[PATCH] packed-refs: use `fwrite()` when passing refs verbatim
HOTtoday
From: Karthik Nayak <hidden>
Date: 2026-09-30 15:15:38
Subsystem:
the rest · Maintainer:
Linus Torvalds
The `write_with_updates()` function uses a `struct ref_iterator` to
iterate over all refs to write to the temporary packfile. It receives
the iterator from `packed_ref_iterator_begin()` which takes a snapshot
of the 'packed-refs' file.
While writing to the new packfile, writes are routed via
`write_packed_entry()` which uses `fprintf()`. Even for references which
haven't changed, we use the same mechanism. Instead, let's track the
position of unchanged references in the snapshot iterator and directly
use `fwrite()`.
This removes the unnecessary formatting operation involved. We can see a
consistent ~20% performance improvement when deleting from packed
references.
Benchmark 1: update-ref: delete ref (refcount = 100000, revision = master)
Time (mean ± σ): 28.7 ms ± 1.7 ms [User: 22.5 ms, System: 5.9 ms]
Range (min … max): 26.7 ms … 33.3 ms 46 runs
Benchmark 2: update-ref: delete ref (refcount = 100000, revision = b4/kn-speedup-packed-refs)
Time (mean ± σ): 23.8 ms ± 1.2 ms [User: 17.5 ms, System: 6.0 ms]
Range (min … max): 22.1 ms … 27.7 ms 56 runs
Summary
update-ref: delete ref (refcount = 100000, revision = b4/kn-speedup-packed-refs) ran
1.21 ± 0.09 times faster than update-ref: delete ref (refformat = files, refcount = 100000, revision = master)
Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak <redacted>
---
refs/packed-backend.c | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
diff --git a/refs/packed-backend.c b/refs/packed-backend.c
index a73fc6aca7..ef952cdba6 100644
--- a/refs/packed-backend.c
+++ b/refs/packed-backend.c@@ -879,6 +879,12 @@ struct packed_ref_iterator { /* The current position in the snapshot's buffer: */ const char *pos; + /* + * Start of the current record, set when advancing `pos`. Used to + * pass records verbatim to `fwrite()`. + */ + const char *record_start; + /* The end of the part of the buffer that will be iterated over: */ const char *eof;
@@ -933,6 +939,7 @@ static int next_record(struct packed_ref_iterator *iter) if (iter->pos == iter->eof) return ITER_DONE; + iter->record_start = iter->pos; iter->base.ref.flags = REF_ISPACKED; p = iter->pos;
@@ -1218,17 +1225,27 @@ static struct ref_iterator *packed_ref_iterator_begin( /* * Write an entry to the packed-refs file for the specified refname. - * If peeled is non-NULL, write it as the entry's peeled value. On - * error, return a nonzero value and leave errno set at the value left - * by the failing call to `fprintf()`. + * + * If the raw data is available, skip the formatting and directly write to + * the file using `fwrite()`. e.g. when deleting references and remaining + * refs need to be written verbatim. Otherwise, use `fprintf()`. + * + * If peeled is non-NULL, write it as the entry's peeled value. + * + * On error, return a nonzero value and leave errno set at the value left + * by the failing call to `fwrite()` or `fprintf()`. */ -static int write_packed_entry(FILE *fh, const char *refname, - const struct object_id *oid, +static int write_packed_entry(FILE *fh, const char *raw, size_t raw_len, + const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid, const struct object_id *peeled) { - if (fprintf(fh, "%s %s\n", oid_to_hex(oid), refname) < 0 || - (peeled && fprintf(fh, "^%s\n", oid_to_hex(peeled)) < 0)) + if (raw) { + if (fwrite(raw, raw_len, 1, fh) != 1) + return -1; + } else if (fprintf(fh, "%s %s\n", oid_to_hex(oid), refname) < 0 || + (peeled && fprintf(fh, "^%s\n", oid_to_hex(peeled)) < 0)) { return -1; + } return 0; }
@@ -1530,9 +1547,13 @@ static enum ref_transaction_error write_with_updates(struct packed_ref_store *re } if (cmp < 0) { - /* Pass the old reference through. */ - if (write_packed_entry(out, iter->ref.name, - iter->ref.oid, iter->ref.peeled_oid)) + const struct packed_ref_iterator *packed_iter = + (const struct packed_ref_iterator *)iter; + size_t len = packed_iter->pos - packed_iter->record_start; + + if (write_packed_entry(out, packed_iter->record_start, + len, iter->ref.name, iter->ref.oid, + iter->ref.peeled_oid)) goto write_error; if ((ok = ref_iterator_advance(iter)) != ITER_OK) {
@@ -1551,7 +1572,7 @@ static enum ref_transaction_error write_with_updates(struct packed_ref_store *re } else { bool peeled = update->flags & REF_HAVE_PEELED; - if (write_packed_entry(out, update->refname, + if (write_packed_entry(out, NULL, 0, update->refname, &update->new_oid, peeled ? &update->peeled : NULL)) goto write_error;
--- base-commit: a018953688f1b10bddf91bff8747068f5f4746a4 change-id: 20260930-kn-speedup-packed-refs-9868f5d0abe9 Thanks - Karthik