SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-gc' [--prune]
+'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
-------
---prune::
- Usually `git-gc` packs refs, expires old reflog entries,
- packs loose objects,
- and removes old 'rerere' records. Removal
- of unreferenced loose objects is an unsafe operation
- while other git operations are in progress, so it is not
- done by default. Pass this option if you want it, and only
- when you know nobody else is creating new objects in the
- repository at the same time (e.g. never use this option
- in a cron script).
-
+--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
-------------
kept. This defaults to 15 days.
The optional configuration variable 'gc.packrefs' determines if
-`git gc` runs `git-pack-refs`. Without the configuration, `git-pack-refs`
-is not run in bare repositories by default, to allow older dumb-transport
-clients fetch from the repository, but this will change in the future.
+'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