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authorJunio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>2006-04-07 02:07:40 -0700
committerJunio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>2006-04-07 02:07:40 -0700
commit9760662f1a7a06516ca249a73e5c1a6fb6c0e26e (patch)
tree41babe4d564514c2951d5217657a9d10e1b189fb /Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
parentb116b297a80b54632256eb89dd22ea2b140de622 (diff)
downloadgit-9760662f1a7a06516ca249a73e5c1a6fb6c0e26e.tar.gz
git-9760662f1a7a06516ca249a73e5c1a6fb6c0e26e.tar.xz
Add Documentation/technical/pack-format.txt
... along with the previous one, pack-heuristics, by popular demand. Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
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+GIT pack format
+===============
+
+= pack-*.pack file has the following format:
+
+ - The header appears at the beginning and consists of the following:
+
+ 4-byte signature
+ 4-byte version number (network byte order)
+ 4-byte number of objects contained in the pack (network byte order)
+
+ Observation: we cannot have more than 4G versions ;-) and
+ more than 4G objects in a pack.
+
+ - The header is followed by number of object entries, each of
+ which looks like this:
+
+ (undeltified representation)
+ n-byte type and length (4-bit type, (n-1)*7+4-bit length)
+ compressed data
+
+ (deltified representation)
+ n-byte type and length (4-bit type, (n-1)*7+4-bit length)
+ 20-byte base object name
+ compressed delta data
+
+ Observation: length of each object is encoded in a variable
+ length format and is not constrained to 32-bit or anything.
+
+ - The trailer records 20-byte SHA1 checksum of all of the above.
+
+= pack-*.idx file has the following format:
+
+ - The header consists of 256 4-byte network byte order
+ integers. N-th entry of this table records the number of
+ objects in the corresponding pack, the first byte of whose
+ object name are smaller than N. This is called the
+ 'first-level fan-out' table.
+
+ Observation: we would need to extend this to an array of
+ 8-byte integers to go beyond 4G objects per pack, but it is
+ not strictly necessary.
+
+ - The header is followed by sorted 28-byte entries, one entry
+ per object in the pack. Each entry is:
+
+ 4-byte network byte order integer, recording where the
+ object is stored in the packfile as the offset from the
+ beginning.
+
+ 20-byte object name.
+
+ Observation: we would definitely need to extend this to
+ 8-byte integer plus 20-byte object name to handle a packfile
+ that is larger than 4GB.
+
+ - The file is concluded with a trailer:
+
+ A copy of the 20-byte SHA1 checksum at the end of
+ corresponding packfile.
+
+ 20-byte SHA1-checksum of all of the above.
+
+Pack Idx file:
+
+ idx
+ +--------------------------------+
+ | fanout[0] = 2 |-.
+ +--------------------------------+ |
+ | fanout[1] | |
+ +--------------------------------+ |
+ | fanout[2] | |
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
+ | fanout[255] | |
+ +--------------------------------+ |
+main | offset | |
+index | object name 00XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | |
+table +--------------------------------+ |
+ | offset | |
+ | object name 00XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | |
+ +--------------------------------+ |
+ .-| offset |<+
+ | | object name 01XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
+ | +--------------------------------+
+ | | offset |
+ | | object name 01XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
+ | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ | | offset |
+ | | object name FFXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
+ | +--------------------------------+
+trailer | | packfile checksum |
+ | +--------------------------------+
+ | | idxfile checksum |
+ | +--------------------------------+
+ .-------.
+ |
+Pack file entry: <+
+
+ packed object header:
+ 1-byte type (upper 4-bit)
+ size0 (lower 4-bit)
+ n-byte sizeN (as long as MSB is set, each 7-bit)
+ size0..sizeN form 4+7+7+..+7 bit integer, size0
+ is the most significant part.
+ packed object data:
+ If it is not DELTA, then deflated bytes (the size above
+ is the size before compression).
+ If it is DELTA, then
+ 20-byte base object name SHA1 (the size above is the
+ size of the delta data that follows).
+ delta data, deflated.