Documentation / git-repack.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/rev-parse-symbolic-parents-fix' into maint (7b0490f)
   1git-repack(1)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-repack - Pack unpacked objects in a repository
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git repack' [-a] [-A] [-d] [-f] [-F] [-l] [-n] [-q] [-b] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
  13
  14DESCRIPTION
  15-----------
  16
  17This command is used to combine all objects that do not currently
  18reside in a "pack", into a pack.  It can also be used to re-organize
  19existing packs into a single, more efficient pack.
  20
  21A pack is a collection of objects, individually compressed, with
  22delta compression applied, stored in a single file, with an
  23associated index file.
  24
  25Packs are used to reduce the load on mirror systems, backup
  26engines, disk storage, etc.
  27
  28OPTIONS
  29-------
  30
  31-a::
  32        Instead of incrementally packing the unpacked objects,
  33        pack everything referenced into a single pack.
  34        Especially useful when packing a repository that is used
  35        for private development. Use
  36        with `-d`.  This will clean up the objects that `git prune`
  37        leaves behind, but `git fsck --full --dangling` shows as
  38        dangling.
  39+
  40Note that users fetching over dumb protocols will have to fetch the
  41whole new pack in order to get any contained object, no matter how many
  42other objects in that pack they already have locally.
  43
  44-A::
  45        Same as `-a`, unless `-d` is used.  Then any unreachable
  46        objects in a previous pack become loose, unpacked objects,
  47        instead of being left in the old pack.  Unreachable objects
  48        are never intentionally added to a pack, even when repacking.
  49        This option prevents unreachable objects from being immediately
  50        deleted by way of being left in the old pack and then
  51        removed.  Instead, the loose unreachable objects
  52        will be pruned according to normal expiry rules
  53        with the next 'git gc' invocation. See linkgit:git-gc[1].
  54
  55-d::
  56        After packing, if the newly created packs make some
  57        existing packs redundant, remove the redundant packs.
  58        Also run  'git prune-packed' to remove redundant
  59        loose object files.
  60
  61-l::
  62        Pass the `--local` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
  63        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  64
  65-f::
  66        Pass the `--no-reuse-delta` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
  67        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  68
  69-F::
  70        Pass the `--no-reuse-object` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
  71        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  72
  73-q::
  74        Pass the `-q` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
  75        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
  76
  77-n::
  78        Do not update the server information with
  79        'git update-server-info'.  This option skips
  80        updating local catalog files needed to publish
  81        this repository (or a direct copy of it)
  82        over HTTP or FTP.  See linkgit:git-update-server-info[1].
  83
  84--window=<n>::
  85--depth=<n>::
  86        These two options affect how the objects contained in the pack are
  87        stored using delta compression. The objects are first internally
  88        sorted by type, size and optionally names and compared against the
  89        other objects within `--window` to see if using delta compression saves
  90        space. `--depth` limits the maximum delta depth; making it too deep
  91        affects the performance on the unpacker side, because delta data needs
  92        to be applied that many times to get to the necessary object.
  93        The default value for --window is 10 and --depth is 50.
  94
  95--window-memory=<n>::
  96        This option provides an additional limit on top of `--window`;
  97        the window size will dynamically scale down so as to not take
  98        up more than '<n>' bytes in memory.  This is useful in
  99        repositories with a mix of large and small objects to not run
 100        out of memory with a large window, but still be able to take
 101        advantage of the large window for the smaller objects.  The
 102        size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".
 103        `--window-memory=0` makes memory usage unlimited.  The default
 104        is taken from the `pack.windowMemory` configuration variable.
 105        Note that the actual memory usage will be the limit multiplied
 106        by the number of threads used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
 107
 108--max-pack-size=<n>::
 109        Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with
 110        "k", "m", or "g". The minimum size allowed is limited to 1 MiB.
 111        If specified, multiple packfiles may be created, which also
 112        prevents the creation of a bitmap index.
 113        The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
 114        `pack.packSizeLimit` is set.
 115
 116-b::
 117--write-bitmap-index::
 118        Write a reachability bitmap index as part of the repack. This
 119        only makes sense when used with `-a` or `-A`, as the bitmaps
 120        must be able to refer to all reachable objects. This option
 121        overrides the setting of `repack.writeBitmaps`.  This option
 122        has no effect if multiple packfiles are created.
 123
 124--pack-kept-objects::
 125        Include objects in `.keep` files when repacking.  Note that we
 126        still do not delete `.keep` packs after `pack-objects` finishes.
 127        This means that we may duplicate objects, but this makes the
 128        option safe to use when there are concurrent pushes or fetches.
 129        This option is generally only useful if you are writing bitmaps
 130        with `-b` or `repack.writeBitmaps`, as it ensures that the
 131        bitmapped packfile has the necessary objects.
 132
 133--unpack-unreachable=<when>::
 134        When loosening unreachable objects, do not bother loosening any
 135        objects older than `<when>`. This can be used to optimize out
 136        the write of any objects that would be immediately pruned by
 137        a follow-up `git prune`.
 138
 139-k::
 140--keep-unreachable::
 141        When used with `-ad`, any unreachable objects from existing
 142        packs will be appended to the end of the packfile instead of
 143        being removed. In addition, any unreachable loose objects will
 144        be packed (and their loose counterparts removed).
 145
 146Configuration
 147-------------
 148
 149By default, the command passes `--delta-base-offset` option to
 150'git pack-objects'; this typically results in slightly smaller packs,
 151but the generated packs are incompatible with versions of Git older than
 152version 1.4.4. If you need to share your repository with such ancient Git
 153versions, either directly or via the dumb http protocol, then you
 154need to set the configuration variable `repack.UseDeltaBaseOffset` to
 155"false" and repack. Access from old Git versions over the native protocol
 156is unaffected by this option as the conversion is performed on the fly
 157as needed in that case.
 158
 159SEE ALSO
 160--------
 161linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 162linkgit:git-prune-packed[1]
 163
 164GIT
 165---
 166Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite