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From: "qeesung via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>, Taylor Blau <ttaylorr@openai.com>,
	Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>,
	Justin Tobler <jltobler@gmail.com>, qeesung <qeesung@live.com>
Subject: [PATCH 0/6] repack: don't lose objects to a ".keep" that appears mid-run
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:31:17 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <pull.2219.git.1789385483.gitgitgadget@gmail.com> (raw)

A concurrent push can make "git repack -d" delete a pack whose objects were
never copied anywhere, and exit 0. We hit this in production: a ref pointing
at a commit that no longer exists, on git 2.43, and it reproduces on master.

What happens:

 * repack scans for ".keep" files and decides which packs to delete, then
   spawns pack-objects with --honor-pack-keep, which scans again;
 * in between, a push of content identical to an earlier one finishes
   migrating its quarantine. Its pack is a duplicate and is dropped, but its
   ".keep" is linked into place, onto the old pack;
 * pack-objects sees that ".keep" and leaves the pack's objects out; repack
   deletes the pack by its earlier list, with force_delete.

Two things are wrong, and each is fixed on its own:

 * 1/6: receive-pack removes a ".keep" it never installed -- the one it
   linked onto somebody else's pack, or a foreign one when its own push was
   rejected before any migration. Only remove a ".keep" that carries our own
   message.
 * 6/6: repack and pack-objects each scan for ".keep" files. Hand
   pack-objects the snapshot repack took at startup instead.

Patches 2-5 are what 6/6 needs to be safe:

 * 2/6: under --stdin-packs=follow, a --keep-pack pack stops the traversal
   like a "^" pack; on-disk ".keep" packs never did.
 * 3/6: the cruft walk goes by a stale kept-pack cache, which
   --honor-pack-keep happened to mask. Pre-existing, reproducible today.
 * 4/6: look --keep-pack names up in a sorted list; it gets long.
 * 5/6: --keep-pack-from-file, since a repository can have more kept packs
   than fit on a command line (32K characters on Windows).

Every fix comes with a test that fails without it; the race itself is
reproduced in t7703 by having a ".keep" appear as pack-objects starts. The
full suite passes, and the series merges cleanly into next and seen.

Qin ShiCheng (6):
  odb: don't remove a ".keep" we never installed
  pack-objects: keep --keep-pack open when following
  pack-objects: reset kept-pack cache for cruft walk
  pack-objects: sort --keep-pack list for lookup
  pack-objects: add --keep-pack-from-file
  repack: tell pack-objects which packs are kept

 Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc |  8 +++
 builtin/pack-objects.c              | 71 +++++++++++++++++----
 builtin/repack.c                    | 15 +++++
 object-file.c                       | 95 ++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 odb/source-packed.h                 |  3 +-
 packfile.c                          |  9 ++-
 packfile.h                          |  7 +++
 repack-filtered.c                   |  3 -
 repack.c                            | 34 ++++++++++-
 repack.h                            | 17 +++++-
 t/t5329-pack-objects-cruft.sh       | 40 ++++++++++++
 t/t5331-pack-objects-stdin.sh       | 87 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 t/t5547-push-quarantine.sh          | 52 ++++++++++++++++
 t/t7700-repack.sh                   | 43 +++++++++++++
 t/t7703-repack-geometric.sh         | 72 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 tempfile.c                          | 12 ++++
 tempfile.h                          |  9 +++
 17 files changed, 533 insertions(+), 44 deletions(-)


base-commit: 3cb9185f65410273787f74333cc027d2ea5daada
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2219%2Fqeesung%2Frepack-kept-packs-snapshot-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2219/qeesung/repack-kept-packs-snapshot-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2219
-- 
gitgitgadget

             reply	other threads:[~2026-09-14 11:31 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-09-14 11:31 qeesung via GitGitGadget [this message]
2026-09-14 11:31 ` [PATCH 1/6] odb: don't remove a ".keep" we never installed Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-15 18:25   ` Justin Tobler
2026-09-16  6:01     ` Qin ShiCheng
2026-09-14 11:31 ` [PATCH 2/6] pack-objects: keep --keep-pack open when following Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-14 11:31 ` [PATCH 3/6] pack-objects: reset kept-pack cache for cruft walk Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-14 11:31 ` [PATCH 4/6] pack-objects: sort --keep-pack list for lookup Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-14 11:31 ` [PATCH 5/6] pack-objects: add --keep-pack-from-file Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-14 11:31 ` [PATCH 6/6] repack: tell pack-objects which packs are kept Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-18  3:03 ` [PATCH v2 0/5] repack: don't lose objects to a ".keep" that appears mid-run qeesung via GitGitGadget
2026-09-18  3:03   ` [PATCH v2 1/5] pack-objects: keep --keep-pack open when following Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-18  3:03   ` [PATCH v2 2/5] pack-objects: reset kept-pack cache for cruft walk Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-22 22:31     ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-23  3:08       ` Qin ShiCheng
2026-09-23 17:45         ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-18  3:03   ` [PATCH v2 3/5] pack-objects: sort --keep-pack list for lookup Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-18  3:03   ` [PATCH v2 4/5] pack-objects: add --keep-pack-from-file Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-09-18  3:03   ` [PATCH v2 5/5] repack: tell pack-objects which packs are kept Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08  9:52 ` [PATCH v3 0/5] repack: don't lose objects to a ".keep" that appears mid-run qeesung via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08  9:52   ` [PATCH v3 1/5] pack-objects: keep --keep-pack open when following Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08  9:52   ` [PATCH v3 2/5] pack-objects: reset kept-pack cache for cruft walk Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08  9:52   ` [PATCH v3 3/5] pack-objects: sort --keep-pack list for lookup Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08  9:52   ` [PATCH v3 4/5] pack-objects: add --keep-pack-from-file Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08  9:52   ` [PATCH v3 5/5] repack: tell pack-objects which packs are kept Qin ShiCheng via GitGitGadget
2026-10-08 19:19   ` [PATCH v3 0/5] repack: don't lose objects to a ".keep" that appears mid-run Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09  3:07     ` Qin ShiCheng

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