From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.6 (2021-04-09) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-ASN: AS54825 147.75.80.0/22 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.5 required=3.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.6 Received: from am.mirrors.kernel.org (am.mirrors.kernel.org [147.75.80.249]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2A1BE1F44D for ; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 17:07:45 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: dcvr.yhbt.net; dkim=pass (1024-bit key; unprotected) header.d=pobox.com header.i=@pobox.com header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=sasl header.b=uRD/8FkD; dkim-atps=neutral Received: from smtp.subspace.kernel.org (wormhole.subspace.kernel.org [52.25.139.140]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by am.mirrors.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B68AE1F25866 for ; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 17:07:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost.localdomain (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 92FB113540D; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 16:59:11 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=pobox.com header.i=@pobox.com header.b="uRD/8FkD" Received: from pb-smtp21.pobox.com (pb-smtp21.pobox.com [173.228.157.53]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BD3F8132C0D for ; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 16:59:08 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=173.228.157.53 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1711040350; cv=none; b=msQrsch0l/nrPYKJucGSQXg7kdity1fCNSv02QnvPSRbE/T0a0FetR2TwpRym8XMl4LOR1nomdS0o3c3gRBgioP9pgAgCCo6cLijTVgq3Fq2EC9quoCqO5EOSf4c9Nh39eorHrBgx7wRypwbMbJAteW42w6U1Wz4nFo/YAC0Hmc= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1711040350; c=relaxed/simple; bh=WpgXTjIPVMjn7flM874sulNs9oexHYMNHKaEDDEt/6g=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:In-Reply-To:References:Date:Message-ID: MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=VB6T3OFaIiZopg8comiRoIY1ud3xoxX3IT2M4Y+gDlG/Dg0RcyE7UNodmal9/lg9Yi1Owbu3ADoab3tmPbaR8W5sg4ZsTrJ7BT0k6Nih3SbLMRBMRMu6tlcWD4hoI5/LV9AKk2K05/uCru9JzZSFauvv+mf4l0o40SwIIGzsmZY= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=none dis=none) header.from=pobox.com; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=pobox.com; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=pobox.com header.i=@pobox.com header.b=uRD/8FkD; arc=none smtp.client-ip=173.228.157.53 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=none dis=none) header.from=pobox.com Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=pobox.com Received: from pb-smtp21.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp21.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C8082C544; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:59:08 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:mime-version :content-type; s=sasl; bh=WpgXTjIPVMjn7flM874sulNs9oexHYMNHKaEDD Et/6g=; b=uRD/8FkDQqCKA7IpkH+UebiIhwB3YmqEVxumqsiibRQkVEPzZniA+3 f3hNC+gWFTxtofXKij2ZZodv3sYn2KSshjI/t3vFwZ4g4i/yv4g4iOmOT01UTgVm GG8gF6cGBOtpJCxvDQECcvALgNgOBsZJBi991PLRxky20hyFPM9Qg= Received: from pb-smtp21.sea.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp21.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4510D2C543; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:59:08 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [34.125.139.61]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pb-smtp21.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id B75132C540; Thu, 21 Mar 2024 12:59:04 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) From: Junio C Hamano To: Patrick Steinhardt Cc: Aryan Gupta , git@vger.kernel.org, karthik nayak Subject: Re: [GSoC] Discuss: Implement support for reftables in =?utf-8?B?4oCYZHVtYuKAmQ==?= HTTP transport In-Reply-To: (Patrick Steinhardt's message of "Thu, 21 Mar 2024 14:02:19 +0100") References: Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:59:03 -0700 Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Pobox-Relay-ID: 52F755C0-E7A4-11EE-B5D5-A19503B9AAD1-77302942!pb-smtp21.pobox.com Patrick Steinhardt writes: > The reason why I added this project is that I found it to be interesting > as a thought experiment. The reason why we have "info/refs" is to help > out clients of the dumb HTTP transport to figure out actual refs in the > repository because they typically live in many separate files. But what > I realized is that we don't actually need it with the reftable format > anymore because we basically already have a definitive list of all files > that a client needs to download to acquire all refs: "tables.list". Yes, YES, YES!!! > So theoretically speaking we can implement support for dumb HTTP with > reftables by having the client download "tables.list" and then fetch all > the "*.ref" files listed in it. Whether that is sensible may be a > different question. It is not even theoretical---I think it is the RIGHT way to do the dumb HTTP walker if we had reftable from the beginning. Having a file at a known location where we can start "walking" from is a very powerful thing [*1*]. If we do not have to change the server side at all, which I think what you are saying, that removes the major part of the problem I was having with this proposal. I do not even have to worry about speaking with the first-world bias and hurting folks with needs that are only served by the dumb HTTP walker, either. By the way, about two years ago, we have talked about making the first step to deprecate dumb HTTP walker [*2*], but given that nothing concrete materialized, we are ready to move further, yet. [Footnote] *1* With the filesystem backed refs, because there was no standard and widely supported way to ask a dumb HTTP server "what are the files and directories under this hierarchy?" and that was here the ugly "info/refs" hack came from. *2* https://lore.kernel.org/git/f8639116d2d384a6d285c75830c52d8a8230ae6b.1647243509.git.ps@pks.im/