This section was added in 3d89a8c118 (Documentation/technical: add cruft-packs.txt, 2022-05-20) to highlight a potential pitfall when deploying cruft packs in an environment where multiple versions of Git are GC-ing the same repository. Now that it has been more than a year since 3d89a8c118 was written, let's drop this section as it is no longer relevant. Signed-off-by: Taylor Blau <me@xxxxxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/gitformat-pack.txt | 26 -------------------------- 1 file changed, 26 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/gitformat-pack.txt b/Documentation/gitformat-pack.txt index 49bb09d7df..870e00f298 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitformat-pack.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitformat-pack.txt @@ -588,32 +588,6 @@ later on. It is linkgit:git-gc[1] that is typically responsible for removing expired unreachable objects. -=== Caution for mixed-version environments - -Repositories that have cruft packs in them will continue to work with any older -version of Git. Note, however, that previous versions of Git which do not -understand the `.mtimes` file will use the cruft pack's mtime as the mtime for -all of the objects in it. In other words, do not expect older (pre-cruft pack) -versions of Git to interpret or even read the contents of the `.mtimes` file. - -Note that having mixed versions of Git GC-ing the same repository can lead to -unreachable objects never being completely pruned. This can happen under the -following circumstances: - - - An older version of Git running GC explodes the contents of an existing - cruft pack loose, using the cruft pack's mtime. - - A newer version running GC collects those loose objects into a cruft pack, - where the .mtime file reflects the loose object's actual mtimes, but the - cruft pack mtime is "now". - -Repeating this process will lead to unreachable objects not getting pruned as a -result of repeatedly resetting the objects' mtimes to the present time. - -If you are GC-ing repositories in a mixed version environment, consider omitting -the `--cruft` option when using linkgit:git-repack[1] and linkgit:git-gc[1], and -setting the `gc.cruftPacks` configuration to "false" until all writers -understand cruft packs. - === Alternatives Notable alternatives to this design include: -- 2.42.0.49.g03c54e21ee