1git-gc(1) 2========= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-gc - Cleanup unnecessary files and optimize the local repository 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11'git-gc' [--prune] [--aggressive] [--auto] 12 13DESCRIPTION 14----------- 15Runs a number of housekeeping tasks within the current repository, 16such as compressing file revisions (to reduce disk space and increase 17performance) and removing unreachable objects which may have been 18created from prior invocations of gitlink:git-add[1]. 19 20Users are encouraged to run this task on a regular basis within 21each repository to maintain good disk space utilization and good 22operating performance. Some git commands may automatically run 23`git-gc`; see the `--auto` flag below for details. 24 25OPTIONS 26------- 27 28--prune:: 29 Usually `git-gc` packs refs, expires old reflog entries, 30 packs loose objects, 31 and removes old 'rerere' records. Removal 32 of unreferenced loose objects is an unsafe operation 33 while other git operations are in progress, so it is not 34 done by default. Pass this option if you want it, and only 35 when you know nobody else is creating new objects in the 36 repository at the same time (e.g. never use this option 37 in a cron script). 38 39--aggressive:: 40 Usually 'git-gc' runs very quickly while providing good disk 41 space utilization and performance. This option will cause 42 git-gc to more aggressively optimize the repository at the expense 43 of taking much more time. The effects of this optimization are 44 persistent, so this option only needs to be used occasionally; every 45 few hundred changesets or so. 46 47--auto:: 48 With this option, `git gc` checks if there are too many 49 loose objects in the repository and runs 50 gitlink:git-repack[1] with `-d -l` option to pack them. 51 The threshold for loose objects is set with `gc.auto` configuration 52 variable, and can be disabled by setting it to 0. Some 53 Porcelain commands use this after they perform operation 54 that could create many loose objects automatically. 55 Additionally, when there are too many packs are present, 56 they are consolidated into one larger pack by running 57 the `git-repack` command with `-A` option. The 58 threshold for number of packs is set with 59 `gc.autopacklimit` configuration variable. 60 61Configuration 62------------- 63 64The optional configuration variable 'gc.reflogExpire' can be 65set to indicate how long historical entries within each branch's 66reflog should remain available in this repository. The setting is 67expressed as a length of time, for example '90 days' or '3 months'. 68It defaults to '90 days'. 69 70The optional configuration variable 'gc.reflogExpireUnreachable' 71can be set to indicate how long historical reflog entries which 72are not part of the current branch should remain available in 73this repository. These types of entries are generally created as 74a result of using `git commit \--amend` or `git rebase` and are the 75commits prior to the amend or rebase occurring. Since these changes 76are not part of the current project most users will want to expire 77them sooner. This option defaults to '30 days'. 78 79The optional configuration variable 'gc.rerereresolved' indicates 80how long records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are 81kept. This defaults to 60 days. 82 83The optional configuration variable 'gc.rerereunresolved' indicates 84how long records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are 85kept. This defaults to 15 days. 86 87The optional configuration variable 'gc.packrefs' determines if 88`git gc` runs `git-pack-refs`. Without the configuration, `git-pack-refs` 89is not run in bare repositories by default, to allow older dumb-transport 90clients fetch from the repository, but this will change in the future. 91 92The optional configuration variable 'gc.aggressiveWindow' controls how 93much time is spent optimizing the delta compression of the objects in 94the repository when the --aggressive option is specified. The larger 95the value, the more time is spent optimizing the delta compression. See 96the documentation for the --window' option in gitlink:git-repack[1] for 97more details. This defaults to 10. 98 99See Also 100-------- 101gitlink:git-prune[1] 102gitlink:git-reflog[1] 103gitlink:git-repack[1] 104gitlink:git-rerere[1] 105 106Author 107------ 108Written by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org> 109 110GIT 111--- 112Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite