git-index-pack - Man Page

git index-pack [-v] [-o <index-file>] [--[no-]rev-index] <pack-file>
git index-pack --stdin [--fix-thin] [--keep] [-v] [-o <index-file>]
                  [--[no-]rev-index] [<pack-file>]

Reads a packed archive (​.pack) from the specified file, builds a pack index file (​.idx) for it, and optionally writes a reverse-index (​.rev) for the specified pack​. The packed archive, together with the pack index, can then be placed in the objects/pack/ directory of a Git repository​.

-v

Be verbose about what is going on, including progress status​.

-o <index-file>

Write the generated pack index into the specified file​. Without this option the name of pack index file is constructed from the name of packed archive file by replacing ​.pack with ​.idx (and the program fails if the name of packed archive does not end with ​.pack)​.

--rev-index,  --no-rev-index

When this flag is provided, generate a reverse index (a ​.rev file) corresponding to the given pack​. If --verify is given, ensure that the existing reverse index is correct​. Takes precedence over pack​.writeReverseIndex​.

--stdin

When this flag is provided, the pack is read from stdin instead and a copy is then written to <pack-file>​. If <pack-file> is not specified, the pack is written to objects/pack/ directory of the current Git repository with a default name determined from the pack content​. If <pack-file> is not specified consider using --keep to prevent a race condition between this process and git repack​.

--fix-thin

Fix a "thin" pack produced by git pack-objects --thin (see git-pack-objects(1) for details) by adding the excluded objects the deltified objects are based on to the pack​. This option only makes sense in conjunction with --stdin​.

--keep

Before moving the index into its final destination create an empty ​.keep file for the associated pack file​. This option is usually necessary with --stdin to prevent a simultaneous git repack process from deleting the newly constructed pack and index before refs can be updated to use objects contained in the pack​.

--keep=<msg>

Like --keep, create a ​.keep file before moving the index into its final destination​. However, instead of creating an empty file place <msg> followed by an LF into the ​.keep file​. The <msg> message can later be searched for within all ​.keep files to locate any which have outlived their usefulness​.

--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​.

--strict[=<msg-id>=<severity>​...]

Die, if the pack contains broken objects or links​. An optional comma-separated list of <msg-id>=<severity> can be passed to change the severity of some possible issues, e​.g​., --strict="missingEmail=ignore,badTagName=error"​. See the entry for the fsck​.<msg-id> configuration options in git-fsck(1) for more information on the possible values of <msg-id> and <severity>​.

--progress-title

For internal use only​.

Set the title of the progress bar​. The title is "Receiving objects" by default and "Indexing objects" when --stdin is specified​.

--check-self-contained-and-connected

Die if the pack contains broken links​. For internal use only​.

--fsck-objects[=<msg-id>=<severity>​...]

Die if the pack contains broken objects, but unlike --strict, don’t choke on broken links​. If the pack contains a tree pointing to a ​.gitmodules blob that does not exist, prints the hash of that blob (for the caller to check) after the hash that goes into the name of the pack/idx file (see "Notes")​.

An optional comma-separated list of <msg-id>=<severity> can be passed to change the severity of some possible issues, e​.g​., --fsck-objects="missingEmail=ignore,badTagName=ignore"​. See the entry for the fsck​.<msg-id> configuration options in git-fsck(1) for more information on the possible values of <msg-id> and <severity>​.

--threads=<n>

Specifies the number of threads to spawn when resolving deltas​. This requires that index-pack 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 use maximum 3 threads​.

--max-input-size=<size>

Die, if the pack is larger than <size>​.

--object-format=<hash-algorithm>

Specify the given object format (hash algorithm) for the pack​. The valid values are sha1 and (if enabled) sha256​. The default is the algorithm for the current repository (set by extensions​.objectFormat), or sha1 if no value is set or outside a repository​.

This option cannot be used with --stdin​.

Note: At present, there is no interoperability between SHA-256 repositories and SHA-1 repositories​.

Historically, we warned that SHA-256 repositories may later need backward incompatible changes when we introduce such interoperability features​. Today, we only expect compatible changes​. Furthermore, if such changes prove to be necessary, it can be expected that SHA-256 repositories created with today’s Git will be usable by future versions of Git without data loss​.

--promisor[=<message>]

Before committing the pack-index, create a ​.promisor file for this pack​. Particularly helpful when writing a promisor pack with --fix-thin since the name of the pack is not final until the pack has been fully written​. If a <message> is provided, then that content will be written to the ​.promisor file for future reference​. See partial clone​^[1] for more information​.

Also, if there are objects in the given pack that references non-promisor objects (in the repo), repacks those non-promisor objects into a promisor pack​. This avoids a situation in which a repo has non-promisor objects that are accessible through promisor objects​.

Requires <pack-file> to not be specified​.

Once the index has been created, the hash that goes into the name of the pack/idx file is printed to stdout​. If --stdin was also used then this is prefixed by either "pack\t", or "keep\t" if a new ​.keep file was successfully created​. This is useful to remove a ​.keep file used as a lock to prevent the race with git repack mentioned above​.

Part of the git(1) suite

1.

partial clone
file:///usr/share/doc/git/technical/partial-clone.html