SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git gc' [--aggressive] [--auto] [--quiet] [--prune=<date> | --no-prune] [--force]
+'git gc' [--aggressive] [--auto] [--quiet] [--prune=<date> | --no-prune] [--force] [--keep-largest-pack]
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 'git add'.
+performance), removing unreachable objects which may have been
+created from prior invocations of 'git add', packing refs, pruning
+reflog, rerere metadata or stale working trees.
Users are encouraged to run this task on a regular basis within
each repository to maintain good disk space utilization and good
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.
+ operations that could create many loose objects. Housekeeping
+ is required if there are too many loose objects or too many
+ packs in the repository.
+
-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 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)
+then existing packs (except those marked with a `.keep` file
+or over `gc.bigPackThreshold` limit)
are consolidated into a single pack by using the `-A` option of
-'git repack'. Setting `gc.autoPackLimit` to 0 disables
-automatic consolidation of packs.
+'git repack'.
+If the amount of memory is estimated not enough for `git repack` to
+run smoothly and `gc.bigPackThreshold` is not set, the largest
+pack will also be excluded (this is the equivalent of running `git gc`
+with `--keep-base-pack`).
+Setting `gc.autoPackLimit` to 0 disables automatic consolidation of
+packs.
++
+If houskeeping is required due to many loose objects or packs, all
+other housekeeping tasks (e.g. rerere, working trees, reflog...) will
+be performed as well.
+
--prune=<date>::
Prune loose objects older than date (default is 2 weeks ago,
Force `git gc` to run even if there may be another `git gc`
instance running on this repository.
-Configuration
+--keep-largest-pack::
+ All packs except the largest pack and those marked with a
+ `.keep` files are consolidated into a single pack. When this
+ option is used, `gc.bigPackThreshold` is ignored.
+
+CONFIGURATION
-------------
The optional configuration variable `gc.reflogExpire` can be
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
+the documentation for the --window option in linkgit:git-repack[1] for
more details. This defaults to 250.
Similarly, the optional configuration variable `gc.aggressiveDepth`
the unreferenced loose objects have to be before they are pruned. The
default is "2 weeks ago".
+Optional configuration variable `gc.worktreePruneExpire` controls how
+old a stale working tree should be before `git worktree prune` deletes
+it. Default is "3 months ago".
+
-Notes
+NOTES
-----
'git gc' tries very hard not to delete objects that are referenced