6 git-repack - Pack unpacked objects in a repository
12 'git repack' [-a] [-A] [-d] [-f] [-F] [-l] [-n] [-q] [-b] [-m] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>] [--threads=<n>] [--keep-pack=<pack-name>] [--write-midx]
17 This command is used to combine all objects that do not currently
18 reside in a "pack", into a pack. It can also be used to re-organize
19 existing packs into a single, more efficient pack.
21 A pack is a collection of objects, individually compressed, with
22 delta compression applied, stored in a single file, with an
23 associated index file.
25 Packs are used to reduce the load on mirror systems, backup
26 engines, disk storage, etc.
32 Instead of incrementally packing the unpacked objects,
33 pack everything referenced into a single pack.
34 Especially useful when packing a repository that is used
35 for private development. Use
36 with `-d`. This will clean up the objects that `git prune`
37 leaves behind, but `git fsck --full --dangling` shows as
40 Note that users fetching over dumb protocols will have to fetch the
41 whole new pack in order to get any contained object, no matter how many
42 other objects in that pack they already have locally.
44 Promisor packfiles are repacked separately: if there are packfiles that
45 have an associated ".promisor" file, these packfiles will be repacked
46 into another separate pack, and an empty ".promisor" file corresponding
47 to the new separate pack will be written.
50 Same as `-a`, unless `-d` is used. Then any unreachable
51 objects in a previous pack become loose, unpacked objects,
52 instead of being left in the old pack. Unreachable objects
53 are never intentionally added to a pack, even when repacking.
54 This option prevents unreachable objects from being immediately
55 deleted by way of being left in the old pack and then
56 removed. Instead, the loose unreachable objects
57 will be pruned according to normal expiry rules
58 with the next 'git gc' invocation. See linkgit:git-gc[1].
61 After packing, if the newly created packs make some
62 existing packs redundant, remove the redundant packs.
63 Also run 'git prune-packed' to remove redundant
67 Same as `-a`, unless `-d` is used. Then any unreachable objects
68 are packed into a separate cruft pack. Unreachable objects can
69 be pruned using the normal expiry rules with the next `git gc`
70 invocation (see linkgit:git-gc[1]). Incompatible with `-k`.
72 --cruft-expiration=<approxidate>::
73 Expire unreachable objects older than `<approxidate>`
74 immediately instead of waiting for the next `git gc` invocation.
75 Only useful with `--cruft -d`.
78 Write a cruft pack containing pruned objects (if any) to the
79 directory `<dir>`. This option is useful for keeping a copy of
80 any pruned objects in a separate directory as a backup. Only
81 useful with `--cruft -d`.
84 Pass the `--local` option to 'git pack-objects'. See
85 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
88 Pass the `--no-reuse-delta` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
89 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
92 Pass the `--no-reuse-object` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
93 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
97 Show no progress over the standard error stream and pass the `-q`
98 option to 'git pack-objects'. See linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
101 Do not update the server information with
102 'git update-server-info'. This option skips
103 updating local catalog files needed to publish
104 this repository (or a direct copy of it)
105 over HTTP or FTP. See linkgit:git-update-server-info[1].
109 These two options affect how the objects contained in the pack are
110 stored using delta compression. The objects are first internally
111 sorted by type, size and optionally names and compared against the
112 other objects within `--window` to see if using delta compression saves
113 space. `--depth` limits the maximum delta depth; making it too deep
114 affects the performance on the unpacker side, because delta data needs
115 to be applied that many times to get to the necessary object.
117 The default value for --window is 10 and --depth is 50. The maximum
121 This option is passed through to `git pack-objects`.
123 --window-memory=<n>::
124 This option provides an additional limit on top of `--window`;
125 the window size will dynamically scale down so as to not take
126 up more than '<n>' bytes in memory. This is useful in
127 repositories with a mix of large and small objects to not run
128 out of memory with a large window, but still be able to take
129 advantage of the large window for the smaller objects. The
130 size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".
131 `--window-memory=0` makes memory usage unlimited. The default
132 is taken from the `pack.windowMemory` configuration variable.
133 Note that the actual memory usage will be the limit multiplied
134 by the number of threads used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
136 --max-pack-size=<n>::
137 Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with
138 "k", "m", or "g". The minimum size allowed is limited to 1 MiB.
139 If specified, multiple packfiles may be created, which also
140 prevents the creation of a bitmap index.
141 The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
142 `pack.packSizeLimit` is set. Note that this option may result in
143 a larger and slower repository; see the discussion in
144 `pack.packSizeLimit`.
146 --filter=<filter-spec>::
147 Remove objects matching the filter specification from the
148 resulting packfile and put them into a separate packfile. Note
149 that objects used in the working directory are not filtered
150 out. So for the split to fully work, it's best to perform it
151 in a bare repo and to use the `-a` and `-d` options along with
152 this option. Also `--no-write-bitmap-index` (or the
153 `repack.writebitmaps` config option set to `false`) should be
154 used otherwise writing bitmap index will fail, as it supposes
155 a single packfile containing all the objects. See
156 linkgit:git-rev-list[1] for valid `<filter-spec>` forms.
159 Write the pack containing filtered out objects to the
160 directory `<dir>`. Only useful with `--filter`. This can be
161 used for putting the pack on a separate object directory that
162 is accessed through the Git alternates mechanism. **WARNING:**
163 If the packfile containing the filtered out objects is not
164 accessible, the repo can become corrupt as it might not be
165 possible to access the objects in that packfile. See the
166 `objects` and `objects/info/alternates` sections of
167 linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5].
170 --write-bitmap-index::
171 Write a reachability bitmap index as part of the repack. This
172 only makes sense when used with `-a`, `-A` or `-m`, as the bitmaps
173 must be able to refer to all reachable objects. This option
174 overrides the setting of `repack.writeBitmaps`. This option
175 has no effect if multiple packfiles are created, unless writing a
176 MIDX (in which case a multi-pack bitmap is created).
178 --pack-kept-objects::
179 Include objects in `.keep` files when repacking. Note that we
180 still do not delete `.keep` packs after `pack-objects` finishes.
181 This means that we may duplicate objects, but this makes the
182 option safe to use when there are concurrent pushes or fetches.
183 This option is generally only useful if you are writing bitmaps
184 with `-b` or `repack.writeBitmaps`, as it ensures that the
185 bitmapped packfile has the necessary objects.
187 --keep-pack=<pack-name>::
188 Exclude the given pack from repacking. This is the equivalent
189 of having `.keep` file on the pack. `<pack-name>` is the
190 pack file name without leading directory (e.g. `pack-123.pack`).
191 The option could be specified multiple times to keep multiple
194 --unpack-unreachable=<when>::
195 When loosening unreachable objects, do not bother loosening any
196 objects older than `<when>`. This can be used to optimize out
197 the write of any objects that would be immediately pruned by
198 a follow-up `git prune`.
202 When used with `-ad`, any unreachable objects from existing
203 packs will be appended to the end of the packfile instead of
204 being removed. In addition, any unreachable loose objects will
205 be packed (and their loose counterparts removed).
209 Pass the `--delta-islands` option to `git-pack-objects`, see
210 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
213 --geometric=<factor>::
214 Arrange resulting pack structure so that each successive pack
215 contains at least `<factor>` times the number of objects as the
218 `git repack` ensures this by determining a "cut" of packfiles that need
219 to be repacked into one in order to ensure a geometric progression. It
220 picks the smallest set of packfiles such that as many of the larger
221 packfiles (by count of objects contained in that pack) may be left
224 Unlike other repack modes, the set of objects to pack is determined
225 uniquely by the set of packs being "rolled-up"; in other words, the
226 packs determined to need to be combined in order to restore a geometric
229 When `--unpacked` is specified, loose objects are implicitly included in
230 this "roll-up", without respect to their reachability. This is subject
231 to change in the future. This option (implying a drastically different
232 repack mode) is not guaranteed to work with all other combinations of
233 option to `git repack`.
235 When writing a multi-pack bitmap, `git repack` selects the largest resulting
236 pack as the preferred pack for object selection by the MIDX (see
237 linkgit:git-multi-pack-index[1]).
241 Write a multi-pack index (see linkgit:git-multi-pack-index[1])
242 containing the non-redundant packs.
247 Various configuration variables affect packing, see
248 linkgit:git-config[1] (search for "pack" and "delta").
250 By default, the command passes `--delta-base-offset` option to
251 'git pack-objects'; this typically results in slightly smaller packs,
252 but the generated packs are incompatible with versions of Git older than
253 version 1.4.4. If you need to share your repository with such ancient Git
254 versions, either directly or via the dumb http protocol, then you
255 need to set the configuration variable `repack.UseDeltaBaseOffset` to
256 "false" and repack. Access from old Git versions over the native protocol
257 is unaffected by this option as the conversion is performed on the fly
258 as needed in that case.
260 Delta compression is not used on objects larger than the
261 `core.bigFileThreshold` configuration variable and on files with the
262 attribute `delta` set to false.
266 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
267 linkgit:git-prune-packed[1]
271 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite