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git/Documentation/technical/api-path-walk.txt
Derrick Stolee 120e50cb9a backfill: add --sparse option
One way to significantly reduce the cost of a Git clone and later fetches is
to use a blobless partial clone and combine that with a sparse-checkout that
reduces the paths that need to be populated in the working directory. Not
only does this reduce the cost of clones and fetches, the sparse-checkout
reduces the number of objects needed to download from a promisor remote.

However, history investigations can be expensie as computing blob diffs will
trigger promisor remote requests for one object at a time. This can be
avoided by downloading the blobs needed for the given sparse-checkout using
'git backfill' and its new '--sparse' mode, at a time that the user is
willing to pay that extra cost.

Note that this is distinctly different from the '--filter=sparse:<oid>'
option, as this assumes that the partial clone has all reachable trees and
we are using client-side logic to avoid downloading blobs outside of the
sparse-checkout cone. This avoids the server-side cost of walking trees
while also achieving a similar goal. It also downloads in batches based on
similar path names, presenting a resumable download if things are
interrupted.

This augments the path-walk API to have a possibly-NULL 'pl' member that may
point to a 'struct pattern_list'. This could be more general than the
sparse-checkout definition at HEAD, but 'git backfill --sparse' is currently
the only consumer.

Be sure to test this in both cone mode and not cone mode. Cone mode has the
benefit that the path-walk can skip certain paths once they would expand
beyond the sparse-checkout.

Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
2024-10-03 08:44:43 +02:00

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Path-Walk API
=============
The path-walk API is used to walk reachable objects, but to visit objects
in batches based on a common path they appear in, or by type.
For example, all reachable commits are visited in a group. All tags are
visited in a group. Then, all root trees are visited. At some point, all
blobs reachable via a path `my/dir/to/A` are visited. When there are
multiple paths possible to reach the same object, then only one of those
paths is used to visit the object.
When walking a range of commits with some `UNINTERESTING` objects, the
objects with the `UNINTERESTING` flag are included in these batches. In
order to walk `UNINTERESTING` objects, the `--boundary` option must be
used in the commit walk in order to visit `UNINTERESTING` commits.
Basics
------
To use the path-walk API, include `path-walk.h` and call
`walk_objects_by_path()` with a customized `path_walk_info` struct. The
struct is used to set all of the options for how the walk should proceed.
Let's dig into the different options and their use.
`path_fn` and `path_fn_data`::
The most important option is the `path_fn` option, which is a
function pointer to the callback that can execute logic on the
object IDs for objects grouped by type and path. This function
also receives a `data` value that corresponds to the
`path_fn_data` member, for providing custom data structures to
this callback function.
`revs`::
To configure the exact details of the reachable set of objects,
use the `revs` member and initialize it using the revision
machinery in `revision.h`. Initialize `revs` using calls such as
`setup_revisions()` or `parse_revision_opt()`. Do not call
`prepare_revision_walk()`, as that will be called within
`walk_objects_by_path()`.
+
It is also important that you do not specify the `--objects` flag for the
`revs` struct. The revision walk should only be used to walk commits, and
the objects will be walked in a separate way based on those starting
commits.
+
If you want the path-walk API to emit `UNINTERESTING` objects based on the
commit walk's boundary, be sure to set `revs.boundary` so the boundary
commits are emitted.
`commits`, `blobs`, `trees`, `tags`::
By default, these members are enabled and signal that the path-walk
API should call the `path_fn` on objects of these types. Specialized
applications could disable some options to make it simpler to walk
the objects or to have fewer calls to `path_fn`.
+
While it is possible to walk only commits in this way, consumers would be
better off using the revision walk API instead.
`prune_all_uninteresting`::
By default, all reachable paths are emitted by the path-walk API.
This option allows consumers to declare that they are not
interested in paths where all included objects are marked with the
`UNINTERESTING` flag. This requires using the `boundary` option in
the revision walk so that the walk emits commits marked with the
`UNINTERESTING` flag.
`pl`::
This pattern list pointer allows focusing the path-walk search to
a set of patterns, only emitting paths that match the given
patterns. See linkgit:gitignore[5] or
linkgit:git-sparse-checkout[1] for details about pattern lists.
When the pattern list uses cone-mode patterns, then the path-walk
API can prune the set of paths it walks to improve performance.
Examples
--------
See example usages in:
`t/helper/test-path-walk.c`,
`builtin/backfill.c`,
`builtin/pack-objects.c`