mirror of
https://github.com/git/git
synced 2024-08-25 02:35:46 +00:00
Merge branch 'ds/bundle-uri-more'
The "bundle URI" design gets documented. * ds/bundle-uri-more: bundle-uri: add example bundle organization docs: document bundle URI standard
This commit is contained in:
commit
0d133a3dcf
|
@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ TECH_DOCS += MyFirstObjectWalk
|
|||
TECH_DOCS += SubmittingPatches
|
||||
TECH_DOCS += ToolsForGit
|
||||
TECH_DOCS += technical/bitmap-format
|
||||
TECH_DOCS += technical/bundle-uri
|
||||
TECH_DOCS += technical/hash-function-transition
|
||||
TECH_DOCS += technical/long-running-process-protocol
|
||||
TECH_DOCS += technical/multi-pack-index
|
||||
|
|
573
Documentation/technical/bundle-uri.txt
Normal file
573
Documentation/technical/bundle-uri.txt
Normal file
|
@ -0,0 +1,573 @@
|
|||
Bundle URIs
|
||||
===========
|
||||
|
||||
Git bundles are files that store a pack-file along with some extra metadata,
|
||||
including a set of refs and a (possibly empty) set of necessary commits. See
|
||||
linkgit:git-bundle[1] and link:bundle-format.txt[the bundle format] for more
|
||||
information.
|
||||
|
||||
Bundle URIs are locations where Git can download one or more bundles in
|
||||
order to bootstrap the object database in advance of fetching the remaining
|
||||
objects from a remote.
|
||||
|
||||
One goal is to speed up clones and fetches for users with poor network
|
||||
connectivity to the origin server. Another benefit is to allow heavy users,
|
||||
such as CI build farms, to use local resources for the majority of Git data
|
||||
and thereby reducing the load on the origin server.
|
||||
|
||||
To enable the bundle URI feature, users can specify a bundle URI using
|
||||
command-line options or the origin server can advertise one or more URIs
|
||||
via a protocol v2 capability.
|
||||
|
||||
Design Goals
|
||||
------------
|
||||
|
||||
The bundle URI standard aims to be flexible enough to satisfy multiple
|
||||
workloads. The bundle provider and the Git client have several choices in
|
||||
how they create and consume bundle URIs.
|
||||
|
||||
* Bundles can have whatever name the server desires. This name could refer
|
||||
to immutable data by using a hash of the bundle contents. However, this
|
||||
means that a new URI will be needed after every update of the content.
|
||||
This might be acceptable if the server is advertising the URI (and the
|
||||
server is aware of new bundles being generated) but would not be
|
||||
ergonomic for users using the command line option.
|
||||
|
||||
* The bundles could be organized specifically for bootstrapping full
|
||||
clones, but could also be organized with the intention of bootstrapping
|
||||
incremental fetches. The bundle provider must decide on one of several
|
||||
organization schemes to minimize client downloads during incremental
|
||||
fetches, but the Git client can also choose whether to use bundles for
|
||||
either of these operations.
|
||||
|
||||
* The bundle provider can choose to support full clones, partial clones,
|
||||
or both. The client can detect which bundles are appropriate for the
|
||||
repository's partial clone filter, if any.
|
||||
|
||||
* The bundle provider can use a single bundle (for clones only), or a
|
||||
list of bundles. When using a list of bundles, the provider can specify
|
||||
whether or not the client needs _all_ of the bundle URIs for a full
|
||||
clone, or if _any_ one of the bundle URIs is sufficient. This allows the
|
||||
bundle provider to use different URIs for different geographies.
|
||||
|
||||
* The bundle provider can organize the bundles using heuristics, such as
|
||||
creation tokens, to help the client prevent downloading bundles it does
|
||||
not need. When the bundle provider does not provide these heuristics,
|
||||
the client can use optimizations to minimize how much of the data is
|
||||
downloaded.
|
||||
|
||||
* The bundle provider does not need to be associated with the Git server.
|
||||
The client can choose to use the bundle provider without it being
|
||||
advertised by the Git server.
|
||||
|
||||
* The client can choose to discover bundle providers that are advertised
|
||||
by the Git server. This could happen during `git clone`, during
|
||||
`git fetch`, both, or neither. The user can choose which combination
|
||||
works best for them.
|
||||
|
||||
* The client can choose to configure a bundle provider manually at any
|
||||
time. The client can also choose to specify a bundle provider manually
|
||||
as a command-line option to `git clone`.
|
||||
|
||||
Each repository is different and every Git server has different needs.
|
||||
Hopefully the bundle URI feature is flexible enough to satisfy all needs.
|
||||
If not, then the feature can be extended through its versioning mechanism.
|
||||
|
||||
Server requirements
|
||||
-------------------
|
||||
|
||||
To provide a server-side implementation of bundle servers, no other parts
|
||||
of the Git protocol are required. This allows server maintainers to use
|
||||
static content solutions such as CDNs in order to serve the bundle files.
|
||||
|
||||
At the current scope of the bundle URI feature, all URIs are expected to
|
||||
be HTTP(S) URLs where content is downloaded to a local file using a `GET`
|
||||
request to that URL. The server could include authentication requirements
|
||||
to those requests with the aim of triggering the configured credential
|
||||
helper for secure access. (Future extensions could use "file://" URIs or
|
||||
SSH URIs.)
|
||||
|
||||
Assuming a `200 OK` response from the server, the content at the URL is
|
||||
inspected. First, Git attempts to parse the file as a bundle file of
|
||||
version 2 or higher. If the file is not a bundle, then the file is parsed
|
||||
as a plain-text file using Git's config parser. The key-value pairs in
|
||||
that config file are expected to describe a list of bundle URIs. If
|
||||
neither of these parse attempts succeed, then Git will report an error to
|
||||
the user that the bundle URI provided erroneous data.
|
||||
|
||||
Any other data provided by the server is considered erroneous.
|
||||
|
||||
Bundle Lists
|
||||
------------
|
||||
|
||||
The Git server can advertise bundle URIs using a set of `key=value` pairs.
|
||||
A bundle URI can also serve a plain-text file in the Git config format
|
||||
containing these same `key=value` pairs. In both cases, we consider this
|
||||
to be a _bundle list_. The pairs specify information about the bundles
|
||||
that the client can use to make decisions for which bundles to download
|
||||
and which to ignore.
|
||||
|
||||
A few keys focus on properties of the list itself.
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.version::
|
||||
(Required) This value provides a version number for the bundle
|
||||
list. If a future Git change enables a feature that needs the Git
|
||||
client to react to a new key in the bundle list file, then this version
|
||||
will increment. The only current version number is 1, and if any other
|
||||
value is specified then Git will fail to use this file.
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.mode::
|
||||
(Required) This value has one of two values: `all` and `any`. When `all`
|
||||
is specified, then the client should expect to need all of the listed
|
||||
bundle URIs that match their repository's requirements. When `any` is
|
||||
specified, then the client should expect that any one of the bundle URIs
|
||||
that match their repository's requirements will suffice. Typically, the
|
||||
`any` option is used to list a number of different bundle servers
|
||||
located in different geographies.
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.heuristic::
|
||||
If this string-valued key exists, then the bundle list is designed to
|
||||
work well with incremental `git fetch` commands. The heuristic signals
|
||||
that there are additional keys available for each bundle that help
|
||||
determine which subset of bundles the client should download. The only
|
||||
heuristic currently planned is `creationToken`.
|
||||
|
||||
The remaining keys include an `<id>` segment which is a server-designated
|
||||
name for each available bundle. The `<id>` must contain only alphanumeric
|
||||
and `-` characters.
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.<id>.uri::
|
||||
(Required) This string value is the URI for downloading bundle `<id>`.
|
||||
If the URI begins with a protocol (`http://` or `https://`) then the URI
|
||||
is absolute. Otherwise, the URI is interpreted as relative to the URI
|
||||
used for the bundle list. If the URI begins with `/`, then that relative
|
||||
path is relative to the domain name used for the bundle list. (This use
|
||||
of relative paths is intended to make it easier to distribute a set of
|
||||
bundles across a large number of servers or CDNs with different domain
|
||||
names.)
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.<id>.filter::
|
||||
This string value represents an object filter that should also appear in
|
||||
the header of this bundle. The server uses this value to differentiate
|
||||
different kinds of bundles from which the client can choose those that
|
||||
match their object filters.
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.<id>.creationToken::
|
||||
This value is a nonnegative 64-bit integer used for sorting the bundles
|
||||
the list. This is used to download a subset of bundles during a fetch
|
||||
when `bundle.heuristic=creationToken`.
|
||||
|
||||
bundle.<id>.location::
|
||||
This string value advertises a real-world location from where the bundle
|
||||
URI is served. This can be used to present the user with an option for
|
||||
which bundle URI to use or simply as an informative indicator of which
|
||||
bundle URI was selected by Git. This is only valuable when
|
||||
`bundle.mode` is `any`.
|
||||
|
||||
Here is an example bundle list using the Git config format:
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle]
|
||||
version = 1
|
||||
mode = all
|
||||
heuristic = creationToken
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-09-1644442601-daily"]
|
||||
uri = https://bundles.example.com/git/git/2022-02-09-1644442601-daily.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1644442601
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-02-1643842562"]
|
||||
uri = https://bundles.example.com/git/git/2022-02-02-1643842562.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1643842562
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-09-1644442631-daily-blobless"]
|
||||
uri = 2022-02-09-1644442631-daily-blobless.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1644442631
|
||||
filter = blob:none
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-02-1643842568-blobless"]
|
||||
uri = /git/git/2022-02-02-1643842568-blobless.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1643842568
|
||||
filter = blob:none
|
||||
|
||||
This example uses `bundle.mode=all` as well as the
|
||||
`bundle.<id>.creationToken` heuristic. It also uses the `bundle.<id>.filter`
|
||||
options to present two parallel sets of bundles: one for full clones and
|
||||
another for blobless partial clones.
|
||||
|
||||
Suppose that this bundle list was found at the URI
|
||||
`https://bundles.example.com/git/git/` and so the two blobless bundles have
|
||||
the following fully-expanded URIs:
|
||||
|
||||
* `https://bundles.example.com/git/git/2022-02-09-1644442631-daily-blobless.bundle`
|
||||
* `https://bundles.example.com/git/git/2022-02-02-1643842568-blobless.bundle`
|
||||
|
||||
Advertising Bundle URIs
|
||||
-----------------------
|
||||
|
||||
If a user knows a bundle URI for the repository they are cloning, then
|
||||
they can specify that URI manually through a command-line option. However,
|
||||
a Git host may want to advertise bundle URIs during the clone operation,
|
||||
helping users unaware of the feature.
|
||||
|
||||
The only thing required for this feature is that the server can advertise
|
||||
one or more bundle URIs. This advertisement takes the form of a new
|
||||
protocol v2 capability specifically for discovering bundle URIs.
|
||||
|
||||
The client could choose an arbitrary bundle URI as an option _or_ select
|
||||
the URI with best performance by some exploratory checks. It is up to the
|
||||
bundle provider to decide if having multiple URIs is preferable to a
|
||||
single URI that is geodistributed through server-side infrastructure.
|
||||
|
||||
Cloning with Bundle URIs
|
||||
------------------------
|
||||
|
||||
The primary need for bundle URIs is to speed up clones. The Git client
|
||||
will interact with bundle URIs according to the following flow:
|
||||
|
||||
1. The user specifies a bundle URI with the `--bundle-uri` command-line
|
||||
option _or_ the client discovers a bundle list advertised by the
|
||||
Git server.
|
||||
|
||||
2. If the downloaded data from a bundle URI is a bundle, then the client
|
||||
inspects the bundle headers to check that the prerequisite commit OIDs
|
||||
are present in the client repository. If some are missing, then the
|
||||
client delays unbundling until other bundles have been unbundled,
|
||||
making those OIDs present. When all required OIDs are present, the
|
||||
client unbundles that data using a refspec. The default refspec is
|
||||
`+refs/heads/*:refs/bundles/*`, but this can be configured. These refs
|
||||
are stored so that later `git fetch` negotiations can communicate the
|
||||
bundled refs as `have`s, reducing the size of the fetch over the Git
|
||||
protocol. To allow pruning refs from this ref namespace, Git may
|
||||
introduce a numbered namespace (such as `refs/bundles/<i>/*`) such that
|
||||
stale bundle refs can be deleted.
|
||||
|
||||
3. If the file is instead a bundle list, then the client inspects the
|
||||
`bundle.mode` to see if the list is of the `all` or `any` form.
|
||||
|
||||
a. If `bundle.mode=all`, then the client considers all bundle
|
||||
URIs. The list is reduced based on the `bundle.<id>.filter` options
|
||||
matching the client repository's partial clone filter. Then, all
|
||||
bundle URIs are requested. If the `bundle.<id>.creationToken`
|
||||
heuristic is provided, then the bundles are downloaded in decreasing
|
||||
order by the creation token, stopping when a bundle has all required
|
||||
OIDs. The bundles can then be unbundled in increasing creation token
|
||||
order. The client stores the latest creation token as a heuristic
|
||||
for avoiding future downloads if the bundle list does not advertise
|
||||
bundles with larger creation tokens.
|
||||
|
||||
b. If `bundle.mode=any`, then the client can choose any one of the
|
||||
bundle URIs to inspect. The client can use a variety of ways to
|
||||
choose among these URIs. The client can also fallback to another URI
|
||||
if the initial choice fails to return a result.
|
||||
|
||||
Note that during a clone we expect that all bundles will be required, and
|
||||
heuristics such as `bundle.<uri>.creationToken` can be used to download
|
||||
bundles in chronological order or in parallel.
|
||||
|
||||
If a given bundle URI is a bundle list with a `bundle.heuristic`
|
||||
value, then the client can choose to store that URI as its chosen bundle
|
||||
URI. The client can then navigate directly to that URI during later `git
|
||||
fetch` calls.
|
||||
|
||||
When downloading bundle URIs, the client can choose to inspect the initial
|
||||
content before committing to downloading the entire content. This may
|
||||
provide enough information to determine if the URI is a bundle list or
|
||||
a bundle. In the case of a bundle, the client may inspect the bundle
|
||||
header to determine that all advertised tips are already in the client
|
||||
repository and cancel the remaining download.
|
||||
|
||||
Fetching with Bundle URIs
|
||||
-------------------------
|
||||
|
||||
When the client fetches new data, it can decide to fetch from bundle
|
||||
servers before fetching from the origin remote. This could be done via a
|
||||
command-line option, but it is more likely useful to use a config value
|
||||
such as the one specified during the clone.
|
||||
|
||||
The fetch operation follows the same procedure to download bundles from a
|
||||
bundle list (although we do _not_ want to use parallel downloads here). We
|
||||
expect that the process will end when all prerequisite commit OIDs in a
|
||||
thin bundle are already in the object database.
|
||||
|
||||
When using the `creationToken` heuristic, the client can avoid downloading
|
||||
any bundles if their creation tokenss are not larger than the stored
|
||||
creation token. After fetching new bundles, Git updates this local
|
||||
creation token.
|
||||
|
||||
If the bundle provider does not provide a heuristic, then the client
|
||||
should attempt to inspect the bundle headers before downloading the full
|
||||
bundle data in case the bundle tips already exist in the client
|
||||
repository.
|
||||
|
||||
Error Conditions
|
||||
----------------
|
||||
|
||||
If the Git client discovers something unexpected while downloading
|
||||
information according to a bundle URI or the bundle list found at that
|
||||
location, then Git can ignore that data and continue as if it was not
|
||||
given a bundle URI. The remote Git server is the ultimate source of truth,
|
||||
not the bundle URI.
|
||||
|
||||
Here are a few example error conditions:
|
||||
|
||||
* The client fails to connect with a server at the given URI or a connection
|
||||
is lost without any chance to recover.
|
||||
|
||||
* The client receives a 400-level response (such as `404 Not Found` or
|
||||
`401 Not Authorized`). The client should use the credential helper to
|
||||
find and provide a credential for the URI, but match the semantics of
|
||||
Git's other HTTP protocols in terms of handling specific 400-level
|
||||
errors.
|
||||
|
||||
* The server reports any other failure reponse.
|
||||
|
||||
* The client receives data that is not parsable as a bundle or bundle list.
|
||||
|
||||
* A bundle includes a filter that does not match expectations.
|
||||
|
||||
* The client cannot unbundle the bundles because the prerequisite commit OIDs
|
||||
are not in the object database and there are no more bundles to download.
|
||||
|
||||
There are also situations that could be seen as wasteful, but are not
|
||||
error conditions:
|
||||
|
||||
* The downloaded bundles contain more information than is requested by
|
||||
the clone or fetch request. A primary example is if the user requests
|
||||
a clone with `--single-branch` but downloads bundles that store every
|
||||
reachable commit from all `refs/heads/*` references. This might be
|
||||
initially wasteful, but perhaps these objects will become reachable by
|
||||
a later ref update that the client cares about.
|
||||
|
||||
* A bundle download during a `git fetch` contains objects already in the
|
||||
object database. This is probably unavoidable if we are using bundles
|
||||
for fetches, since the client will almost always be slightly ahead of
|
||||
the bundle servers after performing its "catch-up" fetch to the remote
|
||||
server. This extra work is most wasteful when the client is fetching
|
||||
much more frequently than the server is computing bundles, such as if
|
||||
the client is using hourly prefetches with background maintenance, but
|
||||
the server is computing bundles weekly. For this reason, the client
|
||||
should not use bundle URIs for fetch unless the server has explicitly
|
||||
recommended it through a `bundle.heuristic` value.
|
||||
|
||||
Example Bundle Provider organization
|
||||
------------------------------------
|
||||
|
||||
The bundle URI feature is intentionally designed to be flexible to
|
||||
different ways a bundle provider wants to organize the object data.
|
||||
However, it can be helpful to have a complete organization model described
|
||||
here so providers can start from that base.
|
||||
|
||||
This example organization is a simplified model of what is used by the
|
||||
GVFS Cache Servers (see section near the end of this document) which have
|
||||
been beneficial in speeding up clones and fetches for very large
|
||||
repositories, although using extra software outside of Git.
|
||||
|
||||
The bundle provider deploys servers across multiple geographies. Each
|
||||
server manages its own bundle set. The server can track a number of Git
|
||||
repositories, but provides a bundle list for each based on a pattern. For
|
||||
example, when mirroring a repository at `https://<domain>/<org>/<repo>`
|
||||
the bundle server could have its bundle list available at
|
||||
`https://<server-url>/<domain>/<org>/<repo>`. The origin Git server can
|
||||
list all of these servers under the "any" mode:
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle]
|
||||
version = 1
|
||||
mode = any
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "eastus"]
|
||||
uri = https://eastus.example.com/<domain>/<org>/<repo>
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "europe"]
|
||||
uri = https://europe.example.com/<domain>/<org>/<repo>
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "apac"]
|
||||
uri = https://apac.example.com/<domain>/<org>/<repo>
|
||||
|
||||
This "list of lists" is static and only changes if a bundle server is
|
||||
added or removed.
|
||||
|
||||
Each bundle server manages its own set of bundles. The initial bundle list
|
||||
contains only a single bundle, containing all of the objects received from
|
||||
cloning the repository from the origin server. The list uses the
|
||||
`creationToken` heuristic and a `creationToken` is made for the bundle
|
||||
based on the server's timestamp.
|
||||
|
||||
The bundle server runs regularly-scheduled updates for the bundle list,
|
||||
such as once a day. During this task, the server fetches the latest
|
||||
contents from the origin server and generates a bundle containing the
|
||||
objects reachable from the latest origin refs, but not contained in a
|
||||
previously-computed bundle. This bundle is added to the list, with care
|
||||
that the `creationToken` is strictly greater than the previous maximum
|
||||
`creationToken`.
|
||||
|
||||
When the bundle list grows too large, say more than 30 bundles, then the
|
||||
oldest "_N_ minus 30" bundles are combined into a single bundle. This
|
||||
bundle's `creationToken` is equal to the maximum `creationToken` among the
|
||||
merged bundles.
|
||||
|
||||
An example bundle list is provided here, although it only has two daily
|
||||
bundles and not a full list of 30:
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle]
|
||||
version = 1
|
||||
mode = all
|
||||
heuristic = creationToken
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-13-1644770820-daily"]
|
||||
uri = https://eastus.example.com/<domain>/<org>/<repo>/2022-02-09-1644770820-daily.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1644770820
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-09-1644442601-daily"]
|
||||
uri = https://eastus.example.com/<domain>/<org>/<repo>/2022-02-09-1644442601-daily.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1644442601
|
||||
|
||||
[bundle "2022-02-02-1643842562"]
|
||||
uri = https://eastus.example.com/<domain>/<org>/<repo>/2022-02-02-1643842562.bundle
|
||||
creationToken = 1643842562
|
||||
|
||||
To avoid storing and serving object data in perpetuity despite becoming
|
||||
unreachable in the origin server, this bundle merge can be more careful.
|
||||
Instead of taking an absolute union of the old bundles, instead the bundle
|
||||
can be created by looking at the newer bundles and ensuring that their
|
||||
necessary commits are all available in this merged bundle (or in another
|
||||
one of the newer bundles). This allows "expiring" object data that is not
|
||||
being used by new commits in this window of time. That data could be
|
||||
reintroduced by a later push.
|
||||
|
||||
The intention of this data organization has two main goals. First, initial
|
||||
clones of the repository become faster by downloading precomputed object
|
||||
data from a closer source. Second, `git fetch` commands can be faster,
|
||||
especially if the client has not fetched for a few days. However, if a
|
||||
client does not fetch for 30 days, then the bundle list organization would
|
||||
cause redownloading a large amount of object data.
|
||||
|
||||
One way to make this organization more useful to users who fetch frequently
|
||||
is to have more frequent bundle creation. For example, bundles could be
|
||||
created every hour, and then once a day those "hourly" bundles could be
|
||||
merged into a "daily" bundle. The daily bundles are merged into the
|
||||
oldest bundle after 30 days.
|
||||
|
||||
It is recommened that this bundle strategy is repeated with the `blob:none`
|
||||
filter if clients of this repository are expecting to use blobless partial
|
||||
clones. This list of blobless bundles stays in the same list as the full
|
||||
bundles, but uses the `bundle.<id>.filter` key to separate the two groups.
|
||||
For very large repositories, the bundle provider may want to _only_ provide
|
||||
blobless bundles.
|
||||
|
||||
Implementation Plan
|
||||
-------------------
|
||||
|
||||
This design document is being submitted on its own as an aspirational
|
||||
document, with the goal of implementing all of the mentioned client
|
||||
features over the course of several patch series. Here is a potential
|
||||
outline for submitting these features:
|
||||
|
||||
1. Integrate bundle URIs into `git clone` with a `--bundle-uri` option.
|
||||
This will include a new `git fetch --bundle-uri` mode for use as the
|
||||
implementation underneath `git clone`. The initial version here will
|
||||
expect a single bundle at the given URI.
|
||||
|
||||
2. Implement the ability to parse a bundle list from a bundle URI and
|
||||
update the `git fetch --bundle-uri` logic to properly distinguish
|
||||
between `bundle.mode` options. Specifically design the feature so
|
||||
that the config format parsing feeds a list of key-value pairs into the
|
||||
bundle list logic.
|
||||
|
||||
3. Create the `bundle-uri` protocol v2 command so Git servers can advertise
|
||||
bundle URIs using the key-value pairs. Plug into the existing key-value
|
||||
input to the bundle list logic. Allow `git clone` to discover these
|
||||
bundle URIs and bootstrap the client repository from the bundle data.
|
||||
(This choice is an opt-in via a config option and a command-line
|
||||
option.)
|
||||
|
||||
4. Allow the client to understand the `bundle.flag=forFetch` configuration
|
||||
and the `bundle.<id>.creationToken` heuristic. When `git clone`
|
||||
discovers a bundle URI with `bundle.flag=forFetch`, it configures the
|
||||
client repository to check that bundle URI during later `git fetch <remote>`
|
||||
commands.
|
||||
|
||||
5. Allow clients to discover bundle URIs during `git fetch` and configure
|
||||
a bundle URI for later fetches if `bundle.flag=forFetch`.
|
||||
|
||||
6. Implement the "inspect headers" heuristic to reduce data downloads when
|
||||
the `bundle.<id>.creationToken` heuristic is not available.
|
||||
|
||||
As these features are reviewed, this plan might be updated. We also expect
|
||||
that new designs will be discovered and implemented as this feature
|
||||
matures and becomes used in real-world scenarios.
|
||||
|
||||
Related Work: Packfile URIs
|
||||
---------------------------
|
||||
|
||||
The Git protocol already has a capability where the Git server can list
|
||||
a set of URLs along with the packfile response when serving a client
|
||||
request. The client is then expected to download the packfiles at those
|
||||
locations in order to have a complete understanding of the response.
|
||||
|
||||
This mechanism is used by the Gerrit server (implemented with JGit) and
|
||||
has been effective at reducing CPU load and improving user performance for
|
||||
clones.
|
||||
|
||||
A major downside to this mechanism is that the origin server needs to know
|
||||
_exactly_ what is in those packfiles, and the packfiles need to be available
|
||||
to the user for some time after the server has responded. This coupling
|
||||
between the origin and the packfile data is difficult to manage.
|
||||
|
||||
Further, this implementation is extremely hard to make work with fetches.
|
||||
|
||||
Related Work: GVFS Cache Servers
|
||||
--------------------------------
|
||||
|
||||
The GVFS Protocol [2] is a set of HTTP endpoints designed independently of
|
||||
the Git project before Git's partial clone was created. One feature of this
|
||||
protocol is the idea of a "cache server" which can be colocated with build
|
||||
machines or developer offices to transfer Git data without overloading the
|
||||
central server.
|
||||
|
||||
The endpoint that VFS for Git is famous for is the `GET /gvfs/objects/{oid}`
|
||||
endpoint, which allows downloading an object on-demand. This is a critical
|
||||
piece of the filesystem virtualization of that product.
|
||||
|
||||
However, a more subtle need is the `GET /gvfs/prefetch?lastPackTimestamp=<t>`
|
||||
endpoint. Given an optional timestamp, the cache server responds with a list
|
||||
of precomputed packfiles containing the commits and trees that were introduced
|
||||
in those time intervals.
|
||||
|
||||
The cache server computes these "prefetch" packfiles using the following
|
||||
strategy:
|
||||
|
||||
1. Every hour, an "hourly" pack is generated with a given timestamp.
|
||||
2. Nightly, the previous 24 hourly packs are rolled up into a "daily" pack.
|
||||
3. Nightly, all prefetch packs more than 30 days old are rolled up into
|
||||
one pack.
|
||||
|
||||
When a user runs `gvfs clone` or `scalar clone` against a repo with cache
|
||||
servers, the client requests all prefetch packfiles, which is at most
|
||||
`24 + 30 + 1` packfiles downloading only commits and trees. The client
|
||||
then follows with a request to the origin server for the references, and
|
||||
attempts to checkout that tip reference. (There is an extra endpoint that
|
||||
helps get all reachable trees from a given commit, in case that commit
|
||||
was not already in a prefetch packfile.)
|
||||
|
||||
During a `git fetch`, a hook requests the prefetch endpoint using the
|
||||
most-recent timestamp from a previously-downloaded prefetch packfile.
|
||||
Only the list of packfiles with later timestamps are downloaded. Most
|
||||
users fetch hourly, so they get at most one hourly prefetch pack. Users
|
||||
whose machines have been off or otherwise have not fetched in over 30 days
|
||||
might redownload all prefetch packfiles. This is rare.
|
||||
|
||||
It is important to note that the clients always contact the origin server
|
||||
for the refs advertisement, so the refs are frequently "ahead" of the
|
||||
prefetched pack data. The missing objects are downloaded on-demand using
|
||||
the `GET gvfs/objects/{oid}` requests, when needed by a command such as
|
||||
`git checkout` or `git log`. Some Git optimizations disable checks that
|
||||
would cause these on-demand downloads to be too aggressive.
|
||||
|
||||
See Also
|
||||
--------
|
||||
|
||||
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/RFC-cover-00.13-0000000000-20210805T150534Z-avarab@gmail.com/
|
||||
An earlier RFC for a bundle URI feature.
|
||||
|
||||
[2] https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit/blob/master/Protocol.md
|
||||
The GVFS Protocol
|
Loading…
Reference in a new issue