Something is broken in repack

[Andreas Ericsson]

Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> writes:
> 
>> So what you actually want to do is to just re-use already packed delta 
>> chains directly, which is what we normally do. But you are explicitly 
>> looking at the "--no-reuse-delta" (aka "git repack -f") case, which is why 
>> it then blows up.
> 
> While that does not explain, as Nico pointed out, the huge difference
> between the two repack runs that have different starting pack, I would
> say it is a fair thing to say.  If you have a suboptimal pack (i.e. not
> enough reusable deltas, as in the 2.1GB pack case), do run "repack -f",
> but if you have a good pack (i.e. 300MB pack), don't.


I think this is too much of a mystery for a lot of people to let it go.
Even I started looking into it, and I've got so little spare time just
now that I wouldn't stand much of a chance of making a contribution
even if I had written the code originally.

That being said, I the fact that some git repositories really *can't*
be repacked on some machines (because it eats ALL virtual memory) is
really something that lowers git's reputation among huge projects.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
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