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From: "Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: "Junio C Hamano" <gitster@pobox.com>,
	"Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy" <pclouds@gmail.com>,
	"Jeff King" <peff@peff.net>,
	"Michael Haggerty" <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>,
	"Stefan Beller" <stefanbeller@gmail.com>,
	"Jonathan Nieder" <jrnieder@gmail.com>,
	"Matt McCutchen" <matt@mattmccutchen.net>,
	"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH 4/4] gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressive
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2019 17:15:02 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20190318161502.7979-5-avarab@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20190318161502.7979-1-avarab@gmail.com>

The existing "gc --aggressive" docs come just short of recommending to
users that they run it regularly. In reality it's a waste of CPU for
most users, and may even make things actively worse. I've personally
talked to many users who've taken these docs as an advice to use this
option, and have.

Let's change this documentation to better reflect reality, i.e. for
most users using --aggressive is a waste of time, and may even be
actively making things worse.

Let's also clarify the "The effects [...] are persistent" to clearly
note that that's true to the extent that subsequent gc's aren't going
to re-roll existing packs generated with --aggressive into a new set
of packs.

Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/git-gc.txt | 18 ++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-gc.txt b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
index 154c7c5e652..d0eaba98db5 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-gc.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-gc.txt
@@ -41,10 +41,20 @@ OPTIONS
 --aggressive::
 	Usually 'git gc' runs very quickly while providing good disk
 	space utilization and performance.  This option will cause
-	'git gc' to more aggressively optimize the repository at the expense
-	of taking much more time.  The effects of this optimization are
-	persistent, so this option only needs to be used occasionally; every
-	few hundred changesets or so.
+	'git gc' to more aggressively optimize the repository to save storage space
+	at the expense of taking much more time.
++
+Using this option may optimize for disk space at the expense of
+runtime performance. See the `--depth` and `--window` documentation in
+linkgit:git-repack[1]. It is not recommended that this option be used
+to improve performance for a given repository without running tailored
+performance benchmarks on it. It may make things better, or worse. Not
+using this at all is the right trade-off for most users and their
+repositories.
++
+The effects of this option are persistent to the extent that
+`gc.autoPackLimit` and friends don't cause a consolidation of existing
+pack(s) generated with this option.
 
 --auto::
 	With this option, 'git gc' checks whether any housekeeping is
-- 
2.21.0.360.g471c308f928


  parent reply	other threads:[~2019-03-18 16:15 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 64+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2019-03-18 16:14 [PATCH 0/4] gc docs: modernize and fix the documentation Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 16:14 ` [PATCH 1/4] gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 21:27   ` Jeff King
2019-03-18 22:18     ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 16:15 ` [PATCH 2/4] gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 21:31   ` Jeff King
2019-03-21 22:11     ` Andreas Heiduk
2019-03-19  2:08   ` Duy Nguyen
2019-03-18 16:15 ` [PATCH 3/4] gc docs: de-duplicate "OPTIONS" and "CONFIGURATION" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 21:49   ` Jeff King
2019-03-18 22:48     ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 23:42       ` Jeff King
2019-03-18 16:15 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason [this message]
2019-03-18 20:28   ` [PATCH 4/4] gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressive Jonathan Nieder
2019-03-18 21:22     ` Jeff King
2019-03-18 22:13       ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 23:53         ` Jeff King
2019-03-19  6:54   ` Johannes Sixt
2019-03-19  9:28     ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-18 21:51 ` [PATCH 0/4] gc docs: modernize and fix the documentation Jeff King
2019-03-18 22:45   ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-19  0:18     ` Jeff King
2019-05-06  9:44       ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-05-07  7:51         ` Jeff King
2019-05-09 23:20           ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-07-31  4:26             ` Jeff King
2019-07-31 10:12               ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 00/10] " Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 00/11] gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 01/11] " Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 02/11] gc docs: stop noting "repack" flags Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 03/11] gc docs: clean grammar for "gc.bigPackThreshold" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 04/11] gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-30 18:04     ` Todd Zullinger
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 00/11] gc docs: modernize and fix the documentation Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 01/11] gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 02/11] gc docs: stop noting "repack" flags Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 03/11] gc docs: clean grammar for "gc.bigPackThreshold" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 04/11] gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 05/11] gc docs: re-flow the "gc.*" section in "config" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 06/11] gc docs: fix formatting for "gc.writeCommitGraph" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 07/11] gc docs: note how --aggressive impacts --window & --depth Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 08/11] gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressive Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 09/11] gc docs: note "gc --aggressive" in "fast-import" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 10/11] gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objects Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-04-07 19:52     ` [PATCH v4 11/11] gc docs: remove incorrect reference to gc.auto=0 Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 05/11] gc docs: re-flow the "gc.*" section in "config" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 06/11] gc docs: fix formatting for "gc.writeCommitGraph" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 07/11] gc docs: note how --aggressive impacts --window & --depth Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 08/11] gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressive Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 09/11] gc docs: note "gc --aggressive" in "fast-import" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 10/11] gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objects Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  9:32   ` [PATCH v3 11/11] gc docs: remove incorrect reference to gc.auto=0 Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 01/10] gc docs: modernize the advice for manually running "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-22  6:01   ` Junio C Hamano
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 02/10] gc docs: stop noting "repack" flags Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 03/10] gc docs: clean grammar for "gc.bigPackThreshold" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 04/10] gc docs: include the "gc.*" section from "config" in "gc" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 05/10] gc docs: re-flow the "gc.*" section in "config" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 06/10] gc docs: note how --aggressive impacts --window & --depth Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 07/10] gc docs: downplay the usefulness of --aggressive Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 08/10] gc docs: note "gc --aggressive" in "fast-import" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 09/10] gc docs: clarify that "gc" doesn't throw away referenced objects Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2019-03-21 20:50 ` [PATCH v2 10/10] gc docs: remove incorrect reference to gc.auto=0 Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason

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