A child process of "git repack -a -d -f" was doing: PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND 20178 pts/3 R+ 491:31 git pack-objects --non-empty --all --reflog --unpacked=pack-41dbbd4c9b63110b8122f9d78a15668aa6b2b273.pack The git-pack-objects(1) manual page describes: | git-pack-objects [-q] [--no-reuse-delta] [--delta-base-offset] [--non-empty] | [--local] [--incremental] [--window=N] [--depth=N] [--all-progress] | [--revs [--unpacked | --all]*] [--stdout | base-name] < object-list ... | --unpacked | This implies --revs. When processing the list of revision | arguments read from the standard input, limit the objects | packed to those that are not already packed. However, it does not say what --unpacked=pack-41dbbd4c9b63110b8122f9d78a15668aa6b2b273.pack might mean. grep unpacked= Documentation/* did not find anything either. Could you please document the meaning of this option?