builtin_repack_options,
 				git_repack_usage, 0);
@@ -920,7 +930,19 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (*pack_prefix == '/')
 			pack_prefix++;
 
-		ret = write_cruft_pack(&po_args, pack_prefix, &names,
+		if (!cruft_po_args.window)
+			cruft_po_args.window = po_args.window;
+		if (!cruft_po_args.window_memory)
+			cruft_po_args.window_memory = po_args.window_memory;
+		if (!cruft_po_args.depth)
+			cruft_po_args.depth = po_args.depth;
+		if (!cruft_po_args.threads)
+			cruft_po_args.threads = po_args.threads;
+
+		cruft_po_args.local = po_args.local;
+		cruft_po_args.quiet = po_args.quiet;
+
+		ret = write_cruft_pack(&cruft_po_args, pack_prefix, &names,
 				       &existing_nonkept_packs,
 				       &existing_kept_packs);
 		if (ret)
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index ed1a113ab6..750e9d6d6f 100755
--- a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -511,4 +511,87 @@ test_expect_success 'cruft repack ignores pack.packSizeLimit' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack respects repack.cruftWindow' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+
+		GIT_TRACE2_EVENT=$(pwd)/event.trace \
+		git -c pack.window=1 -c repack.cruftWindow=2 repack \
+		       --cruft --window=3 &&
+
+		grep "pack-objects.*--window=2.*--cruft" event.trace
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack respects --window by default' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+
+		GIT_TRACE2_EVENT=$(pwd)/event.trace \
+		git -c pack.window=2 repack --cruft --window=3 &&
+
+		grep "pack-objects.*--window=3.*--cruft" event.trace
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack respects --quiet' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+		GIT_PROGRESS_DELAY=0 git repack --cruft --quiet 2>err &&
+		test_must_be_empty err
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft --local drops unreachable objects' '
+	git init alternate &&
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr alternate repo" &&
+
+	test_commit -C alternate base &&
+	# Pack all objects in alterate so that the cruft repack in "repo" sees
+	# the object it dropped due to `--local` as packed. Otherwise this
+	# object would not appear packed anywhere (since it is not packed in
+	# alternate and likewise not part of the cruft pack in the other repo
+	# because of `--local`).
+	git -C alternate repack -ad &&
+
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		object="$(git -C ../alternate rev-parse HEAD:base.t)" &&
+		git -C ../alternate cat-file -p $object >contents &&
+
+		# Write some reachable objects and two unreachable ones: one
+		# that the alternate has and another that is unique.
+		test_commit other &&
+		git hash-object -w -t blob contents &&
+		cruft="$(echo cruft | git hash-object -w -t blob --stdin)" &&
+
+		( cd ../alternate/.git/objects && pwd ) \
+		       >.git/objects/info/alternates &&
+
+		test_path_is_file $objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $cruft) &&
+		test_path_is_file $objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $object) &&
+
+		git repack -d --cruft --local &&
+
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes))" \
+		       >objects &&
+		! grep $object objects &&
+		grep $cruft objects
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

Makefile, t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c, t/helper/test-tool.c, t/helper/test-tool.h

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index efd5e00717..a7382cbfc1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -721,6 +721,7 @@ TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-oid-array.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-oidmap.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-oidtree.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-online-cpus.o
+TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-pack-mtimes.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-parse-options.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-parse-pathspec-file.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-partial-clone.o
diff --git a/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c b/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b143f62520
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "test-tool.h"
+#include "strbuf.h"
+#include "object-store.h"
+#include "packfile.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
+
+static int dump_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	uint32_t i;
+	if (load_pack_mtimes(p) < 0)
+		die("could not load pack .mtimes");
+
+	for (i = 0; i < p->num_objects; i++) {
+		struct object_id oid;
+		if (nth_packed_object_id(&oid, p, i) < 0)
+			die("could not load object id at position %"PRIu32, i);
+
+		printf("%s %"PRIu32"\n",
+		       oid_to_hex(&oid), nth_packed_mtime(p, i));
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static const char *pack_mtimes_usage = "\n"
+"  test-tool pack-mtimes <pack-name.mtimes>";
+
+int cmd__pack_mtimes(int argc, const char **argv)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct packed_git *p;
+
+	setup_git_directory();
+
+	if (argc != 2)
+		usage(pack_mtimes_usage);
+
+	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
+		strbuf_addstr(&buf, basename(p->pack_name));
+		strbuf_strip_suffix(&buf, ".pack");
+		strbuf_addstr(&buf, ".mtimes");
+
+		if (!strcmp(buf.buf, argv[1]))
+			break;
+
+		strbuf_reset(&buf);
+	}
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
+
+	return p ? dump_mtimes(p) : 1;
+}
diff --git a/t/helper/test-tool.c b/t/helper/test-tool.c
index 3ce5585e53..1bb1c4b562 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-tool.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-tool.c
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ static struct test_cmd cmds[] = {
 	{ "oidmap", cmd__oidmap },
 	{ "oidtree", cmd__oidtree },
 	{ "online-cpus", cmd__online_cpus },
+	{ "pack-mtimes", cmd__pack_mtimes },
 	{ "parse-options", cmd__parse_options },
 	{ "parse-pathspec-file", cmd__parse_pathspec_file },
 	{ "partial-clone", cmd__partial_clone },
diff --git a/t/helper/test-tool.h b/t/helper/test-tool.h
index 9f0f522850..07a2d3f94e 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-tool.h
+++ b/t/helper/test-tool.h
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ int cmd__mktemp(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__oidmap(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__oidtree(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__online_cpus(int argc, const char **argv);
+int cmd__pack_mtimes(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__parse_options(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__parse_pathspec_file(int argc, const char** argv);
 int cmd__partial_clone(int argc, const char **argv);

diff --git a/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c b/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
index b143f62520..f7b79daf4c 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #include "packfile.h"
 #include "pack-mtimes.h"

-static int dump_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+static void dump_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
 {
 	uint32_t i;
 	if (load_pack_mtimes(p) < 0)
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@ static int dump_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
 		printf("%s %"PRIu32"\n",
 		       oid_to_hex(&oid), nth_packed_mtime(p, i));
 	}
-
-	return 0;
 }

 static const char *pack_mtimes_usage = "\n"
@@ -49,5 +47,10 @@ int cmd__pack_mtimes(int argc, const char **argv)

 	strbuf_release(&buf);

-	return p ? dump_mtimes(p) : 1;
+	if (!p)
+		die("could not find pack '%s'", argv[1]);
+
+	dump_mtimes(p);
+
+	return 0;
 }
--- >8 ---

Thanks,
Taylor

builtin/pack-objects.c, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 2c592d369a..a38fa34479 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -3439,6 +3439,44 @@ static int add_cruft_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid, enum object_type
 	return 1;
 }
 
+static void show_cruft_object(struct object *obj, const char *name, void *data)
+{
+	/*
+	 * if we did not record it earlier, it's at least as old as our
+	 * expiration value. Rather than find it exactly, just use that
+	 * value.  This may bump it forward from its real mtime, but it
+	 * will still be "too old" next time we run with the same
+	 * expiration.
+	 *
+	 * if obj does appear in the packing list, this call is a noop (or may
+	 * set the namehash).
+	 */
+	add_cruft_object_entry(&obj->oid, obj->type, NULL, 0, name, cruft_expiration);
+}
+
+static void show_cruft_commit(struct commit *commit, void *data)
+{
+	show_cruft_object((struct object*)commit, NULL, data);
+}
+
+static int cruft_include_check_obj(struct object *obj, void *data)
+{
+	return !has_object_kept_pack(&obj->oid, IN_CORE_KEEP_PACKS);
+}
+
+static int cruft_include_check(struct commit *commit, void *data)
+{
+	return cruft_include_check_obj((struct object*)commit, data);
+}
+
+static void set_cruft_mtime(const struct object *object,
+			    struct packed_git *pack,
+			    off_t offset, time_t mtime)
+{
+	add_cruft_object_entry(&object->oid, object->type, pack, offset, NULL,
+			       mtime);
+}
+
 static void mark_pack_kept_in_core(struct string_list *packs, unsigned keep)
 {
 	struct string_list_item *item = NULL;
@@ -3464,6 +3502,50 @@ static void enumerate_cruft_objects(void)
 	stop_progress(&progress_state);
 }
 
+static void enumerate_and_traverse_cruft_objects(struct string_list *fresh_packs)
+{
+	struct packed_git *p;
+	struct rev_info revs;
+	int ret;
+
+	repo_init_revisions(the_repository, &revs, NULL);
+
+	revs.tag_objects = 1;
+	revs.tree_objects = 1;
+	revs.blob_objects = 1;
+
+	revs.include_check = cruft_include_check;
+	revs.include_check_obj = cruft_include_check_obj;
+
+	revs.ignore_missing_links = 1;
+
+	if (progress)
+		progress_state = start_progress(_("Enumerating cruft objects"), 0);
+	ret = add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(&revs, cruft_expiration,
+						     set_cruft_mtime, 1);
+	stop_progress(&progress_state);
+
+	if (ret)
+		die(_("unable to add cruft objects"));
+
+	/*
+	 * Re-mark only the fresh packs as kept so that objects in
+	 * unknown packs do not halt the reachability traversal early.
+	 */
+	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next)
+		p->pack_keep_in_core = 0;
+	mark_pack_kept_in_core(fresh_packs, 1);
+
+	if (prepare_revision_walk(&revs))
+		die(_("revision walk setup failed"));
+	if (progress)
+		progress_state = start_progress(_("Traversing cruft objects"), 0);
+	nr_seen = 0;
+	traverse_commit_list(&revs, show_cruft_commit, show_cruft_object, NULL);
+
+	stop_progress(&progress_state);
+}
+
 static void read_cruft_objects(void)
 {
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
@@ -3515,7 +3597,7 @@ static void read_cruft_objects(void)
 	mark_pack_kept_in_core(&discard_packs, 0);
 
 	if (cruft_expiration)
-		die("--cruft-expiration not yet implemented");
+		enumerate_and_traverse_cruft_objects(&fresh_packs);
 	else
 		enumerate_cruft_objects();
 
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 543a80e9bf..31d4a561fe 100755
--- a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -214,5 +214,148 @@ basic_cruft_pack_tests () {
 }
 
 basic_cruft_pack_tests never
+basic_cruft_pack_tests 2.weeks.ago
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft tags rescue tagged objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		test_commit tagged &&
+		git tag -a annotated -m tag &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed.. >objects &&
+		while read oid
+		do
+			test-tool chmtime -1000 \
+				"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $oid)"
+		done <objects &&
+
+		test-tool chmtime -500 \
+			"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse annotated))" &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f1 -d" " <actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+
+		(
+			cat objects &&
+			git rev-parse annotated
+		) >expect.raw &&
+		sort <expect.raw >expect &&
+
+		test_cmp expect actual &&
+		cat actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft commits rescue parents, trees' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		test_commit old &&
+		test_commit new &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed..new >objects &&
+		while read object
+		do
+			test-tool chmtime -1000 \
+				"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $object)"
+		done <objects &&
+		test-tool chmtime +500 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path \
+			$(git rev-parse HEAD))" &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+		cut -d" " -f1 <actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+		sort <objects >expect &&
+
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft trees rescue sub-trees, blobs' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		mkdir -p dir/sub &&
+		echo foo >foo &&
+		echo bar >dir/bar &&
+		echo baz >dir/sub/baz &&
+
+		test_tick &&
+		git add . &&
+		git commit -m "pruned" &&
+
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD^{tree}))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:foo))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime  -500 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir/bar))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir/sub))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir/sub/baz))" &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f1 -d" " <actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+
+		git rev-parse HEAD:dir HEAD:dir/bar HEAD:dir/sub HEAD:dir/sub/baz >expect.raw &&
+		sort <expect.raw >expect &&
+
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'expired objects are pruned' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		test_commit pruned &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed..pruned >objects &&
+		while read object
+		do
+			test-tool chmtime -1000 \
+				"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $object)"
+		done <objects &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual &&
+		test_must_be_empty actual
+	)
+'
 
 test_done

diff --git a/reachable.c b/reachable.c
index 0eb9909f47..9ec8e6bd5b 100644
--- a/reachable.c
+++ b/reachable.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "worktree.h"
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "pack-bitmap.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
 
 struct connectivity_progress {
 	struct progress *progress;
@@ -155,6 +156,7 @@ static int add_recent_packed(const struct object_id *oid,
 			     void *data)
 {
 	struct object *obj;
+	timestamp_t mtime = p->mtime;
 
 	if (!want_recent_object(data, oid))
 		return 0;
@@ -163,7 +165,12 @@ static int add_recent_packed(const struct object_id *oid,
 
 	if (obj && obj->flags & SEEN)
 		return 0;
-	add_recent_object(oid, p, nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos), p->mtime, data);
+	if (p->is_cruft) {
+		if (load_pack_mtimes(p) < 0)
+			die(_("could not load cruft pack .mtimes"));
+		mtime = nth_packed_mtime(p, pos);
+	}
+	add_recent_object(oid, p, nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos), mtime, data);
 	return 0;
 }
 

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index bf45ffbc57..3fb10529ba 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -1508,13 +1508,13 @@ static int want_object_in_pack(const struct object_id *oid,
 	return 1;
 }
 
-static void create_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid,
-				enum object_type type,
-				uint32_t hash,
-				int exclude,
-				int no_try_delta,
-				struct packed_git *found_pack,
-				off_t found_offset)
+static struct object_entry *create_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid,
+						enum object_type type,
+						uint32_t hash,
+						int exclude,
+						int no_try_delta,
+						struct packed_git *found_pack,
+						off_t found_offset)
 {
 	struct object_entry *entry;
 
@@ -1531,6 +1531,8 @@ static void create_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid,
 	}
 
 	entry->no_try_delta = no_try_delta;
+
+	return entry;
 }
 
 static const char no_closure_warning[] = N_(

Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt, builtin/pack-objects.c, object-file.c, object-store.h, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
index dbfd1f9017..573c18afcd 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 	[--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]
 	[--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
 	[--revs [--unpacked | --all]] [--keep-pack=<pack-name>]
+	[--cruft] [--cruft-expiration=<time>]
 	[--stdout [--filter=<filter-spec>] | base-name]
 	[--shallow] [--keep-true-parents] [--[no-]sparse] < object-list
 
@@ -95,6 +96,28 @@ base-name::
 Incompatible with `--revs`, or options that imply `--revs` (such as
 `--all`), with the exception of `--unpacked`, which is compatible.
 
+--cruft::
+	Packs unreachable objects into a separate "cruft" pack, denoted
+	by the existence of a `.mtimes` file. Pack names provided over
+	stdin indicate which packs will remain after a `git repack`.
+	Pack names prefixed with a `-` indicate those which will be
+	removed. The contents of the cruft pack are all objects not
+	contained in the surviving packs specified by `--keep-pack`)
+	which have not exceeded the grace period (see
+	`--cruft-expiration` below), or which have exceeded the grace
+	period, but are reachable from an other object which hasn't.
++
+Incompatible with `--unpack-unreachable`, `--keep-unreachable`,
+`--pack-loose-unreachable`, `--stdin-packs`, as well as any other
+options which imply `--revs`. Also incompatible with `--max-pack-size`;
+when this option is set, the maximum pack size is not inferred from
+`pack.packSizeLimit`.
+
+--cruft-expiration=<approxidate>::
+	If specified, objects are eliminated from the cruft pack if they
+	have an mtime older than `<approxidate>`. If unspecified (and
+	given `--cruft`), then no objects are eliminated.
+
 --window=<n>::
 --depth=<n>::
 	These two options affect how the objects contained in
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 3fb10529ba..b12e79e4b1 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include "trace2.h"
 #include "shallow.h"
 #include "promisor-remote.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
 
 /*
  * Objects we are going to pack are collected in the `to_pack` structure.
@@ -194,6 +195,8 @@ static int reuse_delta = 1, reuse_object = 1;
 static int keep_unreachable, unpack_unreachable, include_tag;
 static timestamp_t unpack_unreachable_expiration;
 static int pack_loose_unreachable;
+static int cruft;
+static timestamp_t cruft_expiration;
 static int local;
 static int have_non_local_packs;
 static int incremental;
@@ -1252,6 +1255,9 @@ static void write_pack_file(void)
 					&to_pack, written_list, nr_written);
 			}
 
+			if (cruft)
+				pack_idx_opts.flags |= WRITE_MTIMES;
+
 			stage_tmp_packfiles(&tmpname, pack_tmp_name,
 					    written_list, nr_written,
 					    &to_pack, &pack_idx_opts, hash,
@@ -3389,6 +3395,135 @@ static void read_packs_list_from_stdin(void)
 	string_list_clear(&exclude_packs, 0);
 }
 
+static int add_cruft_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid, enum object_type type,
+				  struct packed_git *pack, off_t offset,
+				  const char *name, uint32_t mtime)
+{
+	struct object_entry *entry;
+
+	display_progress(progress_state, ++nr_seen);
+
+	entry = packlist_find(&to_pack, oid);
+	if (entry) {
+		if (name) {
+			entry->hash = pack_name_hash(name);
+			entry->no_try_delta = name && no_try_delta(name);
+		}
+	} else {
+		if (!want_object_in_pack(oid, 0, &pack, &offset))
+			return 0;
+		if (!pack && type == OBJ_BLOB && !has_loose_object(oid)) {
+			/*
+			 * If a traversed tree has a missing blob then we want
+			 * to avoid adding that missing object to our pack.
+			 *
+			 * This only applies to missing blobs, not trees,
+			 * because the traversal needs to parse sub-trees but
+			 * not blobs.
+			 *
+			 * Note we only perform this check when we couldn't
+			 * already find the object in a pack, so we're really
+			 * limited to "ensure non-tip blobs which don't exist in
+			 * packs do exist via loose objects". Confused?
+			 */
+			return 0;
+		}
+
+		entry = create_object_entry(oid, type, pack_name_hash(name),
+					    0, name && no_try_delta(name),
+					    pack, offset);
+	}
+
+	if (mtime > oe_cruft_mtime(&to_pack, entry))
+		oe_set_cruft_mtime(&to_pack, entry, mtime);
+	return 1;
+}
+
+static void mark_pack_kept_in_core(struct string_list *packs, unsigned keep)
+{
+	struct string_list_item *item = NULL;
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, packs) {
+		struct packed_git *p = item->util;
+		if (!p)
+			die(_("could not find pack '%s'"), item->string);
+		p->pack_keep_in_core = keep;
+	}
+}
+
+static void add_unreachable_loose_objects(void);
+static void add_objects_in_unpacked_packs(void);
+
+static void enumerate_cruft_objects(void)
+{
+	if (progress)
+		progress_state = start_progress(_("Enumerating cruft objects"), 0);
+
+	add_objects_in_unpacked_packs();
+	add_unreachable_loose_objects();
+
+	stop_progress(&progress_state);
+}
+
+static void read_cruft_objects(void)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct string_list discard_packs = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
+	struct string_list fresh_packs = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
+	struct packed_git *p;
+
+	ignore_packed_keep_in_core = 1;
+
+	while (strbuf_getline(&buf, stdin) != EOF) {
+		if (!buf.len)
+			continue;
+
+		if (*buf.buf == '-')
+			string_list_append(&discard_packs, buf.buf + 1);
+		else
+			string_list_append(&fresh_packs, buf.buf);
+		strbuf_reset(&buf);
+	}
+
+	string_list_sort(&discard_packs);
+	string_list_sort(&fresh_packs);
+
+	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
+		const char *pack_name = pack_basename(p);
+		struct string_list_item *item;
+
+		item = string_list_lookup(&fresh_packs, pack_name);
+		if (!item)
+			item = string_list_lookup(&discard_packs, pack_name);
+
+		if (item) {
+			item->util = p;
+		} else {
+			/*
+			 * This pack wasn't mentioned in either the "fresh" or
+			 * "discard" list, so the caller didn't know about it.
+			 *
+			 * Mark it as kept so that its objects are ignored by
+			 * add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(). We'll
+			 * unmark it before starting the traversal so it doesn't
+			 * halt the traversal early.
+			 */
+			p->pack_keep_in_core = 1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	mark_pack_kept_in_core(&fresh_packs, 1);
+	mark_pack_kept_in_core(&discard_packs, 0);
+
+	if (cruft_expiration)
+		die("--cruft-expiration not yet implemented");
+	else
+		enumerate_cruft_objects();
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
+	string_list_clear(&discard_packs, 0);
+	string_list_clear(&fresh_packs, 0);
+}
+
 static void read_object_list_from_stdin(void)
 {
 	char line[GIT_MAX_HEXSZ + 1 + PATH_MAX + 2];
@@ -3521,7 +3656,24 @@ static int add_object_in_unpacked_pack(const struct object_id *oid,
 				       uint32_t pos,
 				       void *_data)
 {
-	add_object_entry(oid, OBJ_NONE, "", 0);
+	if (cruft) {
+		off_t offset;
+		time_t mtime;
+
+		if (pack->is_cruft) {
+			if (load_pack_mtimes(pack) < 0)
+				die(_("could not load cruft pack .mtimes"));
+			mtime = nth_packed_mtime(pack, pos);
+		} else {
+			mtime = pack->mtime;
+		}
+		offset = nth_packed_object_offset(pack, pos);
+
+		add_cruft_object_entry(oid, OBJ_NONE, pack, offset,
+				       NULL, mtime);
+	} else {
+		add_object_entry(oid, OBJ_NONE, "", 0);
+	}
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -3545,7 +3697,19 @@ static int add_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid, const char *path,
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	add_object_entry(oid, type, "", 0);
+	if (cruft) {
+		struct stat st;
+		if (stat(path, &st) < 0) {
+			if (errno == ENOENT)
+				return 0;
+			return error_errno("unable to stat %s", oid_to_hex(oid));
+		}
+
+		add_cruft_object_entry(oid, type, NULL, 0, NULL,
+				       st.st_mtime);
+	} else {
+		add_object_entry(oid, type, "", 0);
+	}
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -3864,6 +4028,20 @@ static int option_parse_unpack_unreachable(const struct option *opt,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int option_parse_cruft_expiration(const struct option *opt,
+					 const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+	if (unset) {
+		cruft = 0;
+		cruft_expiration = 0;
+	} else {
+		cruft = 1;
+		if (arg)
+			cruft_expiration = approxidate(arg);
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
 int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	int use_internal_rev_list = 0;
@@ -3936,6 +4114,10 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "unpack-unreachable", NULL, N_("time"),
 		  N_("unpack unreachable objects newer than <time>"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_unpack_unreachable),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "cruft", &cruft, N_("create a cruft pack")),
+		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "cruft-expiration", NULL, N_("time"),
+		  N_("expire cruft objects older than <time>"),
+		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_cruft_expiration),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "sparse", &sparse,
 			 N_("use the sparse reachability algorithm")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "thin", &thin,
@@ -4060,7 +4242,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	if (!HAVE_THREADS && delta_search_threads != 1)
 		warning(_("no threads support, ignoring --threads"));
-	if (!pack_to_stdout && !pack_size_limit)
+	if (!pack_to_stdout && !pack_size_limit && !cruft)
 		pack_size_limit = pack_size_limit_cfg;
 	if (pack_to_stdout && pack_size_limit)
 		die(_("--max-pack-size cannot be used to build a pack for transfer"));
@@ -4087,6 +4269,15 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (stdin_packs && use_internal_rev_list)
 		die(_("cannot use internal rev list with --stdin-packs"));
 
+	if (cruft) {
+		if (use_internal_rev_list)
+			die(_("cannot use internal rev list with --cruft"));
+		if (stdin_packs)
+			die(_("cannot use --stdin-packs with --cruft"));
+		if (pack_size_limit)
+			die(_("cannot use --max-pack-size with --cruft"));
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * "soft" reasons not to use bitmaps - for on-disk repack by default we want
 	 *
@@ -4143,7 +4334,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			    the_repository);
 	prepare_packing_data(the_repository, &to_pack);
 
-	if (progress)
+	if (progress && !cruft)
 		progress_state = start_progress(_("Enumerating objects"), 0);
 	if (stdin_packs) {
 		/* avoids adding objects in excluded packs */
@@ -4151,7 +4342,9 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		read_packs_list_from_stdin();
 		if (rev_list_unpacked)
 			add_unreachable_loose_objects();
-	} else if (!use_internal_rev_list)
+	} else if (cruft)
+		read_cruft_objects();
+	else if (!use_internal_rev_list)
 		read_object_list_from_stdin();
 	else {
 		get_object_list(rp.nr, rp.v);
diff --git a/object-file.c b/object-file.c
index c3d866a287..7ddb38b64a 100644
--- a/object-file.c
+++ b/object-file.c
@@ -956,7 +956,7 @@ int has_loose_object_nonlocal(const struct object_id *oid)
 	return check_and_freshen_nonlocal(oid, 0);
 }
 
-static int has_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid)
+int has_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid)
 {
 	return check_and_freshen(oid, 0);
 }
diff --git a/object-store.h b/object-store.h
index d87481f101..a79c1c91ab 100644
--- a/object-store.h
+++ b/object-store.h
@@ -308,6 +308,8 @@ int repo_has_object_file_with_flags(struct repository *r,
  */
 int has_loose_object_nonlocal(const struct object_id *);
 
+int has_loose_object(const struct object_id *);
+
 void assert_oid_type(const struct object_id *oid, enum object_type expect);
 
 /*
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..543a80e9bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='cruft pack related pack-objects tests'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+objdir=.git/objects
+packdir=$objdir/pack
+
+basic_cruft_pack_tests () {
+	expire="$1"
+
+	test_expect_success "unreachable loose objects are packed (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit base &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			test_commit loose &&
+
+			test-tool chmtime +2000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path \
+				$(git rev-parse loose:loose.t))" &&
+			test-tool chmtime +1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path \
+				$(git rev-parse loose^{tree}))" &&
+
+			(
+				git rev-list --objects --no-object-names base..loose |
+				while read oid
+				do
+					path="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$oid")" &&
+					printf "%s %d\n" "$oid" "$(test-tool chmtime --get "$path")"
+				done |
+				sort -k1
+			) >expect &&
+
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+			cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+				--cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack)" &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual &&
+
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "unreachable packed objects are packed (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit packed &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			test_commit other &&
+
+			git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed.. >objects &&
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+			other="$(git pack-objects --delta-base-offset \
+				$packdir/pack <objects)" &&
+			git prune-packed &&
+
+			test-tool chmtime --get -100 "$packdir/pack-$other.pack" >expect &&
+
+			cruft="$(git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack <<-EOF
+			$keep
+			-pack-$other.pack
+			EOF
+			)" &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+			cut -d" " -f2 <actual.raw | sort -u >actual &&
+
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "unreachable cruft objects are repacked (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit packed &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			test_commit other &&
+
+			git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed.. >objects &&
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+
+			cruft_a="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack)" &&
+			git prune-packed &&
+			cruft_b="$(git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack <<-EOF
+			$keep
+			-pack-$cruft_a.pack
+			EOF
+			)" &&
+
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft_a.mtimes" >expect.raw &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft_b.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+			sort <expect.raw >expect &&
+			sort <actual.raw >actual &&
+
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "multiple cruft packs (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit reachable &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+
+			test_commit cruft &&
+			loose="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse cruft))" &&
+
+			# generate three copies of the cruft object in different
+			# cruft packs, each with a unique mtime:
+			#   - one expired (1000 seconds ago)
+			#   - two non-expired (one 1000 seconds in the future,
+			#     one 1500 seconds in the future)
+			test-tool chmtime =-1000 "$loose" &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft $packdir/pack-A <<-EOF &&
+			$keep
+			EOF
+			test-tool chmtime =+1000 "$loose" &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft $packdir/pack-B <<-EOF &&
+			$keep
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-A-*.pack))
+			EOF
+			test-tool chmtime =+1500 "$loose" &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft $packdir/pack-C <<-EOF &&
+			$keep
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-A-*.pack))
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-B-*.pack))
+			EOF
+
+			# ensure the resulting cruft pack takes the most recent
+			# mtime among all copies
+			cruft="$(git pack-objects --cruft \
+				--cruft-expiration="$expire" \
+				$packdir/pack <<-EOF
+			$keep
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-A-*.pack))
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-B-*.pack))
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-C-*.pack))
+			EOF
+			)" &&
+
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-C-*.mtimes))" >expect.raw &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+			sort expect.raw >expect &&
+			sort actual.raw >actual &&
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "cruft packs tolerate missing trees (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit reachable &&
+			test_commit cruft &&
+
+			tree="$(git rev-parse cruft^{tree})" &&
+
+			git reset --hard reachable &&
+			git tag -d cruft &&
+			rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+			# remove the unreachable tree, but leave the commit
+			# which has it as its root tree in-tact
+			rm -fr "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$tree")" &&
+
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack) >in &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" \
+				$packdir/pack <in
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "cruft packs tolerate missing blobs (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit reachable &&
+			test_commit cruft &&
+
+			blob="$(git rev-parse cruft:cruft.t)" &&
+
+			git reset --hard reachable &&
+			git tag -d cruft &&
+			rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+			# remove the unreachable blob, but leave the commit (and
+			# the root tree of that commit) in-tact
+			rm -fr "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$blob")" &&
+
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack) >in &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" \
+				$packdir/pack <in
+		)
+	'
+}
+
+basic_cruft_pack_tests never
+
+test_done

Documentation/git-repack.txt, Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt, builtin/repack.c, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/git-repack.txt b/Documentation/git-repack.txt
index 7183fb498f..4f8f4b5a1f 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-repack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-repack.txt
@@ -63,6 +63,17 @@ to the new separate pack will be written.
 	Also run  'git prune-packed' to remove redundant
 	loose object files.
 
+--cruft::
+	Same as `-a`, unless `-d` is used. Then any unreachable objects
+	are packed into a separate cruft pack. Unreachable objects can
+	be pruned using the normal expiry rules with the next `git gc`
+	invocation (see linkgit:git-gc[1]). Incompatible with `-k`.
+
+--cruft-expiration=<approxidate>::
+	Expire unreachable objects older than `<approxidate>`
+	immediately instead of waiting for the next `git gc` invocation.
+	Only useful with `--cruft -d`.
+
 -l::
 	Pass the `--local` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
 	linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
index bb54cce1b1..b7daad2e3e 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ pruned according to normal expiry rules with the next 'git gc' invocation.
 
 Unreachable objects aren't removed immediately, since doing so could race with
 an incoming push which may reference an object which is about to be deleted.
-Instead, those unreachable objects are stored as loose object and stay that way
+Instead, those unreachable objects are stored as loose objects and stay that way
 until they are older than the expiration window, at which point they are removed
 by linkgit:git-prune[1].
 
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index acbb7b8c3b..68b4bdf06f 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -18,11 +18,17 @@
 #include "pack-bitmap.h"
 #include "refs.h"
 
+#define ALL_INTO_ONE 1
+#define LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE 2
+#define PACK_CRUFT 4
+
+static int pack_everything;
 static int delta_base_offset = 1;
 static int pack_kept_objects = -1;
 static int write_bitmaps = -1;
 static int use_delta_islands;
 static char *packdir, *packtmp_name, *packtmp;
+static char *cruft_expiration;
 
 static const char *const git_repack_usage[] = {
 	N_("git repack [<options>]"),
@@ -54,6 +60,7 @@ static int repack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		use_delta_islands = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
+
 	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
@@ -298,9 +305,6 @@ static void repack_promisor_objects(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
 		die(_("could not finish pack-objects to repack promisor objects"));
 }
 
-#define ALL_INTO_ONE 1
-#define LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE 2
-
 struct pack_geometry {
 	struct packed_git **pack;
 	uint32_t pack_nr, pack_alloc;
@@ -337,6 +341,8 @@ static void init_pack_geometry(struct pack_geometry **geometry_p)
 	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
 		if (!pack_kept_objects && p->pack_keep)
 			continue;
+		if (p->is_cruft)
+			continue;
 
 		ALLOC_GROW(geometry->pack,
 			   geometry->pack_nr + 1,
@@ -598,6 +604,67 @@ static int write_midx_included_packs(struct string_list *include,
 	return finish_command(&cmd);
 }
 
+static int write_cruft_pack(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
+			    const char *pack_prefix,
+			    struct string_list *names,
+			    struct string_list *existing_packs,
+			    struct string_list *existing_kept_packs)
+{
+	struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+	struct strbuf line = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct string_list_item *item;
+	FILE *in, *out;
+	int ret;
+
+	prepare_pack_objects(&cmd, args);
+
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--cruft");
+	if (cruft_expiration)
+		strvec_pushf(&cmd.args, "--cruft-expiration=%s",
+			     cruft_expiration);
+
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--honor-pack-keep");
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--non-empty");
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--max-pack-size=0");
+
+	cmd.in = -1;
+
+	ret = start_command(&cmd);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
+	/*
+	 * names has a confusing double use: it both provides the list
+	 * of just-written new packs, and accepts the name of the cruft
+	 * pack we are writing.
+	 *
+	 * By the time it is read here, it contains only the pack(s)
+	 * that were just written, which is exactly the set of packs we
+	 * want to consider kept.
+	 */
+	in = xfdopen(cmd.in, "w");
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, names)
+		fprintf(in, "%s-%s.pack\n", pack_prefix, item->string);
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_packs)
+		fprintf(in, "-%s.pack\n", item->string);
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_kept_packs)
+		fprintf(in, "%s.pack\n", item->string);
+	fclose(in);
+
+	out = xfdopen(cmd.out, "r");
+	while (strbuf_getline_lf(&line, out) != EOF) {
+		if (line.len != the_hash_algo->hexsz)
+			die(_("repack: Expecting full hex object ID lines only "
+			      "from pack-objects."));
+		string_list_append(names, line.buf);
+	}
+	fclose(out);
+
+	strbuf_release(&line);
+
+	return finish_command(&cmd);
+}
+
 int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
@@ -614,7 +681,6 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	int show_progress = isatty(2);
 
 	/* variables to be filled by option parsing */
-	int pack_everything = 0;
 	int delete_redundant = 0;
 	const char *unpack_unreachable = NULL;
 	int keep_unreachable = 0;
@@ -630,6 +696,11 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BIT('A', NULL, &pack_everything,
 				N_("same as -a, and turn unreachable objects loose"),
 				   LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE | ALL_INTO_ONE),
+		OPT_BIT(0, "cruft", &pack_everything,
+				N_("same as -a, pack unreachable cruft objects separately"),
+				   PACK_CRUFT | ALL_INTO_ONE),
+		OPT_STRING(0, "cruft-expiration", &cruft_expiration, N_("approxidate"),
+				N_("with -C, expire objects older than this")),
 		OPT_BOOL('d', NULL, &delete_redundant,
 				N_("remove redundant packs, and run git-prune-packed")),
 		OPT_BOOL('f', NULL, &po_args.no_reuse_delta,
@@ -681,6 +752,14 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (keep_unreachable &&
 	    (unpack_unreachable || (pack_everything & LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE)))
 		die(_("--keep-unreachable and -A are incompatible"));
+	if (pack_everything & PACK_CRUFT && delete_redundant) {
+		if (unpack_unreachable || (pack_everything & LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE))
+			die(_("--cruft and -A are incompatible"));
+		if (keep_unreachable)
+			die(_("--cruft and -k are incompatible"));
+		if (!(pack_everything & ALL_INTO_ONE))
+			die(_("--cruft must be combined with all-into-one"));
+	}
 
 	if (write_bitmaps < 0) {
 		if (!write_midx &&
@@ -763,7 +842,8 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (pack_everything & ALL_INTO_ONE) {
 		repack_promisor_objects(&po_args, &names);
 
-		if (existing_nonkept_packs.nr && delete_redundant) {
+		if (existing_nonkept_packs.nr && delete_redundant &&
+		    !(pack_everything & PACK_CRUFT)) {
 			for_each_string_list_item(item, &names) {
 				strvec_pushf(&cmd.args, "--keep-pack=%s-%s.pack",
 					     packtmp_name, item->string);
@@ -798,6 +878,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		return ret;
 
 	if (geometry) {
+		struct packed_git *p;
 		FILE *in = xfdopen(cmd.in, "w");
 		/*
 		 * The resulting pack should contain all objects in packs that
@@ -808,6 +889,12 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			fprintf(in, "%s\n", pack_basename(geometry->pack[i]));
 		for (i = geometry->split; i < geometry->pack_nr; i++)
 			fprintf(in, "^%s\n", pack_basename(geometry->pack[i]));
+
+		for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
+			if (!p->is_cruft)
+				continue;
+			fprintf(in, "^%s\n", pack_basename(p));
+		}
 		fclose(in);
 	}
 
@@ -825,6 +912,21 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (!names.nr && !po_args.quiet)
 		printf_ln(_("Nothing new to pack."));
 
+	if (pack_everything & PACK_CRUFT) {
+		const char *pack_prefix;
+		if (!skip_prefix(packtmp, packdir, &pack_prefix))
+			die(_("pack prefix %s does not begin with objdir %s"),
+			    packtmp, packdir);
+		if (*pack_prefix == '/')
+			pack_prefix++;
+
+		ret = write_cruft_pack(&po_args, pack_prefix, &names,
+				       &existing_nonkept_packs,
+				       &existing_kept_packs);
+		if (ret)
+			return ret;
+	}
+
 	for_each_string_list_item(item, &names) {
 		item->util = (void *)(uintptr_t)populate_pack_exts(item->string);
 	}
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 31d4a561fe..ed1a113ab6 100755
--- a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -358,4 +358,157 @@ test_expect_success 'expired objects are pruned' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'repack --cruft generates a cruft pack' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit unreachable &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d unreachable &&
+		# objects are not cruft if they are contained in the reflogs
+		rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --all --no-object-names >reachable.raw &&
+		git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch-check="%(objectname)" >objects &&
+		sort <reachable.raw >reachable &&
+		comm -13 reachable objects >unreachable &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		cruft=$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes) .mtimes) &&
+		pack=$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack | grep -v $cruft) .pack) &&
+
+		git show-index <$packdir/$pack.idx >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f2 -d" " actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+		test_cmp reachable actual &&
+
+		git show-index <$packdir/$cruft.idx >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f2 -d" " actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+		test_cmp unreachable actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'loose objects mtimes upsert others' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit cruft &&
+		# incremental repack, leaving existing objects loose (so
+		# they can be "freshened")
+		git repack &&
+
+		tip="$(git rev-parse cruft)" &&
+		path="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$(git rev-parse cruft)")" &&
+		test-tool chmtime --get +1000 "$path" >expect &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d cruft &&
+		rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		mtimes="$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes))" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+		grep "$tip" actual.raw | cut -d" " -f2 >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft packs are not included in geometric repack' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit cruft &&
+		git repack -d &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d cruft &&
+		rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+		git repack --cruft &&
+
+		find $packdir -type f | sort >before &&
+		git repack --geometric=2 -d &&
+		find $packdir -type f | sort >after &&
+
+		test_cmp before after
+	)
+'
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack with no reachable objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+		git repack -ad &&
+
+		base="$(git rev-parse base)" &&
+
+		git for-each-ref --format="delete %(refname)" >in &&
+		git update-ref --stdin <in &&
+		rm -fr .git/logs &&
+		rm -fr .git/index &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		git cat-file -t $base
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack ignores --max-pack-size' '
+	git init max-pack-size &&
+	(
+		cd max-pack-size &&
+		test_commit base &&
+		# two cruft objects which exceed the maximum pack size
+		test-tool genrandom foo 1048576 | git hash-object --stdin -w &&
+		test-tool genrandom bar 1048576 | git hash-object --stdin -w &&
+		git repack --cruft --max-pack-size=1M &&
+		find $packdir -name "*.mtimes" >cruft &&
+		test_line_count = 1 cruft &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename "$(cat cruft)")" >objects &&
+		test_line_count = 2 objects
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack ignores pack.packSizeLimit' '
+	(
+		cd max-pack-size &&
+		# repack everything back together to remove the existing cruft
+		# pack (but to keep its objects)
+		git repack -adk &&
+		git -c pack.packSizeLimit=1M repack --cruft &&
+		# ensure the same post condition is met when --max-pack-size
+		# would otherwise be inferred from the configuration
+		find $packdir -name "*.mtimes" >cruft &&
+		test_line_count = 1 cruft &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename "$(cat cruft)")" >objects &&
+		test_line_count = 2 objects
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

builtin/repack.c, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index cd4d789d27..5a201063e7 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #define PACK_CRUFT 4
 
 #define DELETE_PACK 1
+#define CRUFT_PACK 2
 
 static int pack_everything;
 static int delta_base_offset = 1;
@@ -158,8 +159,11 @@ static void collect_pack_filenames(struct string_list *fname_nonkept_list,
 		if ((extra_keep->nr > 0 && i < extra_keep->nr) ||
 		    (file_exists(mkpath("%s/%s.keep", packdir, fname))))
 			string_list_append_nodup(fname_kept_list, fname);
-		else
-			string_list_append_nodup(fname_nonkept_list, fname);
+		else {
+			struct string_list_item *item = string_list_append_nodup(fname_nonkept_list, fname);
+			if (file_exists(mkpath("%s/%s.mtimes", packdir, fname)))
+				item->util = (void*)(uintptr_t)CRUFT_PACK;
+		}
 	}
 	closedir(dir);
 }
@@ -559,6 +563,17 @@ static void midx_included_packs(struct string_list *include,
 
 			string_list_insert(include, strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL));
 		}
+
+		for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_nonkept_packs) {
+			if (!((uintptr_t)item->util & CRUFT_PACK)) {
+				/*
+				 * no need to check DELETE_PACK, since we're not
+				 * doing an ALL_INTO_ONE repack
+				 */
+				continue;
+			}
+			string_list_insert(include, xstrfmt("%s.idx", item->string));
+		}
 	} else {
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_nonkept_packs) {
 			if ((uintptr_t)item->util & DELETE_PACK)
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 750e9d6d6f..857f9e8855 100755
--- a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -594,4 +594,30 @@ test_expect_success 'cruft --local drops unreachable objects' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'MIDX bitmaps tolerate reachable cruft objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		test_commit cruft &&
+		unreachable="$(git rev-parse cruft)" &&
+
+		git reset --hard $unreachable^ &&
+		git tag -d cruft &&
+		rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		# resurrect the unreachable object via a new commit. the
+		# new commit will get selected for a bitmap, but be
+		# missing one of its parents from the selected packs.
+		git reset --hard $unreachable &&
+		test_commit resurrect &&
+
+		git repack --write-midx --write-bitmap-index --geometric=2 -d
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

Documentation/config/gc.txt, Documentation/git-gc.txt, builtin/gc.c, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/config/gc.txt b/Documentation/config/gc.txt
index c834e07991..38fea076a2 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/gc.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/gc.txt
@@ -81,14 +81,21 @@ gc.packRefs::
 	to enable it within all non-bare repos or it can be set to a
 	boolean value.  The default is `true`.
 
+gc.cruftPacks::
+	Store unreachable objects in a cruft pack (see
+	linkgit:git-repack[1]) instead of as loose objects. The default
+	is `false`.
+
 gc.pruneExpire::
-	When 'git gc' is run, it will call 'prune --expire 2.weeks.ago'.
-	Override the grace period with this config variable.  The value
-	"now" may be used to disable this grace period and always prune
-	unreachable objects immediately, or "never" may be used to
-	suppress pruning.  This feature helps prevent corruption when
-	'git gc' runs concurrently with another process writing to the
-	repository; see the "NOTES" section of linkgit:git-gc[1].
+	When 'git gc' is run, it will call 'prune --expire 2.weeks.ago'
+	(and 'repack --cruft --cruft-expiration 2.weeks.ago' if using
+	cruft packs via `gc.cruftPacks` or `--cruft`).  Override the
+	grace period with this config variable.  The value "now" may be
+	used to disable this grace period and always prune unreachable
+	objects immediately, or "never" may be used to suppress pruning.
+	This feature helps prevent corruption when 'git gc' runs
+	concurrently with another process writing to the repository; see
+	the "NOTES" section of linkgit:git-gc[1].
 
 gc.worktreePruneExpire::
 	When 'git gc' is run, it calls
diff --git a/Documentation/git-gc.txt b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
index 853967dea0..ba4e67700e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-gc.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ other housekeeping tasks (e.g. rerere, working trees, reflog...) will
 be performed as well.
 
 
+--cruft::
+	When expiring unreachable objects, pack them separately into a
+	cruft pack instead of storing the loose objects as loose
+	objects.
+
 --prune=<date>::
 	Prune loose objects older than date (default is 2 weeks ago,
 	overridable by the config variable `gc.pruneExpire`).
diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index bcef6a4c8d..c16cef0285 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ static const char * const builtin_gc_usage[] = {
 
 static int pack_refs = 1;
 static int prune_reflogs = 1;
+static int cruft_packs = 0;
 static int aggressive_depth = 50;
 static int aggressive_window = 250;
 static int gc_auto_threshold = 6700;
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ static void gc_config(void)
 	git_config_get_int("gc.auto", &gc_auto_threshold);
 	git_config_get_int("gc.autopacklimit", &gc_auto_pack_limit);
 	git_config_get_bool("gc.autodetach", &detach_auto);
+	git_config_get_bool("gc.cruftpacks", &cruft_packs);
 	git_config_get_expiry("gc.pruneexpire", &prune_expire);
 	git_config_get_expiry("gc.worktreepruneexpire", &prune_worktrees_expire);
 	git_config_get_expiry("gc.logexpiry", &gc_log_expire);
@@ -331,7 +333,11 @@ static void add_repack_all_option(struct string_list *keep_pack)
 {
 	if (prune_expire && !strcmp(prune_expire, "now"))
 		strvec_push(&repack, "-a");
-	else {
+	else if (cruft_packs) {
+		strvec_push(&repack, "--cruft");
+		if (prune_expire)
+			strvec_pushf(&repack, "--cruft-expiration=%s", prune_expire);
+	} else {
 		strvec_push(&repack, "-A");
 		if (prune_expire)
 			strvec_pushf(&repack, "--unpack-unreachable=%s", prune_expire);
@@ -550,6 +556,7 @@ int cmd_gc(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		{ OPTION_STRING, 0, "prune", &prune_expire, N_("date"),
 			N_("prune unreferenced objects"),
 			PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t)prune_expire },
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "cruft", &cruft_packs, N_("pack unreferenced objects separately")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "aggressive", &aggressive, N_("be more thorough (increased runtime)")),
 		OPT_BOOL_F(0, "auto", &auto_gc, N_("enable auto-gc mode"),
 			   PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE),
@@ -668,6 +675,7 @@ int cmd_gc(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			die(FAILED_RUN, repack.v[0]);
 
 		if (prune_expire) {
+			/* run `git prune` even if using cruft packs */
 			strvec_push(&prune, prune_expire);
 			if (quiet)
 				strvec_push(&prune, "--no-progress");
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 857f9e8855..4cd0f0cf57 100755
--- a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -429,6 +429,43 @@ test_expect_success 'loose objects mtimes upsert others' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'expiring cruft objects with git gc' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit unreachable &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d unreachable &&
+		# objects are not cruft if they are contained in the reflogs
+		rm -fr .git/logs &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --all --no-object-names >reachable.raw &&
+		git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch-check="%(objectname)" >objects &&
+		sort <reachable.raw >reachable &&
+		comm -13 reachable objects >unreachable &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		mtimes=$(ls .git/objects/pack/pack-*.mtimes) &&
+		test_path_is_file $mtimes &&
+
+		git gc --cruft --prune=now &&
+
+		git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch-check="%(objectname)" >objects &&
+
+		comm -23 unreachable objects >removed &&
+		test_cmp unreachable removed &&
+		test_path_is_missing $mtimes
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'cruft packs are not included in geometric repack' '
 	git init repo &&
 	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&

object-file.c, t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/object-file.c b/object-file.c
index 7ddb38b64a..dddc1bdd2c 100644
--- a/object-file.c
+++ b/object-file.c
@@ -1946,6 +1946,8 @@ static int freshen_packed_object(const struct object_id *oid)
 	struct pack_entry e;
 	if (!find_pack_entry(the_repository, oid, &e))
 		return 0;
+	if (e.p->is_cruft)
+		return 0;
 	if (e.p->freshened)
 		return 1;
 	if (!freshen_file(e.p->pack_name))
diff --git a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 4cd0f0cf57..ff87701bbf 100755
--- a/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5327-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -657,4 +657,29 @@ test_expect_success 'MIDX bitmaps tolerate reachable cruft objects' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'cruft objects are freshend via loose' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		echo "cruft" >contents &&
+		blob="$(git hash-object -w -t blob contents)" &&
+		loose="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $blob)" &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		test_path_is_missing "$loose" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes)")" >cruft &&
+		grep "$blob" cruft &&
+
+		# write the same object again
+		git hash-object -w -t blob contents &&
+
+		test_path_is_file "$loose"
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index cefa906344..cd4d789d27 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 #define LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE 2
 #define PACK_CRUFT 4
 
+#define DELETE_PACK 1
+
 static int pack_everything;
 static int delta_base_offset = 1;
 static int pack_kept_objects = -1;
@@ -559,7 +561,7 @@ static void midx_included_packs(struct string_list *include,
 		}
 	} else {
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_nonkept_packs) {
-			if (item->util)
+			if ((uintptr_t)item->util & DELETE_PACK)
 				continue;
 			string_list_insert(include, xstrfmt("%s.idx", item->string));
 		}
@@ -1002,7 +1004,8 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			 * was given) and that we will actually delete this pack
 			 * (if `-d` was given).
 			 */
-			item->util = (void*)(intptr_t)!string_list_has_string(&names, sha1);
+			if (!string_list_has_string(&names, sha1))
+				item->util = (void*)(uintptr_t)((size_t)item->util | DELETE_PACK);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1026,7 +1029,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (delete_redundant) {
 		int opts = 0;
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, &existing_nonkept_packs) {
-			if (!item->util)
+			if (!((uintptr_t)item->util & DELETE_PACK))
 				continue;
 			remove_redundant_pack(packdir, item->string);
 		}

Documentation/Makefile, Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index ed656db2ae..0b01c9408e 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ TECH_DOCS += MyFirstContribution
 TECH_DOCS += MyFirstObjectWalk
 TECH_DOCS += SubmittingPatches
 TECH_DOCS += technical/bundle-format
+TECH_DOCS += technical/cruft-packs
 TECH_DOCS += technical/hash-function-transition
 TECH_DOCS += technical/http-protocol
 TECH_DOCS += technical/index-format
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2c3c5d93f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+= Cruft packs
+
+The cruft packs feature offer an alternative to Git's traditional mechanism of
+removing unreachable objects. This document provides an overview of Git's
+pruning mechanism, and how a cruft pack can be used instead to accomplish the
+same.
+
+== Background
+
+To remove unreachable objects from your repository, Git offers `git repack -Ad`
+(see linkgit:git-repack[1]). Quoting from the documentation:
+
+[quote]
+[...] unreachable objects in a previous pack become loose, unpacked objects,
+instead of being left in the old pack. [...] loose unreachable objects will be
+pruned according to normal expiry rules with the next 'git gc' invocation.
+
+Unreachable objects aren't removed immediately, since doing so could race with
+an incoming push which may reference an object which is about to be deleted.
+Instead, those unreachable objects are stored as loose object and stay that way
+until they are older than the expiration window, at which point they are removed
+by linkgit:git-prune[1].
+
+Git must store these unreachable objects loose in order to keep track of their
+per-object mtimes. If these unreachable objects were written into one big pack,
+then either freshening that pack (because an object contained within it was
+re-written) or creating a new pack of unreachable objects would cause the pack's
+mtime to get updated, and the objects within it would never leave the expiration
+window. Instead, objects are stored loose in order to keep track of the
+individual object mtimes and avoid a situation where all cruft objects are
+freshened at once.
+
+This can lead to undesirable situations when a repository contains many
+unreachable objects which have not yet left the grace period. Having large
+directories in the shards of `.git/objects` can lead to decreased performance in
+the repository. But given enough unreachable objects, this can lead to inode
+starvation and degrade the performance of the whole system. Since we
+can never pack those objects, these repositories often take up a large amount of
+disk space, since we can only zlib compress them, but not store them in delta
+chains.
+
+== Cruft packs
+
+A cruft pack eliminates the need for storing unreachable objects in a loose
+state by including the per-object mtimes in a separate file alongside a single
+pack containing all loose objects.
+
+A cruft pack is written by `git repack --cruft` when generating a new pack.
+linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]'s `--cruft` option. Note that `git repack --cruft`
+is a classic all-into-one repack, meaning that everything in the resulting pack is
+reachable, and everything else is unreachable. Once written, the `--cruft`
+option instructs `git repack` to generate another pack containing only objects
+not packed in the previous step (which equates to packing all unreachable
+objects together). This progresses as follows:
+
+  1. Enumerate every object, marking any object which is (a) not contained in a
+     kept-pack, and (b) whose mtime is within the grace period as a traversal
+     tip.
+
+  2. Perform a reachability traversal based on the tips gathered in the previous
+     step, adding every object along the way to the pack.
+
+  3. Write the pack out, along with a `.mtimes` file that records the per-object
+     timestamps.
+
+This mode is invoked internally by linkgit:git-repack[1] when instructed to
+write a cruft pack. Crucially, the set of in-core kept packs is exactly the set
+of packs which will not be deleted by the repack; in other words, they contain
+all of the repository's reachable objects.
+
+When a repository already has a cruft pack, `git repack --cruft` typically only
+adds objects to it. An exception to this is when `git repack` is given the
+`--cruft-expiration` option, which allows the generated cruft pack to omit
+expired objects instead of waiting for linkgit:git-gc[1] to expire those objects
+later on.
+
+It is linkgit:git-gc[1] that is typically responsible for removing expired
+unreachable objects.
+
+== Alternatives
+
+Notable alternatives to this design include:
+
+  - The location of the per-object mtime data, and
+  - Storing unreachable objects in multiple cruft packs.
+
+On the location of mtime data, a new auxiliary file tied to the pack was chosen
+to avoid complicating the `.idx` format. If the `.idx` format were ever to gain
+support for optional chunks of data, it may make sense to consolidate the
+`.mtimes` format into the `.idx` itself.
+
+Storing unreachable objects among multiple cruft packs (e.g., creating a new
+cruft pack during each repacking operation including only unreachable objects
+which aren't already stored in an earlier cruft pack) is significantly more
+complicated to construct, and so aren't pursued here. The obvious drawback to
+the current implementation is that the entire cruft pack must be re-written from
+scratch.

builtin/pack-objects.c, bulk-checkin.c, pack-write.c, pack.h

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 178e611f09..385970cb7b 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -1254,7 +1254,8 @@ static void write_pack_file(void)
 
 			stage_tmp_packfiles(&tmpname, pack_tmp_name,
 					    written_list, nr_written,
-					    &pack_idx_opts, hash, &idx_tmp_name);
+					    &to_pack, &pack_idx_opts, hash,
+					    &idx_tmp_name);
 
 			if (write_bitmap_index) {
 				size_t tmpname_len = tmpname.len;
diff --git a/bulk-checkin.c b/bulk-checkin.c
index 8785b2ac80..99f7596c4e 100644
--- a/bulk-checkin.c
+++ b/bulk-checkin.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ static void finish_tmp_packfile(struct strbuf *basename,
 	char *idx_tmp_name = NULL;
 
 	stage_tmp_packfiles(basename, pack_tmp_name, written_list, nr_written,
-			    pack_idx_opts, hash, &idx_tmp_name);
+			    NULL, pack_idx_opts, hash, &idx_tmp_name);
 	rename_tmp_packfile_idx(basename, &idx_tmp_name);
 
 	free(idx_tmp_name);
diff --git a/pack-write.c b/pack-write.c
index a5846f3a34..d594e3008e 100644
--- a/pack-write.c
+++ b/pack-write.c
@@ -483,6 +483,7 @@ void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 			 const char *pack_tmp_name,
 			 struct pack_idx_entry **written_list,
 			 uint32_t nr_written,
+			 struct packing_data *to_pack,
 			 struct pack_idx_option *pack_idx_opts,
 			 unsigned char hash[],
 			 char **idx_tmp_name)
diff --git a/pack.h b/pack.h
index b22bfc4a18..fd27cfdfd7 100644
--- a/pack.h
+++ b/pack.h
@@ -109,11 +109,14 @@ int encode_in_pack_object_header(unsigned char *hdr, int hdr_len,
 #define PH_ERROR_PROTOCOL	(-3)
 int read_pack_header(int fd, struct pack_header *);
 
+struct packing_data;
+
 struct hashfile *create_tmp_packfile(char **pack_tmp_name);
 void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 			 const char *pack_tmp_name,
 			 struct pack_idx_entry **written_list,
 			 uint32_t nr_written,
+			 struct packing_data *to_pack,
 			 struct pack_idx_option *pack_idx_opts,
 			 unsigned char hash[],
 			 char **idx_tmp_name);

Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt, Makefile, builtin/repack.c, object-store.h, pack-mtimes.c, pack-mtimes.h, packfile.c

diff --git a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
index 6d3efb7d16..c443dbb526 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
@@ -294,6 +294,25 @@ Pack file entry: <+
 
 All 4-byte numbers are in network order.
 
+== pack-*.mtimes files have the format:
+
+  - A 4-byte magic number '0x4d544d45' ('MTME').
+
+  - A 4-byte version identifier (= 1).
+
+  - A 4-byte hash function identifier (= 1 for SHA-1, 2 for SHA-256).
+
+  - A table of 4-byte unsigned integers in network order. The ith
+    value is the modification time (mtime) of the ith object in the
+    corresponding pack by lexicographic (index) order. The mtimes
+    count standard epoch seconds.
+
+  - A trailer, containing a checksum of the corresponding packfile,
+    and a checksum of all of the above (each having length according
+    to the specified hash function).
+
+All 4-byte numbers are in network order.
+
 == multi-pack-index (MIDX) files have the following format:
 
 The multi-pack-index files refer to multiple pack-files and loose objects.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6f0b4b775f..1b186f4fd7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -959,6 +959,7 @@ LIB_OBJS += oidtree.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-bitmap-write.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-bitmap.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-check.o
+LIB_OBJS += pack-mtimes.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-objects.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-revindex.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-write.o
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index da1e364a75..f908f7d5dd 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ static struct {
 } exts[] = {
 	{".pack"},
 	{".rev", 1},
+	{".mtimes", 1},
 	{".bitmap", 1},
 	{".promisor", 1},
 	{".idx"},
diff --git a/object-store.h b/object-store.h
index 6f89482df0..9b227661f2 100644
--- a/object-store.h
+++ b/object-store.h
@@ -115,12 +115,15 @@ struct packed_git {
 		 freshened:1,
 		 do_not_close:1,
 		 pack_promisor:1,
-		 multi_pack_index:1;
+		 multi_pack_index:1,
+		 is_cruft:1;
 	unsigned char hash[GIT_MAX_RAWSZ];
 	struct revindex_entry *revindex;
 	const uint32_t *revindex_data;
 	const uint32_t *revindex_map;
 	size_t revindex_size;
+	const uint32_t *mtimes_map;
+	size_t mtimes_size;
 	/* something like ".git/objects/pack/xxxxx.pack" */
 	char pack_name[FLEX_ARRAY]; /* more */
 };
diff --git a/pack-mtimes.c b/pack-mtimes.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..50caa34381
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pack-mtimes.c
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
+#include "object-store.h"
+#include "packfile.h"
+
+static char *pack_mtimes_filename(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	size_t len;
+	if (!strip_suffix(p->pack_name, ".pack", &len))
+		BUG("pack_name does not end in .pack");
+	/* NEEDSWORK: this could reuse code from pack-revindex.c. */
+	return xstrfmt("%.*s.mtimes", (int)len, p->pack_name);
+}
+
+#define MTIMES_HEADER_SIZE (12)
+#define MTIMES_MIN_SIZE (MTIMES_HEADER_SIZE + (2 * the_hash_algo->rawsz))
+
+struct mtimes_header {
+	uint32_t signature;
+	uint32_t version;
+	uint32_t hash_id;
+};
+
+static int load_pack_mtimes_file(char *mtimes_file,
+				 uint32_t num_objects,
+				 const uint32_t **data_p, size_t *len_p)
+{
+	int fd, ret = 0;
+	struct stat st;
+	void *data = NULL;
+	size_t mtimes_size;
+	struct mtimes_header header;
+	uint32_t *hdr;
+
+	fd = git_open(mtimes_file);
+
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		ret = -1;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+	if (fstat(fd, &st)) {
+		ret = error_errno(_("failed to read %s"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	mtimes_size = xsize_t(st.st_size);
+
+	if (mtimes_size < MTIMES_MIN_SIZE) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s is too small"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	if (mtimes_size - MTIMES_MIN_SIZE != st_mult(sizeof(uint32_t), num_objects)) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s is corrupt"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	data = hdr = xmmap(NULL, mtimes_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, fd, 0);
+
+	header.signature = ntohl(hdr[0]);
+	header.version = ntohl(hdr[1]);
+	header.hash_id = ntohl(hdr[2]);
+
+	if (header.signature != MTIMES_SIGNATURE) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s has unknown signature"), mtimes_file);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	if (header.version != 1) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s has unsupported version %"PRIu32),
+			    mtimes_file, header.version);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+	if (!(header.hash_id == 1 || header.hash_id == 2)) {
+		ret = error(_("mtimes file %s has unsupported hash id %"PRIu32),
+			    mtimes_file, header.hash_id);
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
+
+cleanup:
+	if (ret) {
+		if (data)
+			munmap(data, mtimes_size);
+	} else {
+		*len_p = mtimes_size;
+		*data_p = (const uint32_t *)data;
+	}
+
+	close(fd);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+int load_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	char *mtimes_name = NULL;
+	int ret = 0;
+
+	if (!p->is_cruft)
+		return ret; /* not a cruft pack */
+	if (p->mtimes_map)
+		return ret; /* already loaded */
+
+	ret = open_pack_index(p);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		goto cleanup;
+
+	mtimes_name = pack_mtimes_filename(p);
+	ret = load_pack_mtimes_file(mtimes_name,
+				    p->num_objects,
+				    &p->mtimes_map,
+				    &p->mtimes_size);
+	if (ret)
+		goto cleanup;
+
+cleanup:
+	free(mtimes_name);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+uint32_t nth_packed_mtime(struct packed_git *p, uint32_t pos)
+{
+	if (!p->mtimes_map)
+		BUG("pack .mtimes file not loaded for %s", p->pack_name);
+	if (p->num_objects <= pos)
+		BUG("pack .mtimes out-of-bounds (%"PRIu32" vs %"PRIu32")",
+		    pos, p->num_objects);
+
+	return get_be32(p->mtimes_map + pos + 3);
+}
diff --git a/pack-mtimes.h b/pack-mtimes.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..38ddb9f893
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pack-mtimes.h
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#ifndef PACK_MTIMES_H
+#define PACK_MTIMES_H
+
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+
+#define MTIMES_SIGNATURE 0x4d544d45 /* "MTME" */
+#define MTIMES_VERSION 1
+
+struct packed_git;
+
+int load_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p);
+
+uint32_t nth_packed_mtime(struct packed_git *p, uint32_t pos);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/packfile.c b/packfile.c
index 835b2d2716..fc0245fbab 100644
--- a/packfile.c
+++ b/packfile.c
@@ -334,12 +334,22 @@ static void close_pack_revindex(struct packed_git *p)
 	p->revindex_data = NULL;
 }
 
+static void close_pack_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	if (!p->mtimes_map)
+		return;
+
+	munmap((void *)p->mtimes_map, p->mtimes_size);
+	p->mtimes_map = NULL;
+}
+
 void close_pack(struct packed_git *p)
 {
 	close_pack_windows(p);
 	close_pack_fd(p);
 	close_pack_index(p);
 	close_pack_revindex(p);
+	close_pack_mtimes(p);
 	oidset_clear(&p->bad_objects);
 }
 
@@ -363,7 +373,7 @@ void close_object_store(struct raw_object_store *o)
 
 void unlink_pack_path(const char *pack_name, int force_delete)
 {
-	static const char *exts[] = {".pack", ".idx", ".rev", ".keep", ".bitmap", ".promisor"};
+	static const char *exts[] = {".pack", ".idx", ".rev", ".keep", ".bitmap", ".promisor", ".mtimes"};
 	int i;
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	size_t plen;
@@ -718,6 +728,10 @@ struct packed_git *add_packed_git(const char *path, size_t path_len, int local)
 	if (!access(p->pack_name, F_OK))
 		p->pack_promisor = 1;
 
+	xsnprintf(p->pack_name + path_len, alloc - path_len, ".mtimes");
+	if (!access(p->pack_name, F_OK))
+		p->is_cruft = 1;
+
 	xsnprintf(p->pack_name + path_len, alloc - path_len, ".pack");
 	if (stat(p->pack_name, &st) || !S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
 		free(p);
@@ -869,7 +883,8 @@ static void prepare_pack(const char *full_name, size_t full_name_len,
 	    ends_with(file_name, ".pack") ||
 	    ends_with(file_name, ".bitmap") ||
 	    ends_with(file_name, ".keep") ||
-	    ends_with(file_name, ".promisor"))
+	    ends_with(file_name, ".promisor") ||
+	    ends_with(file_name, ".mtimes"))
 		string_list_append(data->garbage, full_name);
 	else
 		report_garbage(PACKDIR_FILE_GARBAGE, full_name);

chunk-format.c, chunk-format.h, commit-graph.c, midx.c, pack-write.c

diff --git a/chunk-format.c b/chunk-format.c
index 1c3dca62e2..0275b74a89 100644
--- a/chunk-format.c
+++ b/chunk-format.c
@@ -181,3 +181,15 @@ int read_chunk(struct chunkfile *cf,
 
 	return CHUNK_NOT_FOUND;
 }
+
+uint8_t oid_version(const struct git_hash_algo *algop)
+{
+	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(algop)) {
+	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
+		return 1;
+	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
+		return 2;
+	default:
+		die(_("invalid hash version"));
+	}
+}
diff --git a/chunk-format.h b/chunk-format.h
index 9ccbe00377..7885aa0848 100644
--- a/chunk-format.h
+++ b/chunk-format.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define CHUNK_FORMAT_H
 
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "hash.h"
 
 struct hashfile;
 struct chunkfile;
@@ -65,4 +66,6 @@ int read_chunk(struct chunkfile *cf,
 	       chunk_read_fn fn,
 	       void *data);
 
+uint8_t oid_version(const struct git_hash_algo *algop);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/commit-graph.c b/commit-graph.c
index 265c010122..f678d2c4a1 100644
--- a/commit-graph.c
+++ b/commit-graph.c
@@ -193,18 +193,6 @@ char *get_commit_graph_chain_filename(struct object_directory *odb)
 	return xstrfmt("%s/info/commit-graphs/commit-graph-chain", odb->path);
 }
 
-static uint8_t oid_version(void)
-{
-	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(the_hash_algo)) {
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
-		return 1;
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
-		return 2;
-	default:
-		die(_("invalid hash version"));
-	}
-}
-
 static struct commit_graph *alloc_commit_graph(void)
 {
 	struct commit_graph *g = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*g));
@@ -365,9 +353,9 @@ struct commit_graph *parse_commit_graph(struct repository *r,
 	}
 
 	hash_version = *(unsigned char*)(data + 5);
-	if (hash_version != oid_version()) {
+	if (hash_version != oid_version(the_hash_algo)) {
 		error(_("commit-graph hash version %X does not match version %X"),
-		      hash_version, oid_version());
+		      hash_version, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
@@ -1911,7 +1899,7 @@ static int write_commit_graph_file(struct write_commit_graph_context *ctx)
 	hashwrite_be32(f, GRAPH_SIGNATURE);
 
 	hashwrite_u8(f, GRAPH_VERSION);
-	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version());
+	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 	hashwrite_u8(f, get_num_chunks(cf));
 	hashwrite_u8(f, ctx->num_commit_graphs_after - 1);
 
diff --git a/midx.c b/midx.c
index 865170bad0..65e670c5e2 100644
--- a/midx.c
+++ b/midx.c
@@ -41,18 +41,6 @@
 
 #define PACK_EXPIRED UINT_MAX
 
-static uint8_t oid_version(void)
-{
-	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(the_hash_algo)) {
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
-		return 1;
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
-		return 2;
-	default:
-		die(_("invalid hash version"));
-	}
-}
-
 const unsigned char *get_midx_checksum(struct multi_pack_index *m)
 {
 	return m->data + m->data_len - the_hash_algo->rawsz;
@@ -134,9 +122,9 @@ struct multi_pack_index *load_multi_pack_index(const char *object_dir, int local
 		      m->version);
 
 	hash_version = m->data[MIDX_BYTE_HASH_VERSION];
-	if (hash_version != oid_version()) {
+	if (hash_version != oid_version(the_hash_algo)) {
 		error(_("multi-pack-index hash version %u does not match version %u"),
-		      hash_version, oid_version());
+		      hash_version, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 		goto cleanup_fail;
 	}
 	m->hash_len = the_hash_algo->rawsz;
@@ -420,7 +408,7 @@ static size_t write_midx_header(struct hashfile *f,
 {
 	hashwrite_be32(f, MIDX_SIGNATURE);
 	hashwrite_u8(f, MIDX_VERSION);
-	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version());
+	hashwrite_u8(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 	hashwrite_u8(f, num_chunks);
 	hashwrite_u8(f, 0); /* unused */
 	hashwrite_be32(f, num_packs);
diff --git a/pack-write.c b/pack-write.c
index d594e3008e..ff305b404c 100644
--- a/pack-write.c
+++ b/pack-write.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "pack.h"
 #include "csum-file.h"
 #include "remote.h"
+#include "chunk-format.h"
 
 void reset_pack_idx_option(struct pack_idx_option *opts)
 {
@@ -181,21 +182,9 @@ static int pack_order_cmp(const void *va, const void *vb, void *ctx)
 
 static void write_rev_header(struct hashfile *f)
 {
-	uint32_t oid_version;
-	switch (hash_algo_by_ptr(the_hash_algo)) {
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA1:
-		oid_version = 1;
-		break;
-	case GIT_HASH_SHA256:
-		oid_version = 2;
-		break;
-	default:
-		die("write_rev_header: unknown hash version");
-	}
-
 	hashwrite_be32(f, RIDX_SIGNATURE);
 	hashwrite_be32(f, RIDX_VERSION);
-	hashwrite_be32(f, oid_version);
+	hashwrite_be32(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
 }
 
 static void write_rev_index_positions(struct hashfile *f,

Makefile, t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c, t/helper/test-tool.c, t/helper/test-tool.h

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1b186f4fd7..5c0ed1ade7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -727,6 +727,7 @@ TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-oid-array.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-oidmap.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-oidtree.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-online-cpus.o
+TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-pack-mtimes.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-parse-options.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-parse-pathspec-file.o
 TEST_BUILTINS_OBJS += test-partial-clone.o
diff --git a/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c b/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f7b79daf4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/helper/test-pack-mtimes.c
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "test-tool.h"
+#include "strbuf.h"
+#include "object-store.h"
+#include "packfile.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
+
+static void dump_mtimes(struct packed_git *p)
+{
+	uint32_t i;
+	if (load_pack_mtimes(p) < 0)
+		die("could not load pack .mtimes");
+
+	for (i = 0; i < p->num_objects; i++) {
+		struct object_id oid;
+		if (nth_packed_object_id(&oid, p, i) < 0)
+			die("could not load object id at position %"PRIu32, i);
+
+		printf("%s %"PRIu32"\n",
+		       oid_to_hex(&oid), nth_packed_mtime(p, i));
+	}
+}
+
+static const char *pack_mtimes_usage = "\n"
+"  test-tool pack-mtimes <pack-name.mtimes>";
+
+int cmd__pack_mtimes(int argc, const char **argv)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct packed_git *p;
+
+	setup_git_directory();
+
+	if (argc != 2)
+		usage(pack_mtimes_usage);
+
+	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
+		strbuf_addstr(&buf, basename(p->pack_name));
+		strbuf_strip_suffix(&buf, ".pack");
+		strbuf_addstr(&buf, ".mtimes");
+
+		if (!strcmp(buf.buf, argv[1]))
+			break;
+
+		strbuf_reset(&buf);
+	}
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
+
+	if (!p)
+		die("could not find pack '%s'", argv[1]);
+
+	dump_mtimes(p);
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/t/helper/test-tool.c b/t/helper/test-tool.c
index e6ec69cf32..7d472b31fd 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-tool.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-tool.c
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ static struct test_cmd cmds[] = {
 	{ "oidmap", cmd__oidmap },
 	{ "oidtree", cmd__oidtree },
 	{ "online-cpus", cmd__online_cpus },
+	{ "pack-mtimes", cmd__pack_mtimes },
 	{ "parse-options", cmd__parse_options },
 	{ "parse-pathspec-file", cmd__parse_pathspec_file },
 	{ "partial-clone", cmd__partial_clone },
diff --git a/t/helper/test-tool.h b/t/helper/test-tool.h
index 20756eefdd..0ac4f32955 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-tool.h
+++ b/t/helper/test-tool.h
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ int cmd__mktemp(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__oidmap(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__oidtree(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__online_cpus(int argc, const char **argv);
+int cmd__pack_mtimes(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__parse_options(int argc, const char **argv);
 int cmd__parse_pathspec_file(int argc, const char** argv);
 int cmd__partial_clone(int argc, const char **argv);

pack-objects.c, pack-objects.h, pack-write.c, pack.h

diff --git a/pack-objects.c b/pack-objects.c
index fe2a4eace9..272e8d4517 100644
--- a/pack-objects.c
+++ b/pack-objects.c
@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ struct object_entry *packlist_alloc(struct packing_data *pdata,
 
 		if (pdata->layer)
 			REALLOC_ARRAY(pdata->layer, pdata->nr_alloc);
+
+		if (pdata->cruft_mtime)
+			REALLOC_ARRAY(pdata->cruft_mtime, pdata->nr_alloc);
 	}
 
 	new_entry = pdata->objects + pdata->nr_objects++;
@@ -198,6 +201,9 @@ struct object_entry *packlist_alloc(struct packing_data *pdata,
 	if (pdata->layer)
 		pdata->layer[pdata->nr_objects - 1] = 0;
 
+	if (pdata->cruft_mtime)
+		pdata->cruft_mtime[pdata->nr_objects - 1] = 0;
+
 	return new_entry;
 }
 
diff --git a/pack-objects.h b/pack-objects.h
index dca2351ef9..393b9db546 100644
--- a/pack-objects.h
+++ b/pack-objects.h
@@ -168,6 +168,14 @@ struct packing_data {
 	/* delta islands */
 	unsigned int *tree_depth;
 	unsigned char *layer;
+
+	/*
+	 * Used when writing cruft packs.
+	 *
+	 * Object mtimes are stored in pack order when writing, but
+	 * written out in lexicographic (index) order.
+	 */
+	uint32_t *cruft_mtime;
 };
 
 void prepare_packing_data(struct repository *r, struct packing_data *pdata);
@@ -289,4 +297,21 @@ static inline void oe_set_layer(struct packing_data *pack,
 	pack->layer[e - pack->objects] = layer;
 }
 
+static inline uint32_t oe_cruft_mtime(struct packing_data *pack,
+				      struct object_entry *e)
+{
+	if (!pack->cruft_mtime)
+		return 0;
+	return pack->cruft_mtime[e - pack->objects];
+}
+
+static inline void oe_set_cruft_mtime(struct packing_data *pack,
+				      struct object_entry *e,
+				      uint32_t mtime)
+{
+	if (!pack->cruft_mtime)
+		CALLOC_ARRAY(pack->cruft_mtime, pack->nr_alloc);
+	pack->cruft_mtime[e - pack->objects] = mtime;
+}
+
 #endif
diff --git a/pack-write.c b/pack-write.c
index ff305b404c..270280c4df 100644
--- a/pack-write.c
+++ b/pack-write.c
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 #include "csum-file.h"
 #include "remote.h"
 #include "chunk-format.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
+#include "oidmap.h"
+#include "chunk-format.h"
+#include "pack-objects.h"
 
 void reset_pack_idx_option(struct pack_idx_option *opts)
 {
@@ -276,6 +280,70 @@ const char *write_rev_file_order(const char *rev_name,
 	return rev_name;
 }
 
+static void write_mtimes_header(struct hashfile *f)
+{
+	hashwrite_be32(f, MTIMES_SIGNATURE);
+	hashwrite_be32(f, MTIMES_VERSION);
+	hashwrite_be32(f, oid_version(the_hash_algo));
+}
+
+/*
+ * Writes the object mtimes of "objects" for use in a .mtimes file.
+ * Note that objects must be in lexicographic (index) order, which is
+ * the expected ordering of these values in the .mtimes file.
+ */
+static void write_mtimes_objects(struct hashfile *f,
+				 struct packing_data *to_pack,
+				 struct pack_idx_entry **objects,
+				 uint32_t nr_objects)
+{
+	uint32_t i;
+	for (i = 0; i < nr_objects; i++) {
+		struct object_entry *e = (struct object_entry*)objects[i];
+		hashwrite_be32(f, oe_cruft_mtime(to_pack, e));
+	}
+}
+
+static void write_mtimes_trailer(struct hashfile *f, const unsigned char *hash)
+{
+	hashwrite(f, hash, the_hash_algo->rawsz);
+}
+
+static const char *write_mtimes_file(const char *mtimes_name,
+				     struct packing_data *to_pack,
+				     struct pack_idx_entry **objects,
+				     uint32_t nr_objects,
+				     const unsigned char *hash)
+{
+	struct hashfile *f;
+	int fd;
+
+	if (!to_pack)
+		BUG("cannot call write_mtimes_file with NULL packing_data");
+
+	if (!mtimes_name) {
+		struct strbuf tmp_file = STRBUF_INIT;
+		fd = odb_mkstemp(&tmp_file, "pack/tmp_mtimes_XXXXXX");
+		mtimes_name = strbuf_detach(&tmp_file, NULL);
+	} else {
+		unlink(mtimes_name);
+		fd = xopen(mtimes_name, O_CREAT|O_EXCL|O_WRONLY, 0600);
+	}
+	f = hashfd(fd, mtimes_name);
+
+	write_mtimes_header(f);
+	write_mtimes_objects(f, to_pack, objects, nr_objects);
+	write_mtimes_trailer(f, hash);
+
+	if (adjust_shared_perm(mtimes_name) < 0)
+		die(_("failed to make %s readable"), mtimes_name);
+
+	finalize_hashfile(f, NULL,
+			  CSUM_HASH_IN_STREAM | CSUM_CLOSE | CSUM_FSYNC);
+
+	return mtimes_name;
+}
+
 off_t write_pack_header(struct hashfile *f, uint32_t nr_entries)
 {
 	struct pack_header hdr;
@@ -478,6 +546,7 @@ void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 			 char **idx_tmp_name)
 {
 	const char *rev_tmp_name = NULL;
+	const char *mtimes_tmp_name = NULL;
 
 	if (adjust_shared_perm(pack_tmp_name))
 		die_errno("unable to make temporary pack file readable");
@@ -490,9 +559,17 @@ void stage_tmp_packfiles(struct strbuf *name_buffer,
 	rev_tmp_name = write_rev_file(NULL, written_list, nr_written, hash,
 				      pack_idx_opts->flags);
 
+	if (pack_idx_opts->flags & WRITE_MTIMES) {
+		mtimes_tmp_name = write_mtimes_file(NULL, to_pack, written_list,
+						    nr_written,
+						    hash);
+	}
+
 	rename_tmp_packfile(name_buffer, pack_tmp_name, "pack");
 	if (rev_tmp_name)
 		rename_tmp_packfile(name_buffer, rev_tmp_name, "rev");
+	if (mtimes_tmp_name)
+		rename_tmp_packfile(name_buffer, mtimes_tmp_name, "mtimes");
 }
 
 void write_promisor_file(const char *promisor_name, struct ref **sought, int nr_sought)
diff --git a/pack.h b/pack.h
index fd27cfdfd7..01d385903a 100644
--- a/pack.h
+++ b/pack.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ struct pack_idx_option {
 #define WRITE_IDX_STRICT 02
 #define WRITE_REV 04
 #define WRITE_REV_VERIFY 010
+#define WRITE_MTIMES 020
 
 	uint32_t version;
 	uint32_t off32_limit;

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 385970cb7b..3f08a3c63a 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -1508,13 +1508,13 @@ static int want_object_in_pack(const struct object_id *oid,
 	return 1;
 }
 
-static void create_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid,
-				enum object_type type,
-				uint32_t hash,
-				int exclude,
-				int no_try_delta,
-				struct packed_git *found_pack,
-				off_t found_offset)
+static struct object_entry *create_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid,
+						enum object_type type,
+						uint32_t hash,
+						int exclude,
+						int no_try_delta,
+						struct packed_git *found_pack,
+						off_t found_offset)
 {
 	struct object_entry *entry;
 
@@ -1531,6 +1531,8 @@ static void create_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid,
 	}
 
 	entry->no_try_delta = no_try_delta;
+
+	return entry;
 }
 
 static const char no_closure_warning[] = N_(

Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt, builtin/pack-objects.c, object-file.c, object-store.h, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
index f8344e1e5b..a9995a932c 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 	[--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]
 	[--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
 	[--revs [--unpacked | --all]] [--keep-pack=<pack-name>]
+	[--cruft] [--cruft-expiration=<time>]
 	[--stdout [--filter=<filter-spec>] | <base-name>]
 	[--shallow] [--keep-true-parents] [--[no-]sparse] < <object-list>
 
@@ -95,6 +96,35 @@ base-name::
 Incompatible with `--revs`, or options that imply `--revs` (such as
 `--all`), with the exception of `--unpacked`, which is compatible.
 
+--cruft::
+	Packs unreachable objects into a separate "cruft" pack, denoted
+	by the existence of a `.mtimes` file. Typically used by `git
+	repack --cruft`. Callers provide a list of pack names and
+	indicate which packs will remain in the repository, along with
+	which packs will be deleted (indicated by the `-` prefix). The
+	contents of the cruft pack are all objects not contained in the
+	surviving packs which have not exceeded the grace period (see
+	`--cruft-expiration` below), or which have exceeded the grace
+	period, but are reachable from an other object which hasn't.
++
+When the input lists a pack containing all reachable objects (and lists
+all other packs as pending deletion), the corresponding cruft pack will
+contain all unreachable objects (with mtime newer than the
+`--cruft-expiration`) along with any unreachable objects whose mtime is
+older than the `--cruft-expiration`, but are reachable from an
+unreachable object whose mtime is newer than the `--cruft-expiration`).
++
+Incompatible with `--unpack-unreachable`, `--keep-unreachable`,
+`--pack-loose-unreachable`, `--stdin-packs`, as well as any other
+options which imply `--revs`. Also incompatible with `--max-pack-size`;
+when this option is set, the maximum pack size is not inferred from
+`pack.packSizeLimit`.
+
+--cruft-expiration=<approxidate>::
+	If specified, objects are eliminated from the cruft pack if they
+	have an mtime older than `<approxidate>`. If unspecified (and
+	given `--cruft`), then no objects are eliminated.
+
 --window=<n>::
 --depth=<n>::
 	These two options affect how the objects contained in
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 3f08a3c63a..5ba4fc9c2c 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include "trace2.h"
 #include "shallow.h"
 #include "promisor-remote.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
 
 /*
  * Objects we are going to pack are collected in the `to_pack` structure.
@@ -194,6 +195,8 @@ static int reuse_delta = 1, reuse_object = 1;
 static int keep_unreachable, unpack_unreachable, include_tag;
 static timestamp_t unpack_unreachable_expiration;
 static int pack_loose_unreachable;
+static int cruft;
+static timestamp_t cruft_expiration;
 static int local;
 static int have_non_local_packs;
 static int incremental;
@@ -1252,6 +1255,9 @@ static void write_pack_file(void)
 					&to_pack, written_list, nr_written);
 			}
 
+			if (cruft)
+				pack_idx_opts.flags |= WRITE_MTIMES;
+
 			stage_tmp_packfiles(&tmpname, pack_tmp_name,
 					    written_list, nr_written,
 					    &to_pack, &pack_idx_opts, hash,
@@ -3389,6 +3395,135 @@ static void read_packs_list_from_stdin(void)
 	string_list_clear(&exclude_packs, 0);
 }
 
+static void add_cruft_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid, enum object_type type,
+				   struct packed_git *pack, off_t offset,
+				   const char *name, uint32_t mtime)
+{
+	struct object_entry *entry;
+
+	display_progress(progress_state, ++nr_seen);
+
+	entry = packlist_find(&to_pack, oid);
+	if (entry) {
+		if (name) {
+			entry->hash = pack_name_hash(name);
+			entry->no_try_delta = no_try_delta(name);
+		}
+	} else {
+		if (!want_object_in_pack(oid, 0, &pack, &offset))
+			return;
+		if (!pack && type == OBJ_BLOB && !has_loose_object(oid)) {
+			/*
+			 * If a traversed tree has a missing blob then we want
+			 * to avoid adding that missing object to our pack.
+			 *
+			 * This only applies to missing blobs, not trees,
+			 * because the traversal needs to parse sub-trees but
+			 * not blobs.
+			 *
+			 * Note we only perform this check when we couldn't
+			 * already find the object in a pack, so we're really
+			 * limited to "ensure non-tip blobs which don't exist in
+			 * packs do exist via loose objects". Confused?
+			 */
+			return;
+		}
+
+		entry = create_object_entry(oid, type, pack_name_hash(name),
+					    0, name && no_try_delta(name),
+					    pack, offset);
+	}
+
+	if (mtime > oe_cruft_mtime(&to_pack, entry))
+		oe_set_cruft_mtime(&to_pack, entry, mtime);
+	return;
+}
+
+static void mark_pack_kept_in_core(struct string_list *packs, unsigned keep)
+{
+	struct string_list_item *item = NULL;
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, packs) {
+		struct packed_git *p = item->util;
+		if (!p)
+			die(_("could not find pack '%s'"), item->string);
+		p->pack_keep_in_core = keep;
+	}
+}
+
+static void add_unreachable_loose_objects(void);
+static void add_objects_in_unpacked_packs(void);
+
+static void enumerate_cruft_objects(void)
+{
+	if (progress)
+		progress_state = start_progress(_("Enumerating cruft objects"), 0);
+
+	add_objects_in_unpacked_packs();
+	add_unreachable_loose_objects();
+
+	stop_progress(&progress_state);
+}
+
+static void read_cruft_objects(void)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct string_list discard_packs = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
+	struct string_list fresh_packs = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
+	struct packed_git *p;
+
+	ignore_packed_keep_in_core = 1;
+
+	while (strbuf_getline(&buf, stdin) != EOF) {
+		if (!buf.len)
+			continue;
+
+		if (*buf.buf == '-')
+			string_list_append(&discard_packs, buf.buf + 1);
+		else
+			string_list_append(&fresh_packs, buf.buf);
+		strbuf_reset(&buf);
+	}
+
+	string_list_sort(&discard_packs);
+	string_list_sort(&fresh_packs);
+
+	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
+		const char *pack_name = pack_basename(p);
+		struct string_list_item *item;
+
+		item = string_list_lookup(&fresh_packs, pack_name);
+		if (!item)
+			item = string_list_lookup(&discard_packs, pack_name);
+
+		if (item) {
+			item->util = p;
+		} else {
+			/*
+			 * This pack wasn't mentioned in either the "fresh" or
+			 * "discard" list, so the caller didn't know about it.
+			 *
+			 * Mark it as kept so that its objects are ignored by
+			 * add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(). We'll
+			 * unmark it before starting the traversal so it doesn't
+			 * halt the traversal early.
+			 */
+			p->pack_keep_in_core = 1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	mark_pack_kept_in_core(&fresh_packs, 1);
+	mark_pack_kept_in_core(&discard_packs, 0);
+
+	if (cruft_expiration)
+		die("--cruft-expiration not yet implemented");
+	else
+		enumerate_cruft_objects();
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf);
+	string_list_clear(&discard_packs, 0);
+	string_list_clear(&fresh_packs, 0);
+}
+
 static void read_object_list_from_stdin(void)
 {
 	char line[GIT_MAX_HEXSZ + 1 + PATH_MAX + 2];
@@ -3521,7 +3656,24 @@ static int add_object_in_unpacked_pack(const struct object_id *oid,
 				       uint32_t pos,
 				       void *_data)
 {
-	add_object_entry(oid, OBJ_NONE, "", 0);
+	if (cruft) {
+		off_t offset;
+		time_t mtime;
+
+		if (pack->is_cruft) {
+			if (load_pack_mtimes(pack) < 0)
+				die(_("could not load cruft pack .mtimes"));
+			mtime = nth_packed_mtime(pack, pos);
+		} else {
+			mtime = pack->mtime;
+		}
+		offset = nth_packed_object_offset(pack, pos);
+
+		add_cruft_object_entry(oid, OBJ_NONE, pack, offset,
+				       NULL, mtime);
+	} else {
+		add_object_entry(oid, OBJ_NONE, "", 0);
+	}
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -3545,7 +3697,19 @@ static int add_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid, const char *path,
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	add_object_entry(oid, type, "", 0);
+	if (cruft) {
+		struct stat st;
+		if (stat(path, &st) < 0) {
+			if (errno == ENOENT)
+				return 0;
+			return error_errno("unable to stat %s", oid_to_hex(oid));
+		}
+
+		add_cruft_object_entry(oid, type, NULL, 0, NULL,
+				       st.st_mtime);
+	} else {
+		add_object_entry(oid, type, "", 0);
+	}
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -3864,6 +4028,20 @@ static int option_parse_unpack_unreachable(const struct option *opt,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int option_parse_cruft_expiration(const struct option *opt,
+					 const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+	if (unset) {
+		cruft = 0;
+		cruft_expiration = 0;
+	} else {
+		cruft = 1;
+		if (arg)
+			cruft_expiration = approxidate(arg);
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
 int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	int use_internal_rev_list = 0;
@@ -3936,6 +4114,10 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "unpack-unreachable", NULL, N_("time"),
 		  N_("unpack unreachable objects newer than <time>"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_unpack_unreachable),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "cruft", &cruft, N_("create a cruft pack")),
+		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "cruft-expiration", NULL, N_("time"),
+		  N_("expire cruft objects older than <time>"),
+		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_cruft_expiration),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "sparse", &sparse,
 			 N_("use the sparse reachability algorithm")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "thin", &thin,
@@ -4062,7 +4244,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	if (!HAVE_THREADS && delta_search_threads != 1)
 		warning(_("no threads support, ignoring --threads"));
-	if (!pack_to_stdout && !pack_size_limit)
+	if (!pack_to_stdout && !pack_size_limit && !cruft)
 		pack_size_limit = pack_size_limit_cfg;
 	if (pack_to_stdout && pack_size_limit)
 		die(_("--max-pack-size cannot be used to build a pack for transfer"));
@@ -4089,6 +4271,15 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (stdin_packs && use_internal_rev_list)
 		die(_("cannot use internal rev list with --stdin-packs"));
 
+	if (cruft) {
+		if (use_internal_rev_list)
+			die(_("cannot use internal rev list with --cruft"));
+		if (stdin_packs)
+			die(_("cannot use --stdin-packs with --cruft"));
+		if (pack_size_limit)
+			die(_("cannot use --max-pack-size with --cruft"));
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * "soft" reasons not to use bitmaps - for on-disk repack by default we want
 	 *
@@ -4145,7 +4336,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			    the_repository);
 	prepare_packing_data(the_repository, &to_pack);
 
-	if (progress)
+	if (progress && !cruft)
 		progress_state = start_progress(_("Enumerating objects"), 0);
 	if (stdin_packs) {
 		/* avoids adding objects in excluded packs */
@@ -4153,6 +4344,8 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		read_packs_list_from_stdin();
 		if (rev_list_unpacked)
 			add_unreachable_loose_objects();
+	} else if (cruft) {
+		read_cruft_objects();
 	} else if (!use_internal_rev_list) {
 		read_object_list_from_stdin();
 	} else {
diff --git a/object-file.c b/object-file.c
index 8be57f48de..e80da1368d 100644
--- a/object-file.c
+++ b/object-file.c
@@ -996,7 +996,7 @@ int has_loose_object_nonlocal(const struct object_id *oid)
 	return check_and_freshen_nonlocal(oid, 0);
 }
 
-static int has_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid)
+int has_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid)
 {
 	return check_and_freshen(oid, 0);
 }
diff --git a/object-store.h b/object-store.h
index 9b227661f2..6b025dc670 100644
--- a/object-store.h
+++ b/object-store.h
@@ -334,6 +334,8 @@ int repo_has_object_file_with_flags(struct repository *r,
  */
 int has_loose_object_nonlocal(const struct object_id *);
 
+int has_loose_object(const struct object_id *);
+
 void assert_oid_type(const struct object_id *oid, enum object_type expect);
 
 /*
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..003ca7344e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='cruft pack related pack-objects tests'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+objdir=.git/objects
+packdir=$objdir/pack
+
+basic_cruft_pack_tests () {
+	expire="$1"
+
+	test_expect_success "unreachable loose objects are packed (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit base &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			test_commit loose &&
+
+			test-tool chmtime +2000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path \
+				$(git rev-parse loose:loose.t))" &&
+			test-tool chmtime +1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path \
+				$(git rev-parse loose^{tree}))" &&
+
+			(
+				git rev-list --objects --no-object-names base..loose |
+				while read oid
+				do
+					path="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$oid")" &&
+					printf "%s %d\n" "$oid" "$(test-tool chmtime --get "$path")"
+				done |
+				sort -k1
+			) >expect &&
+
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+			cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+				--cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack)" &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual &&
+
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "unreachable packed objects are packed (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit packed &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			test_commit other &&
+
+			git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed.. >objects &&
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+			other="$(git pack-objects --delta-base-offset \
+				$packdir/pack <objects)" &&
+			git prune-packed &&
+
+			test-tool chmtime --get -100 "$packdir/pack-$other.pack" >expect &&
+
+			cruft="$(git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack <<-EOF
+			$keep
+			-pack-$other.pack
+			EOF
+			)" &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+			cut -d" " -f2 <actual.raw | sort -u >actual &&
+
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "unreachable cruft objects are repacked (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit packed &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			test_commit other &&
+
+			git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed.. >objects &&
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+
+			cruft_a="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack)" &&
+			git prune-packed &&
+			cruft_b="$(git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" $packdir/pack <<-EOF
+			$keep
+			-pack-$cruft_a.pack
+			EOF
+			)" &&
+
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft_a.mtimes" >expect.raw &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft_b.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+			sort <expect.raw >expect &&
+			sort <actual.raw >actual &&
+
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "multiple cruft packs (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit reachable &&
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+
+			test_commit cruft &&
+			loose="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse cruft))" &&
+
+			# generate three copies of the cruft object in different
+			# cruft packs, each with a unique mtime:
+			#   - one expired (1000 seconds ago)
+			#   - two non-expired (one 1000 seconds in the future,
+			#     one 1500 seconds in the future)
+			test-tool chmtime =-1000 "$loose" &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft $packdir/pack-A <<-EOF &&
+			$keep
+			EOF
+			test-tool chmtime =+1000 "$loose" &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft $packdir/pack-B <<-EOF &&
+			$keep
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-A-*.pack))
+			EOF
+			test-tool chmtime =+1500 "$loose" &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft $packdir/pack-C <<-EOF &&
+			$keep
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-A-*.pack))
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-B-*.pack))
+			EOF
+
+			# ensure the resulting cruft pack takes the most recent
+			# mtime among all copies
+			cruft="$(git pack-objects --cruft \
+				--cruft-expiration="$expire" \
+				$packdir/pack <<-EOF
+			$keep
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-A-*.pack))
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-B-*.pack))
+			-$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-C-*.pack))
+			EOF
+			)" &&
+
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-C-*.mtimes))" >expect.raw &&
+			test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+			sort expect.raw >expect &&
+			sort actual.raw >actual &&
+			test_cmp expect actual
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "cruft packs tolerate missing trees (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit reachable &&
+			test_commit cruft &&
+
+			tree="$(git rev-parse cruft^{tree})" &&
+
+			git reset --hard reachable &&
+			git tag -d cruft &&
+			git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+			# remove the unreachable tree, but leave the commit
+			# which has it as its root tree intact
+			rm -fr "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$tree")" &&
+
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack) >in &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" \
+				$packdir/pack <in
+		)
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "cruft packs tolerate missing blobs (expire $expire)" '
+		git init repo &&
+		test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+		(
+			cd repo &&
+
+			test_commit reachable &&
+			test_commit cruft &&
+
+			blob="$(git rev-parse cruft:cruft.t)" &&
+
+			git reset --hard reachable &&
+			git tag -d cruft &&
+			git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+			# remove the unreachable blob, but leave the commit (and
+			# the root tree of that commit) intact
+			rm -fr "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$blob")" &&
+
+			git repack -Ad &&
+			basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack) >in &&
+			git pack-objects --cruft --cruft-expiration="$expire" \
+				$packdir/pack <in
+		)
+	'
+}
+
+basic_cruft_pack_tests never
+
+test_done

builtin/pack-objects.c, reachable.c, reachable.h

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 5ba4fc9c2c..1ef333717d 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -3951,7 +3951,7 @@ static void get_object_list(int ac, const char **av)
 	if (unpack_unreachable_expiration) {
 		revs.ignore_missing_links = 1;
 		if (add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(&revs,
-				unpack_unreachable_expiration))
+				unpack_unreachable_expiration, NULL, 0))
 			die(_("unable to add recent objects"));
 		if (prepare_revision_walk(&revs))
 			die(_("revision walk setup failed"));
diff --git a/reachable.c b/reachable.c
index 84e3d0d75e..0eb9909f47 100644
--- a/reachable.c
+++ b/reachable.c
@@ -60,9 +60,13 @@ static void mark_commit(struct commit *c, void *data)
 struct recent_data {
 	struct rev_info *revs;
 	timestamp_t timestamp;
+	report_recent_object_fn *cb;
+	int ignore_in_core_kept_packs;
 };
 
 static void add_recent_object(const struct object_id *oid,
+			      struct packed_git *pack,
+			      off_t offset,
 			      timestamp_t mtime,
 			      struct recent_data *data)
 {
@@ -103,13 +107,29 @@ static void add_recent_object(const struct object_id *oid,
 		die("unable to lookup %s", oid_to_hex(oid));
 
 	add_pending_object(data->revs, obj, "");
+	if (data->cb)
+		data->cb(obj, pack, offset, mtime);
+}
+
+static int want_recent_object(struct recent_data *data,
+			      const struct object_id *oid)
+{
+	if (data->ignore_in_core_kept_packs &&
+	    has_object_kept_pack(oid, IN_CORE_KEEP_PACKS))
+		return 0;
+	return 1;
 }
 
 static int add_recent_loose(const struct object_id *oid,
 			    const char *path, void *data)
 {
 	struct stat st;
-	struct object *obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
+	struct object *obj;
+
+	if (!want_recent_object(data, oid))
+		return 0;
+
+	obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
 
 	if (obj && obj->flags & SEEN)
 		return 0;
@@ -126,7 +146,7 @@ static int add_recent_loose(const struct object_id *oid,
 		return error_errno("unable to stat %s", oid_to_hex(oid));
 	}
 
-	add_recent_object(oid, st.st_mtime, data);
+	add_recent_object(oid, NULL, 0, st.st_mtime, data);
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -134,29 +154,43 @@ static int add_recent_packed(const struct object_id *oid,
 			     struct packed_git *p, uint32_t pos,
 			     void *data)
 {
-	struct object *obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
+	struct object *obj;
+
+	if (!want_recent_object(data, oid))
+		return 0;
+
+	obj = lookup_object(the_repository, oid);
 
 	if (obj && obj->flags & SEEN)
 		return 0;
-	add_recent_object(oid, p->mtime, data);
+	add_recent_object(oid, p, nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos), p->mtime, data);
 	return 0;
 }
 
 int add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(struct rev_info *revs,
-					   timestamp_t timestamp)
+					   timestamp_t timestamp,
+					   report_recent_object_fn *cb,
+					   int ignore_in_core_kept_packs)
 {
 	struct recent_data data;
+	enum for_each_object_flags flags;
 	int r;
 
 	data.revs = revs;
 	data.timestamp = timestamp;
+	data.cb = cb;
+	data.ignore_in_core_kept_packs = ignore_in_core_kept_packs;
 
 	r = for_each_loose_object(add_recent_loose, &data,
 				  FOR_EACH_OBJECT_LOCAL_ONLY);
 	if (r)
 		return r;
-	return for_each_packed_object(add_recent_packed, &data,
-				      FOR_EACH_OBJECT_LOCAL_ONLY);
+
+	flags = FOR_EACH_OBJECT_LOCAL_ONLY | FOR_EACH_OBJECT_PACK_ORDER;
+	if (ignore_in_core_kept_packs)
+		flags |= FOR_EACH_OBJECT_SKIP_IN_CORE_KEPT_PACKS;
+
+	return for_each_packed_object(add_recent_packed, &data, flags);
 }
 
 static int mark_object_seen(const struct object_id *oid,
@@ -217,7 +251,8 @@ void mark_reachable_objects(struct rev_info *revs, int mark_reflog,
 
 	if (mark_recent) {
 		revs->ignore_missing_links = 1;
-		if (add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(revs, mark_recent))
+		if (add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(revs, mark_recent,
+							   NULL, 0))
 			die("unable to mark recent objects");
 		if (prepare_revision_walk(revs))
 			die("revision walk setup failed");
diff --git a/reachable.h b/reachable.h
index 5df932ad8f..b776761baa 100644
--- a/reachable.h
+++ b/reachable.h
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
 #ifndef REACHEABLE_H
 #define REACHEABLE_H
 
+#include "object.h"
+
 struct progress;
 struct rev_info;
 
+typedef void report_recent_object_fn(const struct object *, struct packed_git *,
+				     off_t, time_t);
+
 int add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(struct rev_info *revs,
-					   timestamp_t timestamp);
+					   timestamp_t timestamp,
+					   report_recent_object_fn cb,
+					   int ignore_in_core_kept_packs);
 void mark_reachable_objects(struct rev_info *revs, int mark_reflog,
 			    timestamp_t mark_recent, struct progress *);
 

builtin/pack-objects.c, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 1ef333717d..fcac0b5c91 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -3439,6 +3439,44 @@ static void add_cruft_object_entry(const struct object_id *oid, enum object_type
 	return;
 }
 
+static void show_cruft_object(struct object *obj, const char *name, void *data)
+{
+	/*
+	 * if we did not record it earlier, it's at least as old as our
+	 * expiration value. Rather than find it exactly, just use that
+	 * value.  This may bump it forward from its real mtime, but it
+	 * will still be "too old" next time we run with the same
+	 * expiration.
+	 *
+	 * if obj does appear in the packing list, this call is a noop (or may
+	 * set the namehash).
+	 */
+	add_cruft_object_entry(&obj->oid, obj->type, NULL, 0, name, cruft_expiration);
+}
+
+static void show_cruft_commit(struct commit *commit, void *data)
+{
+	show_cruft_object((struct object*)commit, NULL, data);
+}
+
+static int cruft_include_check_obj(struct object *obj, void *data)
+{
+	return !has_object_kept_pack(&obj->oid, IN_CORE_KEEP_PACKS);
+}
+
+static int cruft_include_check(struct commit *commit, void *data)
+{
+	return cruft_include_check_obj((struct object*)commit, data);
+}
+
+static void set_cruft_mtime(const struct object *object,
+			    struct packed_git *pack,
+			    off_t offset, time_t mtime)
+{
+	add_cruft_object_entry(&object->oid, object->type, pack, offset, NULL,
+			       mtime);
+}
+
 static void mark_pack_kept_in_core(struct string_list *packs, unsigned keep)
 {
 	struct string_list_item *item = NULL;
@@ -3464,6 +3502,50 @@ static void enumerate_cruft_objects(void)
 	stop_progress(&progress_state);
 }
 
+static void enumerate_and_traverse_cruft_objects(struct string_list *fresh_packs)
+{
+	struct packed_git *p;
+	struct rev_info revs;
+	int ret;
+
+	repo_init_revisions(the_repository, &revs, NULL);
+
+	revs.tag_objects = 1;
+	revs.tree_objects = 1;
+	revs.blob_objects = 1;
+
+	revs.include_check = cruft_include_check;
+	revs.include_check_obj = cruft_include_check_obj;
+
+	revs.ignore_missing_links = 1;
+
+	if (progress)
+		progress_state = start_progress(_("Enumerating cruft objects"), 0);
+	ret = add_unseen_recent_objects_to_traversal(&revs, cruft_expiration,
+						     set_cruft_mtime, 1);
+	stop_progress(&progress_state);
+
+	if (ret)
+		die(_("unable to add cruft objects"));
+
+	/*
+	 * Re-mark only the fresh packs as kept so that objects in
+	 * unknown packs do not halt the reachability traversal early.
+	 */
+	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next)
+		p->pack_keep_in_core = 0;
+	mark_pack_kept_in_core(fresh_packs, 1);
+
+	if (prepare_revision_walk(&revs))
+		die(_("revision walk setup failed"));
+	if (progress)
+		progress_state = start_progress(_("Traversing cruft objects"), 0);
+	nr_seen = 0;
+	traverse_commit_list(&revs, show_cruft_commit, show_cruft_object, NULL);
+
+	stop_progress(&progress_state);
+}
+
 static void read_cruft_objects(void)
 {
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
@@ -3515,7 +3597,7 @@ static void read_cruft_objects(void)
 	mark_pack_kept_in_core(&discard_packs, 0);
 
 	if (cruft_expiration)
-		die("--cruft-expiration not yet implemented");
+		enumerate_and_traverse_cruft_objects(&fresh_packs);
 	else
 		enumerate_cruft_objects();
 
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 003ca7344e..939cdc297a 100755
--- a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -214,5 +214,148 @@ basic_cruft_pack_tests () {
 }
 
 basic_cruft_pack_tests never
+basic_cruft_pack_tests 2.weeks.ago
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft tags rescue tagged objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		test_commit tagged &&
+		git tag -a annotated -m tag &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed.. >objects &&
+		while read oid
+		do
+			test-tool chmtime -1000 \
+				"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $oid)"
+		done <objects &&
+
+		test-tool chmtime -500 \
+			"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse annotated))" &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f1 -d" " <actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+
+		(
+			cat objects &&
+			git rev-parse annotated
+		) >expect.raw &&
+		sort <expect.raw >expect &&
+
+		test_cmp expect actual &&
+		cat actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft commits rescue parents, trees' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		test_commit old &&
+		test_commit new &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed..new >objects &&
+		while read object
+		do
+			test-tool chmtime -1000 \
+				"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $object)"
+		done <objects &&
+		test-tool chmtime +500 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path \
+			$(git rev-parse HEAD))" &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+
+		cut -d" " -f1 <actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+		sort <objects >expect &&
+
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft trees rescue sub-trees, blobs' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		mkdir -p dir/sub &&
+		echo foo >foo &&
+		echo bar >dir/bar &&
+		echo baz >dir/sub/baz &&
+
+		test_tick &&
+		git add . &&
+		git commit -m "pruned" &&
+
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD^{tree}))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:foo))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime  -500 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir/bar))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir/sub))" &&
+		test-tool chmtime -1000 "$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $(git rev-parse HEAD:dir/sub/baz))" &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f1 -d" " <actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+
+		git rev-parse HEAD:dir HEAD:dir/bar HEAD:dir/sub HEAD:dir/sub/baz >expect.raw &&
+		sort <expect.raw >expect &&
+
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'expired objects are pruned' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit packed &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+
+		test_commit pruned &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --no-object-names packed..pruned >objects &&
+		while read object
+		do
+			test-tool chmtime -1000 \
+				"$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $object)"
+		done <objects &&
+
+		keep="$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack)")" &&
+		cruft="$(echo $keep | git pack-objects --cruft \
+			--cruft-expiration=750.seconds.ago \
+			$packdir/pack)" &&
+
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "pack-$cruft.mtimes" >actual &&
+		test_must_be_empty actual
+	)
+'
 
 test_done

diff --git a/reachable.c b/reachable.c
index 0eb9909f47..9ec8e6bd5b 100644
--- a/reachable.c
+++ b/reachable.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "worktree.h"
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "pack-bitmap.h"
+#include "pack-mtimes.h"
 
 struct connectivity_progress {
 	struct progress *progress;
@@ -155,6 +156,7 @@ static int add_recent_packed(const struct object_id *oid,
 			     void *data)
 {
 	struct object *obj;
+	timestamp_t mtime = p->mtime;
 
 	if (!want_recent_object(data, oid))
 		return 0;
@@ -163,7 +165,12 @@ static int add_recent_packed(const struct object_id *oid,
 
 	if (obj && obj->flags & SEEN)
 		return 0;
-	add_recent_object(oid, p, nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos), p->mtime, data);
+	if (p->is_cruft) {
+		if (load_pack_mtimes(p) < 0)
+			die(_("could not load cruft pack .mtimes"));
+		mtime = nth_packed_mtime(p, pos);
+	}
+	add_recent_object(oid, p, nth_packed_object_offset(p, pos), mtime, data);
 	return 0;
 }
 

Documentation/config/repack.txt, builtin/repack.c, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/config/repack.txt b/Documentation/config/repack.txt
index 9c413e177e..fd18d1fb89 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/repack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/repack.txt
@@ -25,3 +25,12 @@ repack.writeBitmaps::
 	space and extra time spent on the initial repack.  This has
 	no effect if multiple packfiles are created.
 	Defaults to true on bare repos, false otherwise.
+
+repack.cruftWindow::
+repack.cruftWindowMemory::
+repack.cruftDepth::
+repack.cruftThreads::
+	Parameters used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when generating
+	a cruft pack and the respective parameters are not given over
+	the command line. See similarly named `pack.*` configuration
+	variables for defaults and meaning.
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index f7fb88bcf1..d61c78e94e 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -40,9 +40,21 @@ static const char incremental_bitmap_conflict_error[] = N_(
 "--no-write-bitmap-index or disable the pack.writebitmaps configuration."
 );
 
+struct pack_objects_args {
+	const char *window;
+	const char *window_memory;
+	const char *depth;
+	const char *threads;
+	const char *max_pack_size;
+	int no_reuse_delta;
+	int no_reuse_object;
+	int quiet;
+	int local;
+};
 
 static int repack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {
+	struct pack_objects_args *cruft_po_args = cb;
 	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.usedeltabaseoffset")) {
 		delta_base_offset = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
@@ -61,6 +73,15 @@ static int repack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftwindow"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->window, var, value);
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftwindowmemory"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->window_memory, var, value);
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftdepth"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->depth, var, value);
+	if (!strcmp(var, "repack.cruftthreads"))
+		return git_config_string(&cruft_po_args->threads, var, value);
+
 	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
@@ -153,18 +174,6 @@ static void remove_redundant_pack(const char *dir_name, const char *base_name)
 	strbuf_release(&buf);
 }
 
-struct pack_objects_args {
-	const char *window;
-	const char *window_memory;
-	const char *depth;
-	const char *threads;
-	const char *max_pack_size;
-	int no_reuse_delta;
-	int no_reuse_object;
-	int quiet;
-	int local;
-};
-
 static void prepare_pack_objects(struct child_process *cmd,
 				 const struct pack_objects_args *args)
 {
@@ -689,6 +698,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	struct string_list keep_pack_list = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
 	int no_update_server_info = 0;
 	struct pack_objects_args po_args = {NULL};
+	struct pack_objects_args cruft_po_args = {NULL};
 	int geometric_factor = 0;
 	int write_midx = 0;
 
@@ -743,7 +753,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
-	git_config(repack_config, NULL);
+	git_config(repack_config, &cruft_po_args);
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, builtin_repack_options,
 				git_repack_usage, 0);
@@ -918,7 +928,19 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (*pack_prefix == '/')
 			pack_prefix++;
 
-		ret = write_cruft_pack(&po_args, pack_prefix, &names,
+		if (!cruft_po_args.window)
+			cruft_po_args.window = po_args.window;
+		if (!cruft_po_args.window_memory)
+			cruft_po_args.window_memory = po_args.window_memory;
+		if (!cruft_po_args.depth)
+			cruft_po_args.depth = po_args.depth;
+		if (!cruft_po_args.threads)
+			cruft_po_args.threads = po_args.threads;
+
+		cruft_po_args.local = po_args.local;
+		cruft_po_args.quiet = po_args.quiet;
+
+		ret = write_cruft_pack(&cruft_po_args, pack_prefix, &names,
 				       &existing_nonkept_packs,
 				       &existing_kept_packs);
 		if (ret)
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 06c550c958..e4744e4465 100755
--- a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -565,4 +565,87 @@ test_expect_success 'cruft repack ignores pack.packSizeLimit' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack respects repack.cruftWindow' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+
+		GIT_TRACE2_EVENT=$(pwd)/event.trace \
+		git -c pack.window=1 -c repack.cruftWindow=2 repack \
+		       --cruft --window=3 &&
+
+		grep "pack-objects.*--window=2.*--cruft" event.trace
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack respects --window by default' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+
+		GIT_TRACE2_EVENT=$(pwd)/event.trace \
+		git -c pack.window=2 repack --cruft --window=3 &&
+
+		grep "pack-objects.*--window=3.*--cruft" event.trace
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack respects --quiet' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+		GIT_PROGRESS_DELAY=0 git repack --cruft --quiet 2>err &&
+		test_must_be_empty err
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft --local drops unreachable objects' '
+	git init alternate &&
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr alternate repo" &&
+
+	test_commit -C alternate base &&
+	# Pack all objects in alterate so that the cruft repack in "repo" sees
+	# the object it dropped due to `--local` as packed. Otherwise this
+	# object would not appear packed anywhere (since it is not packed in
+	# alternate and likewise not part of the cruft pack in the other repo
+	# because of `--local`).
+	git -C alternate repack -ad &&
+
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		object="$(git -C ../alternate rev-parse HEAD:base.t)" &&
+		git -C ../alternate cat-file -p $object >contents &&
+
+		# Write some reachable objects and two unreachable ones: one
+		# that the alternate has and another that is unique.
+		test_commit other &&
+		git hash-object -w -t blob contents &&
+		cruft="$(echo cruft | git hash-object -w -t blob --stdin)" &&
+
+		( cd ../alternate/.git/objects && pwd ) \
+		       >.git/objects/info/alternates &&
+
+		test_path_is_file $objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $cruft) &&
+		test_path_is_file $objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $object) &&
+
+		git repack -d --cruft --local &&
+
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes))" \
+		       >objects &&
+		! grep $object objects &&
+		grep $cruft objects
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

Documentation/git-repack.txt, Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt, builtin/repack.c, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/git-repack.txt b/Documentation/git-repack.txt
index ee30edc178..0bf13893d8 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-repack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-repack.txt
@@ -63,6 +63,17 @@ to the new separate pack will be written.
 	Also run  'git prune-packed' to remove redundant
 	loose object files.
 
+--cruft::
+	Same as `-a`, unless `-d` is used. Then any unreachable objects
+	are packed into a separate cruft pack. Unreachable objects can
+	be pruned using the normal expiry rules with the next `git gc`
+	invocation (see linkgit:git-gc[1]). Incompatible with `-k`.
+
+--cruft-expiration=<approxidate>::
+	Expire unreachable objects older than `<approxidate>`
+	immediately instead of waiting for the next `git gc` invocation.
+	Only useful with `--cruft -d`.
+
 -l::
 	Pass the `--local` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
 	linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
index 2c3c5d93f8..f80e975a47 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/cruft-packs.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ pruned according to normal expiry rules with the next 'git gc' invocation.
 
 Unreachable objects aren't removed immediately, since doing so could race with
 an incoming push which may reference an object which is about to be deleted.
-Instead, those unreachable objects are stored as loose object and stay that way
+Instead, those unreachable objects are stored as loose objects and stay that way
 until they are older than the expiration window, at which point they are removed
 by linkgit:git-prune[1].
 
diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index f908f7d5dd..f7fb88bcf1 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -18,11 +18,17 @@
 #include "pack-bitmap.h"
 #include "refs.h"
 
+#define ALL_INTO_ONE 1
+#define LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE 2
+#define PACK_CRUFT 4
+
+static int pack_everything;
 static int delta_base_offset = 1;
 static int pack_kept_objects = -1;
 static int write_bitmaps = -1;
 static int use_delta_islands;
 static char *packdir, *packtmp_name, *packtmp;
+static char *cruft_expiration;
 
 static const char *const git_repack_usage[] = {
 	N_("git repack [<options>]"),
@@ -54,6 +60,7 @@ static int repack_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		use_delta_islands = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
+
 	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
@@ -300,9 +307,6 @@ static void repack_promisor_objects(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
 		die(_("could not finish pack-objects to repack promisor objects"));
 }
 
-#define ALL_INTO_ONE 1
-#define LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE 2
-
 struct pack_geometry {
 	struct packed_git **pack;
 	uint32_t pack_nr, pack_alloc;
@@ -339,6 +343,8 @@ static void init_pack_geometry(struct pack_geometry **geometry_p)
 	for (p = get_all_packs(the_repository); p; p = p->next) {
 		if (!pack_kept_objects && p->pack_keep)
 			continue;
+		if (p->is_cruft)
+			continue;
 
 		ALLOC_GROW(geometry->pack,
 			   geometry->pack_nr + 1,
@@ -600,6 +606,67 @@ static int write_midx_included_packs(struct string_list *include,
 	return finish_command(&cmd);
 }
 
+static int write_cruft_pack(const struct pack_objects_args *args,
+			    const char *pack_prefix,
+			    struct string_list *names,
+			    struct string_list *existing_packs,
+			    struct string_list *existing_kept_packs)
+{
+	struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+	struct strbuf line = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct string_list_item *item;
+	FILE *in, *out;
+	int ret;
+
+	prepare_pack_objects(&cmd, args);
+
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--cruft");
+	if (cruft_expiration)
+		strvec_pushf(&cmd.args, "--cruft-expiration=%s",
+			     cruft_expiration);
+
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--honor-pack-keep");
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--non-empty");
+	strvec_push(&cmd.args, "--max-pack-size=0");
+
+	cmd.in = -1;
+
+	ret = start_command(&cmd);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
+	/*
+	 * names has a confusing double use: it both provides the list
+	 * of just-written new packs, and accepts the name of the cruft
+	 * pack we are writing.
+	 *
+	 * By the time it is read here, it contains only the pack(s)
+	 * that were just written, which is exactly the set of packs we
+	 * want to consider kept.
+	 */
+	in = xfdopen(cmd.in, "w");
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, names)
+		fprintf(in, "%s-%s.pack\n", pack_prefix, item->string);
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_packs)
+		fprintf(in, "-%s.pack\n", item->string);
+	for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_kept_packs)
+		fprintf(in, "%s.pack\n", item->string);
+	fclose(in);
+
+	out = xfdopen(cmd.out, "r");
+	while (strbuf_getline_lf(&line, out) != EOF) {
+		if (line.len != the_hash_algo->hexsz)
+			die(_("repack: Expecting full hex object ID lines only "
+			      "from pack-objects."));
+		string_list_append(names, line.buf);
+	}
+	fclose(out);
+
+	strbuf_release(&line);
+
+	return finish_command(&cmd);
+}
+
 int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
@@ -616,7 +683,6 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	int show_progress;
 
 	/* variables to be filled by option parsing */
-	int pack_everything = 0;
 	int delete_redundant = 0;
 	const char *unpack_unreachable = NULL;
 	int keep_unreachable = 0;
@@ -632,6 +698,11 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BIT('A', NULL, &pack_everything,
 				N_("same as -a, and turn unreachable objects loose"),
 				   LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE | ALL_INTO_ONE),
+		OPT_BIT(0, "cruft", &pack_everything,
+				N_("same as -a, pack unreachable cruft objects separately"),
+				   PACK_CRUFT),
+		OPT_STRING(0, "cruft-expiration", &cruft_expiration, N_("approxidate"),
+				N_("with -C, expire objects older than this")),
 		OPT_BOOL('d', NULL, &delete_redundant,
 				N_("remove redundant packs, and run git-prune-packed")),
 		OPT_BOOL('f', NULL, &po_args.no_reuse_delta,
@@ -684,6 +755,15 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	    (unpack_unreachable || (pack_everything & LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE)))
 		die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"), "--keep-unreachable", "-A");
 
+	if (pack_everything & PACK_CRUFT) {
+		pack_everything |= ALL_INTO_ONE;
+
+		if (unpack_unreachable || (pack_everything & LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE))
+			die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"), "--cruft", "-A");
+		if (keep_unreachable)
+			die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"), "--cruft", "-k");
+	}
+
 	if (write_bitmaps < 0) {
 		if (!write_midx &&
 		    (!(pack_everything & ALL_INTO_ONE) || !is_bare_repository()))
@@ -767,7 +847,8 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (pack_everything & ALL_INTO_ONE) {
 		repack_promisor_objects(&po_args, &names);
 
-		if (existing_nonkept_packs.nr && delete_redundant) {
+		if (existing_nonkept_packs.nr && delete_redundant &&
+		    !(pack_everything & PACK_CRUFT)) {
 			for_each_string_list_item(item, &names) {
 				strvec_pushf(&cmd.args, "--keep-pack=%s-%s.pack",
 					     packtmp_name, item->string);
@@ -829,6 +910,21 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (!names.nr && !po_args.quiet)
 		printf_ln(_("Nothing new to pack."));
 
+	if (pack_everything & PACK_CRUFT) {
+		const char *pack_prefix;
+		if (!skip_prefix(packtmp, packdir, &pack_prefix))
+			die(_("pack prefix %s does not begin with objdir %s"),
+			    packtmp, packdir);
+		if (*pack_prefix == '/')
+			pack_prefix++;
+
+		ret = write_cruft_pack(&po_args, pack_prefix, &names,
+				       &existing_nonkept_packs,
+				       &existing_kept_packs);
+		if (ret)
+			return ret;
+	}
+
 	for_each_string_list_item(item, &names) {
 		item->util = (void *)(uintptr_t)populate_pack_exts(item->string);
 	}
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 939cdc297a..06c550c958 100755
--- a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -358,4 +358,211 @@ test_expect_success 'expired objects are pruned' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'repack --cruft generates a cruft pack' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit unreachable &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d unreachable &&
+		# objects are not cruft if they are contained in the reflogs
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --all --no-object-names >reachable.raw &&
+		git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch-check="%(objectname)" >objects &&
+		sort <reachable.raw >reachable &&
+		comm -13 reachable objects >unreachable &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		cruft=$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes) .mtimes) &&
+		pack=$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.pack | grep -v $cruft) .pack) &&
+
+		git show-index <$packdir/$pack.idx >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f2 -d" " actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+		test_cmp reachable actual &&
+
+		git show-index <$packdir/$cruft.idx >actual.raw &&
+		cut -f2 -d" " actual.raw | sort >actual &&
+		test_cmp unreachable actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'loose objects mtimes upsert others' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit cruft &&
+		# incremental repack, leaving existing objects loose (so
+		# they can be "freshened")
+		git repack &&
+
+		tip="$(git rev-parse cruft)" &&
+		path="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path "$(git rev-parse cruft)")" &&
+		test-tool chmtime --get +1000 "$path" >expect &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d cruft &&
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		mtimes="$(basename $(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes))" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$mtimes" >actual.raw &&
+		grep "$tip" actual.raw | cut -d" " -f2 >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft packs are not included in geometric repack' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit cruft &&
+		git repack -d &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d cruft &&
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+		git repack --cruft &&
+
+		find $packdir -type f | sort >before &&
+		git repack --geometric=2 -d &&
+		find $packdir -type f | sort >after &&
+
+		test_cmp before after
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'repack --geometric collects once-cruft objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git repack -Ad &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		git rm -rf . &&
+		test_commit --no-tag cruft &&
+		cruft="$(git rev-parse HEAD)" &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+		# Pack the objects created in the previous step into a cruft
+		# pack. Intentionally leave loose copies of those objects
+		# around so we can pick them up in a subsequent --geometric
+		# reapack.
+		git repack --cruft &&
+
+		# Now make those objects reachable, and ensure that they are
+		# packed into the new pack created via a --geometric repack.
+		git update-ref refs/heads/other $cruft &&
+
+		# Without this object, the set of unpacked objects is exactly
+		# the set of objects already in the cruft pack. Tweak that set
+		# to ensure we do not overwrite the cruft pack entirely.
+		test_commit reachable2 &&
+
+		find $packdir -name "pack-*.idx" | sort >before &&
+		git repack --geometric=2 -d &&
+		find $packdir -name "pack-*.idx" | sort >after &&
+
+		{
+			git rev-list --objects --no-object-names $cruft &&
+			git rev-list --objects --no-object-names reachable..reachable2
+		} >want.raw &&
+		sort want.raw >want &&
+
+		pack=$(comm -13 before after) &&
+		git show-index <$pack >objects.raw &&
+
+		cut -d" " -f2 objects.raw | sort >got &&
+
+		test_cmp want got
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack with no reachable objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+		git repack -ad &&
+
+		base="$(git rev-parse base)" &&
+
+		git for-each-ref --format="delete %(refname)" >in &&
+		git update-ref --stdin <in &&
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+		rm -fr .git/index &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		git cat-file -t $base
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack ignores --max-pack-size' '
+	git init max-pack-size &&
+	(
+		cd max-pack-size &&
+		test_commit base &&
+		# two cruft objects which exceed the maximum pack size
+		test-tool genrandom foo 1048576 | git hash-object --stdin -w &&
+		test-tool genrandom bar 1048576 | git hash-object --stdin -w &&
+		git repack --cruft --max-pack-size=1M &&
+		find $packdir -name "*.mtimes" >cruft &&
+		test_line_count = 1 cruft &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename "$(cat cruft)")" >objects &&
+		test_line_count = 2 objects
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'cruft repack ignores pack.packSizeLimit' '
+	(
+		cd max-pack-size &&
+		# repack everything back together to remove the existing cruft
+		# pack (but to keep its objects)
+		git repack -adk &&
+		git -c pack.packSizeLimit=1M repack --cruft &&
+		# ensure the same post condition is met when --max-pack-size
+		# would otherwise be inferred from the configuration
+		find $packdir -name "*.mtimes" >cruft &&
+		test_line_count = 1 cruft &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename "$(cat cruft)")" >objects &&
+		test_line_count = 2 objects
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index d61c78e94e..afa4d51a22 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 #define LOOSEN_UNREACHABLE 2
 #define PACK_CRUFT 4
 
+#define DELETE_PACK 1
+
 static int pack_everything;
 static int delta_base_offset = 1;
 static int pack_kept_objects = -1;
@@ -561,7 +563,7 @@ static void midx_included_packs(struct string_list *include,
 		}
 	} else {
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_nonkept_packs) {
-			if (item->util)
+			if ((uintptr_t)item->util & DELETE_PACK)
 				continue;
 			string_list_insert(include, xstrfmt("%s.idx", item->string));
 		}
@@ -1000,7 +1002,8 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			 * was given) and that we will actually delete this pack
 			 * (if `-d` was given).
 			 */
-			item->util = (void*)(intptr_t)!string_list_has_string(&names, sha1);
+			if (!string_list_has_string(&names, sha1))
+				item->util = (void*)(uintptr_t)((size_t)item->util | DELETE_PACK);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1024,7 +1027,7 @@ int cmd_repack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (delete_redundant) {
 		int opts = 0;
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, &existing_nonkept_packs) {
-			if (!item->util)
+			if (!((uintptr_t)item->util & DELETE_PACK))
 				continue;
 			remove_redundant_pack(packdir, item->string);
 		}

builtin/repack.c, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/builtin/repack.c b/builtin/repack.c
index afa4d51a22..59b60cd309 100644
--- a/builtin/repack.c
+++ b/builtin/repack.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #define PACK_CRUFT 4
 
 #define DELETE_PACK 1
+#define CRUFT_PACK 2
 
 static int pack_everything;
 static int delta_base_offset = 1;
@@ -158,8 +159,11 @@ static void collect_pack_filenames(struct string_list *fname_nonkept_list,
 		if ((extra_keep->nr > 0 && i < extra_keep->nr) ||
 		    (file_exists(mkpath("%s/%s.keep", packdir, fname))))
 			string_list_append_nodup(fname_kept_list, fname);
-		else
-			string_list_append_nodup(fname_nonkept_list, fname);
+		else {
+			struct string_list_item *item = string_list_append_nodup(fname_nonkept_list, fname);
+			if (file_exists(mkpath("%s/%s.mtimes", packdir, fname)))
+				item->util = (void*)(uintptr_t)CRUFT_PACK;
+		}
 	}
 	closedir(dir);
 }
@@ -561,6 +565,17 @@ static void midx_included_packs(struct string_list *include,
 
 			string_list_insert(include, strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL));
 		}
+
+		for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_nonkept_packs) {
+			if (!((uintptr_t)item->util & CRUFT_PACK)) {
+				/*
+				 * no need to check DELETE_PACK, since we're not
+				 * doing an ALL_INTO_ONE repack
+				 */
+				continue;
+			}
+			string_list_insert(include, xstrfmt("%s.idx", item->string));
+		}
 	} else {
 		for_each_string_list_item(item, existing_nonkept_packs) {
 			if ((uintptr_t)item->util & DELETE_PACK)
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index e4744e4465..13158e4ab7 100755
--- a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -648,4 +648,30 @@ test_expect_success 'cruft --local drops unreachable objects' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'MIDX bitmaps tolerate reachable cruft objects' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		test_commit cruft &&
+		unreachable="$(git rev-parse cruft)" &&
+
+		git reset --hard $unreachable^ &&
+		git tag -d cruft &&
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		# resurrect the unreachable object via a new commit. the
+		# new commit will get selected for a bitmap, but be
+		# missing one of its parents from the selected packs.
+		git reset --hard $unreachable &&
+		test_commit resurrect &&
+
+		git repack --write-midx --write-bitmap-index --geometric=2 -d
+	)
+'
+
 test_done

Documentation/config/gc.txt, Documentation/git-gc.txt, builtin/gc.c, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/Documentation/config/gc.txt b/Documentation/config/gc.txt
index c834e07991..38fea076a2 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/gc.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/gc.txt
@@ -81,14 +81,21 @@ gc.packRefs::
 	to enable it within all non-bare repos or it can be set to a
 	boolean value.  The default is `true`.
 
+gc.cruftPacks::
+	Store unreachable objects in a cruft pack (see
+	linkgit:git-repack[1]) instead of as loose objects. The default
+	is `false`.
+
 gc.pruneExpire::
-	When 'git gc' is run, it will call 'prune --expire 2.weeks.ago'.
-	Override the grace period with this config variable.  The value
-	"now" may be used to disable this grace period and always prune
-	unreachable objects immediately, or "never" may be used to
-	suppress pruning.  This feature helps prevent corruption when
-	'git gc' runs concurrently with another process writing to the
-	repository; see the "NOTES" section of linkgit:git-gc[1].
+	When 'git gc' is run, it will call 'prune --expire 2.weeks.ago'
+	(and 'repack --cruft --cruft-expiration 2.weeks.ago' if using
+	cruft packs via `gc.cruftPacks` or `--cruft`).  Override the
+	grace period with this config variable.  The value "now" may be
+	used to disable this grace period and always prune unreachable
+	objects immediately, or "never" may be used to suppress pruning.
+	This feature helps prevent corruption when 'git gc' runs
+	concurrently with another process writing to the repository; see
+	the "NOTES" section of linkgit:git-gc[1].
 
 gc.worktreePruneExpire::
 	When 'git gc' is run, it calls
diff --git a/Documentation/git-gc.txt b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
index 853967dea0..ba4e67700e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-gc.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ other housekeeping tasks (e.g. rerere, working trees, reflog...) will
 be performed as well.
 
 
+--cruft::
+	When expiring unreachable objects, pack them separately into a
+	cruft pack instead of storing the loose objects as loose
+	objects.
+
 --prune=<date>::
 	Prune loose objects older than date (default is 2 weeks ago,
 	overridable by the config variable `gc.pruneExpire`).
diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index ffaf0daf5d..11f5150234 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ static const char * const builtin_gc_usage[] = {
 
 static int pack_refs = 1;
 static int prune_reflogs = 1;
+static int cruft_packs = 0;
 static int aggressive_depth = 50;
 static int aggressive_window = 250;
 static int gc_auto_threshold = 6700;
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ static void gc_config(void)
 	git_config_get_int("gc.auto", &gc_auto_threshold);
 	git_config_get_int("gc.autopacklimit", &gc_auto_pack_limit);
 	git_config_get_bool("gc.autodetach", &detach_auto);
+	git_config_get_bool("gc.cruftpacks", &cruft_packs);
 	git_config_get_expiry("gc.pruneexpire", &prune_expire);
 	git_config_get_expiry("gc.worktreepruneexpire", &prune_worktrees_expire);
 	git_config_get_expiry("gc.logexpiry", &gc_log_expire);
@@ -332,7 +334,11 @@ static void add_repack_all_option(struct string_list *keep_pack)
 {
 	if (prune_expire && !strcmp(prune_expire, "now"))
 		strvec_push(&repack, "-a");
-	else {
+	else if (cruft_packs) {
+		strvec_push(&repack, "--cruft");
+		if (prune_expire)
+			strvec_pushf(&repack, "--cruft-expiration=%s", prune_expire);
+	} else {
 		strvec_push(&repack, "-A");
 		if (prune_expire)
 			strvec_pushf(&repack, "--unpack-unreachable=%s", prune_expire);
@@ -552,6 +558,7 @@ int cmd_gc(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		{ OPTION_STRING, 0, "prune", &prune_expire, N_("date"),
 			N_("prune unreferenced objects"),
 			PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t)prune_expire },
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "cruft", &cruft_packs, N_("pack unreferenced objects separately")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "aggressive", &aggressive, N_("be more thorough (increased runtime)")),
 		OPT_BOOL_F(0, "auto", &auto_gc, N_("enable auto-gc mode"),
 			   PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE),
@@ -671,6 +678,7 @@ int cmd_gc(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			die(FAILED_RUN, repack.v[0]);
 
 		if (prune_expire) {
+			/* run `git prune` even if using cruft packs */
 			strvec_push(&prune, prune_expire);
 			if (quiet)
 				strvec_push(&prune, "--no-progress");
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 13158e4ab7..3910e186ef 100755
--- a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -429,6 +429,43 @@ test_expect_success 'loose objects mtimes upsert others' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'expiring cruft objects with git gc' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		test_commit reachable &&
+		git branch -M main &&
+		git checkout --orphan other &&
+		test_commit unreachable &&
+
+		git checkout main &&
+		git branch -D other &&
+		git tag -d unreachable &&
+		# objects are not cruft if they are contained in the reflogs
+		git reflog expire --all --expire=all &&
+
+		git rev-list --objects --all --no-object-names >reachable.raw &&
+		git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch-check="%(objectname)" >objects &&
+		sort <reachable.raw >reachable &&
+		comm -13 reachable objects >unreachable &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		mtimes=$(ls .git/objects/pack/pack-*.mtimes) &&
+		test_path_is_file $mtimes &&
+
+		git gc --cruft --prune=now &&
+
+		git cat-file --batch-all-objects --batch-check="%(objectname)" >objects &&
+
+		comm -23 unreachable objects >removed &&
+		test_cmp unreachable removed &&
+		test_path_is_missing $mtimes
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'cruft packs are not included in geometric repack' '
 	git init repo &&
 	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&

object-file.c, t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh

diff --git a/object-file.c b/object-file.c
index e80da1368d..65b8df7fb6 100644
--- a/object-file.c
+++ b/object-file.c
@@ -1989,6 +1989,8 @@ static int freshen_packed_object(const struct object_id *oid)
 	struct pack_entry e;
 	if (!find_pack_entry(the_repository, oid, &e))
 		return 0;
+	if (e.p->is_cruft)
+		return 0;
 	if (e.p->freshened)
 		return 1;
 	if (!freshen_file(e.p->pack_name))
diff --git a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
index 3910e186ef..4681558612 100755
--- a/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
+++ b/t/t5328-pack-objects-cruft.sh
@@ -711,4 +711,29 @@ test_expect_success 'MIDX bitmaps tolerate reachable cruft objects' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'cruft objects are freshend via loose' '
+	git init repo &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr repo" &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+
+		echo "cruft" >contents &&
+		blob="$(git hash-object -w -t blob contents)" &&
+		loose="$objdir/$(test_oid_to_path $blob)" &&
+
+		test_commit base &&
+
+		git repack --cruft -d &&
+
+		test_path_is_missing "$loose" &&
+		test-tool pack-mtimes "$(basename "$(ls $packdir/pack-*.mtimes)")" >cruft &&
+		grep "$blob" cruft &&
+
+		# write the same object again
+		git hash-object -w -t blob contents &&
+
+		test_path_is_file "$loose"
+	)
+'
+
 test_done