SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-frontend | 'git fast-import' [options]
+frontend | 'git fast-import' [<options>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
fastimport.unpackLimit::
See linkgit:git-config[1]
-Performance
+PERFORMANCE
-----------
The design of fast-import allows it to import large projects in a minimum
amount of memory usage and processing time. Assuming the frontend
destination Git repository (due to less IO contention).
-Development Cost
+DEVELOPMENT COST
----------------
A typical frontend for fast-import tends to weigh in at approximately 200
lines of Perl/Python/Ruby code. Most developers have been able to
(use once, and never look back).
-Parallel Operation
+PARALLEL OPERATION
------------------
Like 'git push' or 'git fetch', imports handled by fast-import are safe to
run alongside parallel `git repack -a -d` or `git gc` invocations,
is not necessary for an initial import into an empty repository.
-Technical Discussion
+TECHNICAL DISCUSSION
--------------------
fast-import tracks a set of branches in memory. Any branch can be created
or modified at any point during the import process by sending a
need to perform any costly file update operations when switching
between branches.
-Input Format
+INPUT FORMAT
------------
With the exception of raw file data (which Git does not interpret)
the fast-import input format is text (ASCII) based. This text based
in use, the `done` command is mandatory and marks the end of the
stream.
-Responses To Commands
+RESPONSES TO COMMANDS
---------------------
New objects written by fast-import are not available immediately.
Most fast-import commands have no visible effect until the next
pending output from `progress`, `ls`, `get-mark`, and `cat-blob` before
performing writes to fast-import that might block.
-Crash Reports
+CRASH REPORTS
-------------
If fast-import is supplied invalid input it will terminate with a
non-zero exit status and create a crash report in the top level of
END OF CRASH REPORT
====
-Tips and Tricks
+TIPS AND TRICKS
---------------
The following tips and tricks have been collected from various
users of fast-import, and are offered here as suggestions.
has been processed.
-Packfile Optimization
+PACKFILE OPTIMIZATION
---------------------
When packing a blob fast-import always attempts to deltify against the last
blob written. Unless specifically arranged for by the frontend,
final packfile size (30-50% smaller can be quite typical).
-Memory Utilization
+MEMORY UTILIZATION
------------------
There are a number of factors which affect how much memory fast-import
requires to perform an import. Like critical sections of core
projects with 2,000+ branches and 45,114+ files in a very limited
memory footprint (less than 2.7 MiB per active branch).
-Signals
+SIGNALS
-------
Sending *SIGUSR1* to the 'git fast-import' process ends the current
packfile early, simulating a `checkpoint` command. The impatient