87b5e236a1
In theory nobody should ever ask the low-level object code
for a null sha1. It's used as a sentinel for "no such
object" in lots of places, so leaking through to this level
is a sign that the higher-level code is not being careful
about its error-checking. In practice, though, quite a few
code paths seem to rely on the null sha1 lookup failing as a
way to quietly propagate non-existence (e.g., by feeding it
to lookup_commit_reference_gently(), which then returns
NULL).
When this happens, we do two inefficient things:
1. We actually search for the null sha1 in packs and in
the loose object directory.
2. When we fail to find it, we re-scan the pack directory
in case a simultaneous repack happened to move it from
loose to packed. This can be very expensive if you have
a large number of packs.
Only the second one actually causes noticeable performance
problems, so we could treat them independently. But for the
sake of simplicity (both of code and of reasoning about it),
it makes sense to just declare that the null sha1 cannot be
a real on-disk object, and looking it up will always return
"no such object".
There's no real loss of functionality to do so Its use as a
sentinel value means that anybody who is unlucky enough to
hit the 2^-160th chance of generating an object with that
sha1 is already going to find the object largely unusable.
In an ideal world, we'd simply fix all of the callers to
notice the null sha1 and avoid passing it to us. But a
simple experiment to catch this with a BUG() shows that
there are a large number of code paths that do so.
So in the meantime, let's fix the performance problem by
taking a fast exit from the object lookup when we see a null
sha1. p5551 shows off the improvement (when a fetched ref is
new, the "old" sha1 is 0{40}, which ends up being passed for
fast-forward checks, the status table abbreviations, etc):
Test HEAD^ HEAD
--------------------------------------------------------
5551.4: fetch 5.51(5.03+0.48) 0.17(0.10+0.06) -96.9%
Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system
Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.
Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.
Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.
Many Git online resources are accessible from https://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.
See Documentation/gittutorial.txt to get started, then see
Documentation/giteveryday.txt for a useful minimum set of commands, and
Documentation/git-.txt for documentation of each command.
If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be
read with man gittutorial or git help tutorial, and the
documentation of each command with man git-<commandname> or git help <commandname>.
CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.txt
(man gitcvs-migration or git help cvs-migration if git is
installed).
The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission). To subscribe to the list, send an email with just "subscribe git" in the body to majordomo@vger.kernel.org. The mailing list archives are available at https://public-inbox.org/git/, http://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.
The maintainer frequently sends the "What's cooking" reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.
The name "git" was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as "the stupid content tracker" and the name as (depending on your mood):
- random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of "get" may or may not be relevant.
- stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
- "global information tracker": you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
- "goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t": when it breaks