git-index-pack.1 (8610B)
- '\" t
- .\" Title: git-index-pack
- .\" Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
- .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
- .\" Date: 2025-03-14
- .\" Manual: Git Manual
- .\" Source: Git 2.49.0
- .\" Language: English
- .\"
- .TH "GIT\-INDEX\-PACK" "1" "2025-03-14" "Git 2\&.49\&.0" "Git Manual"
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- .\" * Define some portability stuff
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- .\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
- .\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
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- .\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
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- .SH "NAME"
- git-index-pack \- Build pack index file for an existing packed archive
- .SH "SYNOPSIS"
- .sp
- .nf
- \fIgit index\-pack\fR [\-v] [\-o <index\-file>] [\-\-[no\-]rev\-index] <pack\-file>
- \fIgit index\-pack\fR \-\-stdin [\-\-fix\-thin] [\-\-keep] [\-v] [\-o <index\-file>]
- [\-\-[no\-]rev\-index] [<pack\-file>]
- .fi
- .SH "DESCRIPTION"
- .sp
- Reads a packed archive (\&.pack) from the specified file, builds a pack index file (\&.idx) for it, and optionally writes a reverse\-index (\&.rev) for the specified pack\&. The packed archive, together with the pack index, can then be placed in the objects/pack/ directory of a Git repository\&.
- .SH "OPTIONS"
- .PP
- \-v
- .RS 4
- Be verbose about what is going on, including progress status\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-o <index\-file>
- .RS 4
- Write the generated pack index into the specified file\&. Without this option the name of pack index file is constructed from the name of packed archive file by replacing \&.pack with \&.idx (and the program fails if the name of packed archive does not end with \&.pack)\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-[no\-]rev\-index
- .RS 4
- When this flag is provided, generate a reverse index (a \&.\fBrev\fR
- file) corresponding to the given pack\&. If
- \fB\-\-verify\fR
- is given, ensure that the existing reverse index is correct\&. Takes precedence over
- \fBpack\&.writeReverseIndex\fR\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-stdin
- .RS 4
- When this flag is provided, the pack is read from stdin instead and a copy is then written to <pack\-file>\&. If <pack\-file> is not specified, the pack is written to objects/pack/ directory of the current Git repository with a default name determined from the pack content\&. If <pack\-file> is not specified consider using \-\-keep to prevent a race condition between this process and
- \fIgit repack\fR\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-fix\-thin
- .RS 4
- Fix a "thin" pack produced by
- \fBgit\fR
- \fBpack\-objects\fR
- \fB\-\-thin\fR
- (see
- \fBgit-pack-objects\fR(1)
- for details) by adding the excluded objects the deltified objects are based on to the pack\&. This option only makes sense in conjunction with \-\-stdin\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-keep
- .RS 4
- Before moving the index into its final destination create an empty \&.keep file for the associated pack file\&. This option is usually necessary with \-\-stdin to prevent a simultaneous
- \fIgit repack\fR
- process from deleting the newly constructed pack and index before refs can be updated to use objects contained in the pack\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-keep=<msg>
- .RS 4
- Like \-\-keep, create a \&.keep file before moving the index into its final destination\&. However, instead of creating an empty file place
- \fI<msg>\fR
- followed by an LF into the \&.keep file\&. The
- \fI<msg>\fR
- message can later be searched for within all \&.keep files to locate any which have outlived their usefulness\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-index\-version=<version>[,<offset>]
- .RS 4
- This is intended to be used by the test suite only\&. It allows to force the version for the generated pack index, and to force 64\-bit index entries on objects located above the given offset\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-strict[=<msg\-id>=<severity>\&...\:]
- .RS 4
- Die, if the pack contains broken objects or links\&. An optional comma\-separated list of
- \fI<msg\-id>\fR\fB=\fR\fI<severity>\fR
- can be passed to change the severity of some possible issues, e\&.g\&.,
- \fB\-\-strict=\fR"missingEmail=ignore,badTagName=error"\&. See the entry for the
- \fBfsck\&.\fR\fI<msg\-id>\fR
- configuration options in
- \fBgit-fsck\fR(1)
- for more information on the possible values of
- \fI<msg\-id>\fR
- and
- \fI<severity>\fR\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-progress\-title
- .RS 4
- For internal use only\&.
- .sp
- Set the title of the progress bar\&. The title is "Receiving objects" by default and "Indexing objects" when
- \fB\-\-stdin\fR
- is specified\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-check\-self\-contained\-and\-connected
- .RS 4
- Die if the pack contains broken links\&. For internal use only\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-fsck\-objects[=<msg\-id>=<severity>\&...\:]
- .RS 4
- Die if the pack contains broken objects, but unlike
- \fB\-\-strict\fR, don\(cqt choke on broken links\&. If the pack contains a tree pointing to a \&.gitmodules blob that does not exist, prints the hash of that blob (for the caller to check) after the hash that goes into the name of the pack/idx file (see "Notes")\&.
- .sp
- An optional comma\-separated list of
- \fI<msg\-id>\fR\fB=\fR\fI<severity>\fR
- can be passed to change the severity of some possible issues, e\&.g\&.,
- \fB\-\-fsck\-objects=\fR"missingEmail=ignore,badTagName=ignore"\&. See the entry for the
- \fBfsck\&.\fR\fI<msg\-id>\fR
- configuration options in
- \fBgit-fsck\fR(1)
- for more information on the possible values of
- \fI<msg\-id>\fR
- and
- \fI<severity>\fR\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-threads=<n>
- .RS 4
- Specifies the number of threads to spawn when resolving deltas\&. This requires that index\-pack be compiled with pthreads otherwise this option is ignored with a warning\&. This is meant to reduce packing time on multiprocessor machines\&. The required amount of memory for the delta search window is however multiplied by the number of threads\&. Specifying 0 will cause Git to auto\-detect the number of CPU\(cqs and use maximum 3 threads\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-max\-input\-size=<size>
- .RS 4
- Die, if the pack is larger than <size>\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-object\-format=<hash\-algorithm>
- .RS 4
- Specify the given object format (hash algorithm) for the pack\&. The valid values are
- \fIsha1\fR
- and (if enabled)
- \fIsha256\fR\&. The default is the algorithm for the current repository (set by
- \fBextensions\&.objectFormat\fR), or
- \fIsha1\fR
- if no value is set or outside a repository\&.
- .sp
- This option cannot be used with \-\-stdin\&.
- .sp
- Note: At present, there is no interoperability between SHA\-256 repositories and SHA\-1 repositories\&.
- .RE
- .sp
- Historically, we warned that SHA\-256 repositories may later need backward incompatible changes when we introduce such interoperability features\&. Today, we only expect compatible changes\&. Furthermore, if such changes prove to be necessary, it can be expected that SHA\-256 repositories created with today\(cqs Git will be usable by future versions of Git without data loss\&.
- .PP
- \-\-promisor[=<message>]
- .RS 4
- Before committing the pack\-index, create a \&.promisor file for this pack\&. Particularly helpful when writing a promisor pack with \-\-fix\-thin since the name of the pack is not final until the pack has been fully written\&. If a
- \fI<message>\fR
- is provided, then that content will be written to the \&.promisor file for future reference\&. See
- \m[blue]\fBpartial clone\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[1]\d\s+2
- for more information\&.
- .sp
- Also, if there are objects in the given pack that references non\-promisor objects (in the repo), repacks those non\-promisor objects into a promisor pack\&. This avoids a situation in which a repo has non\-promisor objects that are accessible through promisor objects\&.
- .sp
- Requires <pack\-file> to not be specified\&.
- .RE
- .SH "NOTES"
- .sp
- Once the index has been created, the hash that goes into the name of the pack/idx file is printed to stdout\&. If \-\-stdin was also used then this is prefixed by either "pack\et", or "keep\et" if a new \&.keep file was successfully created\&. This is useful to remove a \&.keep file used as a lock to prevent the race with \fIgit repack\fR mentioned above\&.
- .SH "GIT"
- .sp
- Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite
- .SH "NOTES"
- .IP " 1." 4
- partial clone
- .RS 4
- \%git-htmldocs/technical/partial-clone.html
- .RE