Add a new option `reftable.restartInterval` that allows the user to
control the restart interval when writing reftable records used by the
reftable library.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
---
 Documentation/config/reftable.txt | 19 ++++++++++++++
 refs/reftable-backend.c           |  5 ++++
 t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh | 43 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 67 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/config/reftable.txt b/Documentation/config/reftable.txt
index fa7c4be014..16b915c75e 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/reftable.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/reftable.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,22 @@ readers during access.
 +
 The largest block size is `16777215` bytes (15.99 MiB). The default value is
 `4096` bytes (4kB). A value of `0` will use the default value.
+
+reftable.restartInterval::
+	The interval at which to create restart points. The reftable backend
+	determines the restart points at file creation. The process is
+	arbitrary, but every 16 or 64 records is recommended. Every 16 may be
+	more suitable for smaller block sizes (4k or 8k), every 64 for larger
+	block sizes (64k).
++
+More frequent restart points reduces prefix compression and increases
+space consumed by the restart table, both of which increase file size.
++
+Less frequent restart points makes prefix compression more effective,
+decreasing overall file size, with increased penalties for readers
+walking through more records after the binary search step.
++
+A maximum of `65535` restart points per block is supported.
++
+The default value is to create restart points every 16 records. A value of `0`
+will use the default value.
diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index bd9999cefc..9972dfc1a3 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -242,6 +242,11 @@ static int reftable_be_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 		if (block_size > 16777215)
 			die("reftable block size cannot exceed 16MB");
 		opts->block_size = block_size;
+	} else if (!strcmp(var, "reftable.restartinterval")) {
+		unsigned long restart_interval = git_config_ulong(var, value, ctx->kvi);
+		if (restart_interval > UINT16_MAX)
+			die("reftable block size cannot exceed %u", (unsigned)UINT16_MAX);
+		opts->restart_interval = restart_interval;
 	}
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
index 8bdbc6ec70..e0a5b26f58 100755
--- a/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
+++ b/t/t0613-reftable-write-options.sh
@@ -171,4 +171,47 @@ test_expect_success 'block size exceeding maximum supported size' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'restart interval at every single record' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit initial &&
+		for i in $(test_seq 10)
+		do
+			printf "update refs/heads/branch-%d HEAD\n" "$i" ||
+			return 1
+		done >input &&
+		git update-ref --stdin <input &&
+		git -c reftable.restartInterval=1 pack-refs &&
+
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		header:
+		  block_size: 4096
+		ref:
+		  - length: 566
+		    restarts: 13
+		log:
+		  - length: 1393
+		    restarts: 12
+		EOF
+		test-tool dump-reftable -b .git/reftable/*.ref >actual &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'restart interval exceeding maximum supported interval' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		test_commit initial &&
+		cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+		fatal: reftable block size cannot exceed 65535
+		EOF
+		test_must_fail git -c reftable.restartInterval=65536 pack-refs 2>err &&
+		test_cmp expect err
+	)
+'
+
 test_done
-- 
2.45.0