GIT-PACK-OBJECTS(1) Git Manual GIT-PACK-OBJECTS(1)
NAME
git-pack-objects - Create a packed archive of objects
SYNOPSIS
git pack-objects [-q | --progress | --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]
[--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty]
[--local] [--incremental] [--window=<n>] [--depth=<n>]
[--revs [--unpacked | --all]] [--stdout | base-name]
[--keep-true-parents] < object-list
DESCRIPTION
Reads list of objects from the standard input, and writes a packed archive with specified base-name, or to the
standard output.
A packed archive is an efficient way to transfer a set of objects between two repositories as well as an
access efficient archival format. In a packed archive, an object is either stored as a compressed whole or as
a difference from some other object. The latter is often called a delta.
The packed archive format (.pack) is designed to be self-contained so that it can be unpacked without any
further information. Therefore, each object that a delta depends upon must be present within the pack.
A pack index file (.idx) is generated for fast, random access to the objects in the pack. Placing both the
index file (.idx) and the packed archive (.pack) in the pack/ subdirectory of $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY (or any of
the directories on $GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES) enables Git to read from the pack archive.
The git unpack-objects command can read the packed archive and expand the objects contained in the pack into
"one-file one-object" format; this is typically done by the smart-pull commands when a pack is created
on-the-fly for efficient network transport by their peers.
OPTIONS
base-name
Write into a pair of files (.pack and .idx), using <base-name> to determine the name of the created file.
When this option is used, the two files are written in <base-name>-<SHA-1>.{pack,idx} files. <SHA-1> is a
hash of the sorted object names to make the resulting filename based on the pack content, and written to
the standard output of the command.
--stdout
Write the pack contents (what would have been written to .pack file) out to the standard output.
--revs
Read the revision arguments from the standard input, instead of individual object names. The revision
arguments are processed the same way as git rev-list with the --objects flag uses its commit arguments to
build the list of objects it outputs. The objects on the resulting list are packed.
--unpacked
This implies --revs. When processing the list of revision arguments read from the standard input, limit
the objects packed to those that are not already packed.
--all
This implies --revs. In addition to the list of revision arguments read from the standard input, pretend
as if all refs under refs/ are specified to be included.
--include-tag
Include unasked-for annotated tags if the object they reference was included in the resulting packfile.
This can be useful to send new tags to native Git clients.
small objects to not run out of memory with a large window, but still be able to take advantage of the
large window for the smaller objects. The size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g". --window-memory=0
makes memory usage unlimited, which is the default.
--max-pack-size=<n>
Maximum size of each output pack file. The size can be suffixed with "k", "m", or "g". The minimum size
allowed is limited to 1 MiB. If specified, multiple packfiles may be created. The default is unlimited,
unless the config variable pack.packSizeLimit is set.
--honor-pack-keep
This flag causes an object already in a local pack that has a .keep file to be ignored, even if it would
have otherwise been packed.
--incremental
This flag causes an object already in a pack to be ignored even if it would have otherwise been packed.
--local
This flag causes an object that is borrowed from an alternate object store to be ignored even if it would
have otherwise been packed.
--non-empty
Only create a packed archive if it would contain at least one object.
--progress
Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by default when it is attached to a terminal,
unless -q is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the standard error stream is not directed
to a terminal.
--all-progress
When --stdout is specified then progress report is displayed during the object count and compression
phases but inhibited during the write-out phase. The reason is that in some cases the output stream is
directly linked to another command which may wish to display progress status of its own as it processes
incoming pack data. This flag is like --progress except that it forces progress report for the write-out
phase as well even if --stdout is used.
--all-progress-implied
This is used to imply --all-progress whenever progress display is activated. Unlike --all-progress this
flag doesn’t actually force any progress display by itself.
-q
This flag makes the command not to report its progress on the standard error stream.
--no-reuse-delta
When creating a packed archive in a repository that has existing packs, the command reuses existing
deltas. This sometimes results in a slightly suboptimal pack. This flag tells the command not to reuse
existing deltas but compute them from scratch.
--no-reuse-object
This flag tells the command not to reuse existing object data at all, including non deltified object,
forcing recompression of everything. This implies --no-reuse-delta. Useful only in the obscure case where
wholesale enforcement of a different compression level on the packed data is desired.
--compression=<n>
Specifies compression level for newly-compressed data in the generated pack. If not specified, pack
--delta-base-offset
A packed archive can express the base object of a delta as either a 20-byte object name or as an offset in
the stream, but ancient versions of Git don’t understand the latter. By default, git pack-objects only
uses the former format for better compatibility. This option allows the command to use the latter format
for compactness. Depending on the average delta chain length, this option typically shrinks the resulting
packfile by 3-5 per-cent.
Note: Porcelain commands such as git gc (see git-gc(1)), git repack (see git-repack(1)) pass this option
by default in modern Git when they put objects in your repository into pack files. So does git bundle (see
git-bundle(1)) when it creates a bundle.
--threads=<n>
Specifies the number of threads to spawn when searching for best delta matches. This requires that
pack-objects 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’s and set the number of threads accordingly.
--index-version=<version>[,<offset>]
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.
--keep-true-parents
With this option, parents that are hidden by grafts are packed nevertheless.
SEE ALSO
git-rev-list(1) git-repack(1) git-prune-packed(1)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 1.8.3.1 03/23/2016 GIT-PACK-OBJECTS(1)
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