Re: [PATCH 1/2] prepare_packed_git(): refactor garbage reporting in pack directory

[Doug Kelly <dougk.ff7@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 2:02 PM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 04, 2015 at 01:56:38PM -0600, Doug Kelly wrote:
>
>> > I did wonder if we want to say anything about .bitmap files, though.
>> > If there is one without matching .idx and .pack, shouldn't we report
>> > just like we report .idx without .pack (or vice versa)?
>>
>> I think you're right -- this would be something worth following up on.
>> At least, t5304 doesn't cover this case explicitly, but when I tried
>> adding an empty bitmap with a bogus name, I did see a "no
>> corresponding .idx or .pack" error, similar to the stale .keep file.
>
> Yeah, that should be harmless warning (although note because the bitmap
> code only really handles a single bitmap, it can prevent loading of the
> "real" bitmap; so you'd want to clean it up, for sure).
>
>> I'd trust your (and Jeff's) knowledge on this far more than my own,
>> but would it be a bad idea to clean up .keep and .bitmap files if the
>> .idx/.pack pair are missing?  I think we may have had a discussion
>> previously on how things along these lines might be racey -- but I
>> don't know what order the .keep file is created in relation to the
>> .idx/.pack.
>
> Definitely cleaning up the .bitmap is sane and not racy (it's in the
> same boat as the .idx, I think).
>
> .keep files are more tricky. I'd have to go over the receive-pack code
> to confirm, but I think they _are_ racy. That is, receive-pack will
> create them as a lockfile before moving the pack into place. That's OK,
> though, if we use mtimes to give ourselves a grace period (I haven't
> looked at your series yet).
>
> But moreover, .keep files can be created manually by the user. If the
> pack they referenced goes away, they are not really serving any purpose.
> But it's possible that the user would want to salvage the content of the
> file, or know that it was there.
>
> So I'd argue we should leave them. Or at least leave ones that do not
> have the generic "{receive,fetch}-pack $pid on $host comment in them,
> which were clearly created as lockfiles.
>
> -Peff

Currently there's no mtime-guarding logic (I dug up that conversation
earlier, though, but after I'd done the respin on this series)... OK,
in that case, I'll create a separate patch that tests/cleans up
.bitmap, but doesn't touch .keep.  This might be a small series since
I think the logic for finding pack garbage doesn't know anything about
.bitmap per-se, so it's looking like I'll extend that relevant code,
before adding the handling in gc and appropriate tests.