Re: git repack and dumb protocols

On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 7:50 PM, Andreas Klöckner wrote:

8< ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Especially useful when packing a repository that is used for private
development and there is no need to worry about people fetching via dumb
protocols from it. 8<
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It says this relating to the '-a' option, but it makes me wonder if I'll break
copies of the repo that other people have pulled if I use 'repack'? What are
the possible interactions and things to keep in mind between repack and dumb
protocols?

It won't break any copies, but it may cause excessive network use.

Dumb protocols can only fetch or not-fetch the entire pack. So if
someone hasn't fetched since the last push, the next time they do a
"git pull", they will retrieve the entire repository. Even if they
only need a single small commit.

As you can imagine, people using dumb protocols over slow connections
may become somewhat annoyed with the admin that often does a repack
-a.

You do want to repack (usually without -a -- but see also ".keep")
periodically, though. Working out a schedule depends on the activity
level of the repository, and is left as an exercise for the reader.

In any case, I would like to suggest that the rather ominous-sounding text in
the manpage be replaced with something more concrete, i.e. "If you repack an
archive that has people fetching via dumb protocols from it, X, Y, and Z will
happen."

Patches welcome.

Peter Harris