git-pack-refs(1) — Linux manual page

NAME \| SYNOPSIS \| DESCRIPTION \| OPTIONS \| BUGS \| GIT \| COLOPHON

GIT-PACK-REFS(1)               Git Manual               GIT-PACK-REFS(1)

NAME top

       git-pack-refs - Pack heads and tags for efficient repository
       access

SYNOPSIS top

       git pack-refs [--all] [--no-prune]

DESCRIPTION top

       Traditionally, tips of branches and tags (collectively known as
       refs) were stored one file per ref in a (sub)directory under
       $GIT_DIR/refs directory. While many branch tips tend to be
       updated often, most tags and some branch tips are never updated.
       When a repository has hundreds or thousands of tags, this
       one-file-per-ref format both wastes storage and hurts
       performance.

       This command is used to solve the storage and performance problem
       by storing the refs in a single file, $GIT_DIR/packed-refs. When
       a ref is missing from the traditional $GIT_DIR/refs directory
       hierarchy, it is looked up in this file and used if found.

       Subsequent updates to branches always create new files under
       $GIT_DIR/refs directory hierarchy.

       A recommended practice to deal with a repository with too many
       refs is to pack its refs with --all once, and occasionally run
       git pack-refs. Tags are by definition stationary and are not
       expected to change. Branch heads will be packed with the initial
       pack-refs --all, but only the currently active branch heads will
       become unpacked, and the next pack-refs (without --all) will
       leave them unpacked.

OPTIONS top

       --all
           The command by default packs all tags and refs that are
           already packed, and leaves other refs alone. This is because
           branches are expected to be actively developed and packing
           their tips does not help performance. This option causes
           branch tips to be packed as well. Useful for a repository
           with many branches of historical interests.

       --no-prune
           The command usually removes loose refs under $GIT_DIR/refs
           hierarchy after packing them. This option tells it not to.

BUGS top

       Older documentation written before the packed-refs mechanism was
       introduced may still say things like ".git/refs/heads/<branch>
       file exists" when it means "branch <branch> exists".

GIT top

       Part of the git(1) suite

COLOPHON top

       This page is part of the git (Git distributed version control
       system) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this manual
       page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩.  This page was obtained
       from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2020-12-18.  (At that time,
       the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2020-12-17.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

Git 2.30.0.rc0.82.gb           12/18/2020               GIT-PACK-REFS(1)

Pages that refer to this page: git(1), gitrepository-layout(5), gitglossary(7)