Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt - git - Git at Google

 git-pack-objects(1)
 ===================

 NAME
 ----
 git-pack-objects - Create a packed archive of objects


 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git pack-objects' [-q | --progress | --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]
 	[--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]
 	[--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
 	[--revs [--unpacked | --all]] [--stdout | base-name]
 	[--keep-true-parents] < object-list


 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 Reads list of objects from the standard input, and writes a packed
 archive with specified base-name, or to the standard output.

 A packed archive is an efficient way to transfer a set of objects
 between two repositories as well as an access efficient archival
 format.  In a packed archive, an object is either stored as a
 compressed whole or as a difference from some other object.
 The latter is often called a delta.

 The packed archive format (.pack) is designed to be self-contained
 so that it can be unpacked without any further information. Therefore,
 each object that a delta depends upon must be present within the pack.

 A pack index file (.idx) is generated for fast, random access to the
 objects in the pack. Placing both the index file (.idx) and the packed
 archive (.pack) in the pack/ subdirectory of $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY (or
 any of the directories on $GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES)
 enables git to read from the pack archive.

 The 'git unpack-objects' command can read the packed archive and
 expand the objects contained in the pack into "one-file
 one-object" format; this is typically done by the smart-pull
 commands when a pack is created on-the-fly for efficient network
 transport by their peers.


 OPTIONS
 -------
 base-name::
 	Write into a pair of files (.pack and .idx), using
 	<base-name> to determine the name of the created file.
 	When this option is used, the two files are written in
 	<base-name>-<SHA1>.{pack,idx} files.  <SHA1> is a hash
 	of the sorted object names to make the resulting filename
 	based on the pack content, and written to the standard
 	output of the command.

 --stdout::
 	Write the pack contents (what would have been written to
 	.pack file) out to the standard output.

 --revs::
 	Read the revision arguments from the standard input, instead of
 	individual object names.  The revision arguments are processed
 	the same way as 'git rev-list' with the `--objects` flag
 	uses its `commit` arguments to build the list of objects it
 	outputs.  The objects on the resulting list are packed.

 --unpacked::
 	This implies `--revs`.  When processing the list of
 	revision arguments read from the standard input, limit
 	the objects packed to those that are not already packed.

 --all::
 	This implies `--revs`.  In addition to the list of
 	revision arguments read from the standard input, pretend
 	as if all refs under `refs/` are specified to be
 	included.

 --include-tag::
 	Include unasked-for annotated tags if the object they
 	reference was included in the resulting packfile.  This
 	can be useful to send new tags to native git clients.

 --window=<n>::
 --depth=<n>::
 	These two options affect how the objects contained in
 	the pack are stored using delta compression.  The
 	objects are first internally sorted by type, size and
 	optionally names and compared against the other objects
 	within --window to see if using delta compression saves
 	space.  --depth limits the maximum delta depth; making
 	it too deep affects the performance on the unpacker
 	side, because delta data needs to be applied that many
 	times to get to the necessary object.
 	The default value for --window is 10 and --depth is 50.

 --window-memory=<n>::
 	This option provides an additional limit on top of `--window`;
 	the window size will dynamically scale down so as to not take
 	up more than '<n>' bytes in memory.  This is useful in
 	repositories with a mix of large and small objects to not run
 	out of memory with a large window, but still be able to take
 	advantage of the large window for the smaller objects.  The
 	size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".
 	`--window-memory=0` makes memory usage unlimited, which is the
 	default.

 --max-pack-size=<n>::
 	Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with
 	"k", "m", or "g". The minimum size allowed is limited to 1 MiB.
 	If specified,  multiple packfiles may be created.
 	The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
 	`pack.packSizeLimit` is set.

 --honor-pack-keep::
 	This flag causes an object already in a local pack that
 	has a .keep file to be ignored, even if it would have
 	otherwise been packed.

 --incremental::
 	This flag causes an object already in a pack to be ignored
 	even if it would have otherwise been packed.

 --local::
 	This flag causes an object that is borrowed from an alternate
 	object store to be ignored even if it would have otherwise been
 	packed.

 --non-empty::
         Only create a packed archive if it would contain at
         least one object.

 --progress::
 	Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 	by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 	is specified. This flag forces progress status even if
 	the standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.

 --all-progress::
 	When --stdout is specified then progress report is
 	displayed during the object count and compression phases
 	but inhibited during the write-out phase. The reason is
 	that in some cases the output stream is directly linked
 	to another command which may wish to display progress
 	status of its own as it processes incoming pack data.
 	This flag is like --progress except that it forces progress
 	report for the write-out phase as well even if --stdout is
 	used.

 --all-progress-implied::
 	This is used to imply --all-progress whenever progress display
 	is activated.  Unlike --all-progress this flag doesn't actually
 	force any progress display by itself.

 -q::
 	This flag makes the command not to report its progress
 	on the standard error stream.

 --no-reuse-delta::
 	When creating a packed archive in a repository that
 	has existing packs, the command reuses existing deltas.
 	This sometimes results in a slightly suboptimal pack.
 	This flag tells the command not to reuse existing deltas
 	but compute them from scratch.

 --no-reuse-object::
 	This flag tells the command not to reuse existing object data at all,
 	including non deltified object, forcing recompression of everything.
 	This implies --no-reuse-delta. Useful only in the obscure case where
 	wholesale enforcement of a different compression level on the
 	packed data is desired.

 --compression=<n>::
 	Specifies compression level for newly-compressed data in the
 	generated pack.  If not specified,  pack compression level is
 	determined first by pack.compression,  then by core.compression,
 	and defaults to -1,  the zlib default,  if neither is set.
 	Add --no-reuse-object if you want to force a uniform compression
 	level on all data no matter the source.

 --thin::
 	Create a "thin" pack by omitting the common objects between a
 	sender and a receiver in order to reduce network transfer. This
 	option only makes sense in conjunction with --stdout.
 +
 Note: A thin pack violates the packed archive format by omitting
 required objects and is thus unusable by git without making it
 self-contained. Use `git index-pack --fix-thin`
 (see linkgit:git-index-pack[1]) to restore the self-contained property.

 --delta-base-offset::
 	A packed archive can express the base object of a delta as
 	either a 20-byte object name or as an offset in the
 	stream, but ancient versions of git don't understand the
 	latter.  By default, 'git pack-objects' only uses the
 	former format for better compatibility.  This option
 	allows the command to use the latter format for
 	compactness.  Depending on the average delta chain
 	length, this option typically shrinks the resulting
 	packfile by 3-5 per-cent.
 +
 Note: Porcelain commands such as `git gc` (see linkgit:git-gc[1]),
 `git repack` (see linkgit:git-repack[1]) pass this option by default
 in modern git when they put objects in your repository into pack files.
 So does `git bundle` (see linkgit:git-bundle[1]) when it creates a bundle.

 --threads=<n>::
 	Specifies the number of threads to spawn when searching for best
 	delta matches.  This requires that pack-objects be compiled with
 	pthreads otherwise this option is ignored with a warning.
 	This is meant to reduce packing time on multiprocessor machines.
 	The required amount of memory for the delta search window is
 	however multiplied by the number of threads.
 	Specifying 0 will cause git to auto-detect the number of CPU's
 	and set the number of threads accordingly.

 --index-version=<version>[,<offset>]::
 	This is intended to be used by the test suite only. It allows
 	to force the version for the generated pack index, and to force
 	64-bit index entries on objects located above the given offset.

 --keep-true-parents::
 	With this option, parents that are hidden by grafts are packed
 	nevertheless.

 SEE ALSO
 --------
 linkgit:git-rev-list[1]
 linkgit:git-repack[1]
 linkgit:git-prune-packed[1]

 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
	git-pack-objects(1)
	===================

	NAME
	----
	git-pack-objects - Create a packed archive of objects


	SYNOPSIS
	--------
	[verse]
	'git pack-objects' [-q \| --progress \| --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]
	[--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]
	[--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
	[--revs [--unpacked \| --all]] [--stdout \| base-name]
	[--keep-true-parents] < object-list


	DESCRIPTION
	-----------
	Reads list of objects from the standard input, and writes a packed
	archive with specified base-name, or to the standard output.

	A packed archive is an efficient way to transfer a set of objects
	between two repositories as well as an access efficient archival
	format. In a packed archive, an object is either stored as a
	compressed whole or as a difference from some other object.
	The latter is often called a delta.

	The packed archive format (.pack) is designed to be self-contained
	so that it can be unpacked without any further information. Therefore,
	each object that a delta depends upon must be present within the pack.

	A pack index file (.idx) is generated for fast, random access to the
	objects in the pack. Placing both the index file (.idx) and the packed
	archive (.pack) in the pack/ subdirectory of $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY (or
	any of the directories on $GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES)
	enables git to read from the pack archive.

	The 'git unpack-objects' command can read the packed archive and
	expand the objects contained in the pack into "one-file
	one-object" format; this is typically done by the smart-pull
	commands when a pack is created on-the-fly for efficient network
	transport by their peers.


	OPTIONS
	-------
	base-name::
	Write into a pair of files (.pack and .idx), using
	<base-name> to determine the name of the created file.
	When this option is used, the two files are written in
	<base-name>-<SHA1>.{pack,idx} files. <SHA1> is a hash
	of the sorted object names to make the resulting filename
	based on the pack content, and written to the standard
	output of the command.

	--stdout::
	Write the pack contents (what would have been written to
	.pack file) out to the standard output.

	--revs::
	Read the revision arguments from the standard input, instead of
	individual object names. The revision arguments are processed
	the same way as 'git rev-list' with the `--objects` flag
	uses its `commit` arguments to build the list of objects it
	outputs. The objects on the resulting list are packed.

	--unpacked::
	This implies `--revs`. When processing the list of
	revision arguments read from the standard input, limit
	the objects packed to those that are not already packed.

	--all::
	This implies `--revs`. In addition to the list of
	revision arguments read from the standard input, pretend
	as if all refs under `refs/` are specified to be
	included.

	--include-tag::
	Include unasked-for annotated tags if the object they
	reference was included in the resulting packfile. This
	can be useful to send new tags to native git clients.

	--window=<n>::
	--depth=<n>::
	These two options affect how the objects contained in
	the pack are stored using delta compression. The
	objects are first internally sorted by type, size and
	optionally names and compared against the other objects
	within --window to see if using delta compression saves
	space. --depth limits the maximum delta depth; making
	it too deep affects the performance on the unpacker
	side, because delta data needs to be applied that many
	times to get to the necessary object.
	The default value for --window is 10 and --depth is 50.

	--window-memory=<n>::
	This option provides an additional limit on top of `--window`;
	the window size will dynamically scale down so as to not take
	up more than '<n>' bytes in memory. This is useful in
	repositories with a mix of large and small objects to not run
	out of memory with a large window, but still be able to take
	advantage of the large window for the smaller objects. The
	size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".
	`--window-memory=0` makes memory usage unlimited, which is the
	default.

	--max-pack-size=<n>::
	Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with
	"k", "m", or "g". The minimum size allowed is limited to 1 MiB.
	If specified, multiple packfiles may be created.
	The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
	`pack.packSizeLimit` is set.

	--honor-pack-keep::
	This flag causes an object already in a local pack that
	has a .keep file to be ignored, even if it would have
	otherwise been packed.

	--incremental::
	This flag causes an object already in a pack to be ignored
	even if it would have otherwise been packed.

	--local::
	This flag causes an object that is borrowed from an alternate
	object store to be ignored even if it would have otherwise been
	packed.

	--non-empty::
	Only create a packed archive if it would contain at
	least one object.

	--progress::
	Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
	by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
	is specified. This flag forces progress status even if
	the standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.

	--all-progress::
	When --stdout is specified then progress report is
	displayed during the object count and compression phases
	but inhibited during the write-out phase. The reason is
	that in some cases the output stream is directly linked
	to another command which may wish to display progress
	status of its own as it processes incoming pack data.
	This flag is like --progress except that it forces progress
	report for the write-out phase as well even if --stdout is
	used.

	--all-progress-implied::
	This is used to imply --all-progress whenever progress display
	is activated. Unlike --all-progress this flag doesn't actually
	force any progress display by itself.

	-q::
	This flag makes the command not to report its progress
	on the standard error stream.

	--no-reuse-delta::
	When creating a packed archive in a repository that
	has existing packs, the command reuses existing deltas.
	This sometimes results in a slightly suboptimal pack.
	This flag tells the command not to reuse existing deltas
	but compute them from scratch.

	--no-reuse-object::
	This flag tells the command not to reuse existing object data at all,
	including non deltified object, forcing recompression of everything.
	This implies --no-reuse-delta. Useful only in the obscure case where
	wholesale enforcement of a different compression level on the
	packed data is desired.

	--compression=<n>::
	Specifies compression level for newly-compressed data in the
	generated pack. If not specified, pack compression level is
	determined first by pack.compression, then by core.compression,
	and defaults to -1, the zlib default, if neither is set.
	Add --no-reuse-object if you want to force a uniform compression
	level on all data no matter the source.

	--thin::
	Create a "thin" pack by omitting the common objects between a
	sender and a receiver in order to reduce network transfer. This
	option only makes sense in conjunction with --stdout.
	+
	Note: A thin pack violates the packed archive format by omitting
	required objects and is thus unusable by git without making it
	self-contained. Use `git index-pack --fix-thin`
	(see linkgit:git-index-pack[1]) to restore the self-contained property.

	--delta-base-offset::
	A packed archive can express the base object of a delta as
	either a 20-byte object name or as an offset in the
	stream, but ancient versions of git don't understand the
	latter. By default, 'git pack-objects' only uses the
	former format for better compatibility. This option
	allows the command to use the latter format for
	compactness. Depending on the average delta chain
	length, this option typically shrinks the resulting
	packfile by 3-5 per-cent.
	+
	Note: Porcelain commands such as `git gc` (see linkgit:git-gc[1]),
	`git repack` (see linkgit:git-repack[1]) pass this option by default
	in modern git when they put objects in your repository into pack files.
	So does `git bundle` (see linkgit:git-bundle[1]) when it creates a bundle.

	--threads=<n>::
	Specifies the number of threads to spawn when searching for best
	delta matches. This requires that pack-objects be compiled with
	pthreads otherwise this option is ignored with a warning.
	This is meant to reduce packing time on multiprocessor machines.
	The required amount of memory for the delta search window is
	however multiplied by the number of threads.
	Specifying 0 will cause git to auto-detect the number of CPU's
	and set the number of threads accordingly.

	--index-version=<version>[,<offset>]::
	This is intended to be used by the test suite only. It allows
	to force the version for the generated pack index, and to force
	64-bit index entries on objects located above the given offset.

	--keep-true-parents::
	With this option, parents that are hidden by grafts are packed
	nevertheless.

	SEE ALSO
	--------
	linkgit:git-rev-list[1]
	linkgit:git-repack[1]
	linkgit:git-prune-packed[1]

	GIT
	---
	Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite