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* RFC: adding xdelta compression to git
@ 2005-05-03  3:57 Alon Ziv
  2005-05-03  4:12 ` Nicolas Pitre
  2005-05-03  4:52 ` Linus Torvalds
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 32+ messages in thread
From: Alon Ziv @ 2005-05-03  3:57 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: git

Looking for novel methods of wasting my time :), I am considering adding 
xdelta to git.

I have two concrete proposals, both of which (IMO) are consistent with the git 
philosophy:

1. Add a git-deltify command, which will take two trees and replace the second 
tree's blobs with delta-blobs referring to the first tree. Each delta-blob is 
self-contained; from the outside it looks like any other blob, but internally 
it contains another blob reference + an xdelta. The only function which would 
need to understand the new format would be unpack_sha1_file.
The scripting level will be in charge of deciding which trees to deltify (or 
undeltify--we could also have a "git-undeltify" command). A sane 
deltification schedule, for example, could be to always keep tagged versions 
as stand-alone objects, and deltify intermediate versions against the latest 
tag. It would also do its best to avoid delta chains (i.e. a delta referring 
to another delta).
Pros:
* Interoperates with the existing structure (including pull/push) with almost 
no changes to existing infrastructure.
Cons:
* Changes the repository format.
* Some performance impact (probably quite small).
* Same blob may have different representation in two repositories (one 
compressed, on deltified). [I am not sure this is really a bad thing...]

2. Add a completely external framework which manages a "deltas repository" of 
deltas. The shadow repository will contain delta objects between selected 
trees; again the scripts will need to populate it.
Pros:
* No changes at all to existing code.
Cons:
* Push/pull tools will need to be taught to talk with the new "deltas  
repository".
* Synchronization between the deltas repository and the real one may be lost, 
leading to odd failures.

Personally I'm rooting for #1 above... I would like to begin implementation in 
a few days, so any discussion will be useful.

	-az

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 32+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2005-05-05  3:21 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 32+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2005-05-03  3:57 RFC: adding xdelta compression to git Alon Ziv
2005-05-03  4:12 ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-03  4:52 ` Linus Torvalds
2005-05-03  5:30   ` Davide Libenzi
2005-05-03 15:52     ` C. Scott Ananian
2005-05-03 17:35       ` Linus Torvalds
2005-05-03 18:10         ` Davide Libenzi
2005-05-03  8:06   ` [PATCH] add the ability to create and retrieve delta objects Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-03 11:24     ` Chris Mason
2005-05-03 12:51       ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-03 15:07       ` Linus Torvalds
2005-05-03 16:09         ` Chris Mason
2005-05-03 15:57       ` C. Scott Ananian
2005-05-03 16:35         ` Chris Mason
2005-05-03 14:13     ` Chris Mason
2005-05-03 14:24       ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-03 14:37         ` Chris Mason
2005-05-03 15:04           ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-03 16:54             ` Chris Mason
2005-05-03 14:48     ` Linus Torvalds
2005-05-03 15:52       ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-04 15:56     ` Chris Mason
2005-05-04 16:12       ` C. Scott Ananian
2005-05-04 17:44         ` Chris Mason
2005-05-04 22:03           ` Linus Torvalds
2005-05-04 22:43             ` Chris Mason
2005-05-05  3:25             ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-04 21:47       ` Geert Bosch
2005-05-04 22:34         ` Chris Mason
2005-05-05  3:10           ` Nicolas Pitre
2005-05-03 12:48   ` RFC: adding xdelta compression to git Dan Holmsand
2005-05-03 15:50   ` C. Scott Ananian

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