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From: "Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: "Junio C Hamano" <gitster@pobox.com>,
	"Johannes Schindelin" <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>,
	"Philip Oakley" <philipoakley@iee.email>,
	"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH v8 1/4] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2021 10:23:04 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <patch-v8-1.4-b8f8a20e789-20210731T082120Z-avarab@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <cover-v8-0.4-00000000000-20210731T082120Z-avarab@gmail.com>

Rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section for "git bundle" to start by talking
about what bundles are in general terms, rather than diving directly
into one example of what they might be used for.

This changes documentation that's been substantially the same ever
since the command was added in 2e0afafebd8 (Add git-bundle: move
objects and references by archive, 2007-02-22).

I've split up the DESCRIPTION into that section and a "BUNDLE FORMAT"
section, it briefly discusses the format, but then links to the
technical/bundle-format.txt documentation.

The "the user must specify a basis" part of this is discussed below in
"SPECIFYING REFERENCES", and will be further elaborated on in a
subsequent commit. So I'm removing that part and letting the mention
of "revision exclusions" suffice.

There was a discussion about whether to say anything at all about
"thin packs" here[1]. I think it's good to mention it for the curious
reader willing to read the technical docs, but let's explicitly say
that there's no "thick pack", and that the difference shouldn't
matter.

1. http://lore.kernel.org/git/xmqqk0mbt5rj.fsf@gitster.g

Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/git-bundle.txt | 56 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-bundle.txt b/Documentation/git-bundle.txt
index 53804cad4b6..339c5b47276 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-bundle.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-bundle.txt
@@ -18,21 +18,47 @@ SYNOPSIS
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 
-Some workflows require that one or more branches of development on one
-machine be replicated on another machine, but the two machines cannot
-be directly connected, and therefore the interactive Git protocols (git,
-ssh, http) cannot be used.
-
-The 'git bundle' command packages objects and references in an archive
-at the originating machine, which can then be imported into another
-repository using 'git fetch', 'git pull', or 'git clone',
-after moving the archive by some means (e.g., by sneakernet).
-
-As no
-direct connection between the repositories exists, the user must specify a
-basis for the bundle that is held by the destination repository: the
-bundle assumes that all objects in the basis are already in the
-destination repository.
+Create, unpack, and manipulate "bundle" files. Bundles are used for
+the "offline" transfer of Git objects without an active "server"
+sitting on the other side of the network connection.
+
+They can be used to create both incremental and full backups of a
+repository, and to relay the state of the references in one repository
+to another.
+
+Git commands that fetch or otherwise "read" via protocols such as
+`ssh://` and `https://` can also operate on bundle files. It is
+possible linkgit:git-clone[1] a new repository from a bundle, to use
+linkgit:git-fetch[1] to fetch from one, and to list the references
+contained within it with linkgit:git-ls-remote[1]. There's no
+corresponding "write" support, i.e.a 'git push' into a bundle is not
+supported.
+
+See the "EXAMPLES" section below for examples of how to use bundles.
+
+BUNDLE FORMAT
+-------------
+
+Bundles are `.pack` files (see linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]) with a
+header indicating what references are contained within the bundle.
+
+Like the the packed archive format itself bundles can either be
+self-contained, or be created using exclusions.
+
+Bundles created using revision exclusions are "thin packs" created
+using the `--thin` option to linkgit:git-pack-objects[1], and
+unbundled using the `--fix-thin` option to linkgit:git-index-pack[1].
+
+There is no option to create a "thick pack" when using revision
+exclusions, users should not be concerned about the difference. By
+using "thin packs" bundles created using exclusions are smaller in
+size. That they're "thin" under the hood is merely noted here as a
+curiosity, and as a reference to other documentation
+
+See link:technical/bundle-format.html[the `bundle-format`
+documentation] for more details and the discussion of "thin pack" in
+link:technical/pack-format.html[the pack format documentation] for
+further details.
 
 OPTIONS
 -------
-- 
2.32.0.1069.g545f0888808


  reply	other threads:[~2021-07-31  8:23 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 41+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2021-06-07 14:37 [PATCH] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-07 16:56 ` [PATCH v2] " Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-07 23:35   ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-24 19:40   ` [PATCH v3 0/3] bundle doc: generaliz & elaborate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-24 19:40     ` [PATCH v3 1/3] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-29  4:52       ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-24 19:40     ` [PATCH v3 2/3] bundle doc: split out thin v.s. not discussion from <rev-arg> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-29  4:52       ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-24 19:40     ` [PATCH v3 3/3] bundle doc: elaborate on rev<->ref restriction Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-30  9:16     ` [PATCH v4 0/3] bundle doc: generalize & elaborate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-30  9:16       ` [PATCH v4 1/3] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-30  9:16       ` [PATCH v4 2/3] bundle doc: split out open v.s. closed discussion from <rev-arg> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-30 21:13         ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-30  9:16       ` [PATCH v4 3/3] bundle doc: elaborate on rev<->ref restriction Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-02 11:26       ` [PATCH v5 0/3] bundle doc: generalize & elaborate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-02 11:26         ` [PATCH v5 1/3] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-02 11:26         ` [PATCH v5 2/3] bundle doc: elaborate on object prerequisites Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-02 15:10           ` Junio C Hamano
2021-07-02 11:26         ` [PATCH v5 3/3] bundle doc: elaborate on rev<->ref restriction Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-20 14:20         ` [PATCH v6 0/3] bundle doc: generalize & elaborate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-20 14:20           ` [PATCH v6 1/3] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-20 14:20           ` [PATCH v6 2/3] bundle doc: elaborate on object prerequisites Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-20 20:06             ` Junio C Hamano
2021-07-20 14:20           ` [PATCH v6 3/3] bundle doc: elaborate on rev<->ref restriction Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-20 20:19             ` Junio C Hamano
2021-07-21  9:27               ` Philip Oakley
2021-07-21 16:57                 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-07-22 11:37                   ` Philip Oakley
2021-07-22 11:46                     ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-22 23:14                       ` Philip Oakley
2021-07-27  0:24         ` [PATCH v7 0/3] bundle doc: generalize & elaborate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-27  0:24           ` [PATCH v7 1/3] bundle doc: rewrite the "DESCRIPTION" section Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-27  0:24           ` [PATCH v7 2/3] bundle doc: elaborate on object prerequisites Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-27  0:24           ` [PATCH v7 3/3] bundle doc: elaborate on rev<->ref restriction Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-28 15:17             ` Philip Oakley
2021-07-28 18:05             ` Junio C Hamano
2021-07-31  8:23           ` [PATCH v8 0/3] bundle doc: generalize & elaborate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-31  8:23             ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason [this message]
2021-07-31  8:23             ` [PATCH v8 2/4] bundle doc: elaborate on object prerequisites Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-31  8:23             ` [PATCH v8 3/4] bundle doc: elaborate on rev<->ref restriction Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-07-31  8:23             ` [PATCH v8 4/4] bundle doc: replace "basis" with "prerequsite(s)" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason

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