Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > >> 1. We still have this check of objects/17/ in builtin/gc.c today. Why >> objects/17/ and not e.g. objects/00/ to go with other 000* magic such >> as the 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 SHA-1?d Statistically >> it doesn't matter, but 17 seems like an odd thing to pick at random >> out of 00..ff, does it have any significance? > > ... > by general public and I do not have to explain the choice to the > general public ;-) One thing that is more important than "why not 00 but 17?" to answer is why a hardcoded number rather than a runtime random. It is for repeatability.