SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-gc'
+'git gc' [--aggressive] [--auto] [--quiet] [--prune=<date> | --no-prune]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
Runs a number of housekeeping tasks within the current repository,
such as compressing file revisions (to reduce disk space and increase
performance) and removing unreachable objects which may have been
-created from prior invocations of gitlink:git-add[1].
+created from prior invocations of 'git-add'.
Users are encouraged to run this task on a regular basis within
each repository to maintain good disk space utilization and good
operating performance.
+Some git commands may automatically run 'git-gc'; see the `--auto` flag
+below for details. If you know what you're doing and all you want is to
+disable this behavior permanently without further considerations, just do:
+
+----------------------
+$ git config --global gc.auto 0
+----------------------
+
+OPTIONS
+-------
+
+--aggressive::
+ Usually 'git-gc' runs very quickly while providing good disk
+ space utilization and performance. This option will cause
+ 'git-gc' to more aggressively optimize the repository at the expense
+ of taking much more time. The effects of this optimization are
+ persistent, so this option only needs to be used occasionally; every
+ few hundred changesets or so.
+
+--auto::
+ With this option, 'git-gc' checks whether any housekeeping is
+ required; if not, it exits without performing any work.
+ Some git commands run `git gc --auto` after performing
+ operations that could create many loose objects.
++
+Housekeeping is required if there are too many loose objects or
+too many packs in the repository. If the number of loose objects
+exceeds the value of the `gc.auto` configuration variable, then
+all loose objects are combined into a single pack using
+'git-repack -d -l'. Setting the value of `gc.auto` to 0
+disables automatic packing of loose objects.
++
+If the number of packs exceeds the value of `gc.autopacklimit`,
+then existing packs (except those marked with a `.keep` file)
+are consolidated into a single pack by using the `-A` option of
+'git-repack'. Setting `gc.autopacklimit` to 0 disables
+automatic consolidation of packs.
+
+--prune=<date>::
+ Prune loose objects older than date (default is 2 weeks ago,
+ overrideable by the config variable `gc.pruneExpire`). This
+ option is on by default.
+
+--no-prune::
+ Do not prune any loose objects.
+
+--quiet::
+ Suppress all progress reports.
+
Configuration
-------------
are not part of the current branch should remain available in
this repository. These types of entries are generally created as
a result of using `git commit \--amend` or `git rebase` and are the
-commits prior to the amend or rebase occuring. Since these changes
+commits prior to the amend or rebase occurring. Since these changes
are not part of the current project most users will want to expire
them sooner. This option defaults to '30 days'.
how long records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
kept. This defaults to 15 days.
+The optional configuration variable 'gc.packrefs' determines if
+'git-gc' runs 'git-pack-refs'. This can be set to "nobare" to enable
+it within all non-bare repos or it can be set to a boolean value.
+This defaults to true.
+
+The optional configuration variable 'gc.aggressiveWindow' controls how
+much time is spent optimizing the delta compression of the objects in
+the repository when the --aggressive option is specified. The larger
+the value, the more time is spent optimizing the delta compression. See
+the documentation for the --window' option in linkgit:git-repack[1] for
+more details. This defaults to 10.
+
+The optional configuration variable 'gc.pruneExpire' controls how old
+the unreferenced loose objects have to be before they are pruned. The
+default is "2 weeks ago".
+
+
+Notes
+-----
+
+'git-gc' tries very hard to be safe about the garbage it collects. In
+particular, it will keep not only objects referenced by your current set
+of branches and tags, but also objects referenced by the index, remote
+tracking branches, refs saved by 'git-filter-branch' in
+refs/original/, or reflogs (which may references commits in branches
+that were later amended or rewound).
+
+If you are expecting some objects to be collected and they aren't, check
+all of those locations and decide whether it makes sense in your case to
+remove those references.
-See Also
+SEE ALSO
--------
-gitlink:git-prune[1]
-gitlink:git-reflog[1]
-gitlink:git-repack[1]
-gitlink:git-rerere[1]
+linkgit:git-prune[1]
+linkgit:git-reflog[1]
+linkgit:git-repack[1]
+linkgit:git-rerere[1]
Author
------
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite