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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-07 14:47:53 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-07 14:47:53 +0000 |
commit | c8bae7493d2f2910b57f13ded012e86bdcfb0532 (patch) | |
tree | 24e09d9f84dec336720cf393e156089ca2835791 /Documentation/technical/scalar.txt | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | git-c8bae7493d2f2910b57f13ded012e86bdcfb0532.tar.xz git-c8bae7493d2f2910b57f13ded012e86bdcfb0532.zip |
Adding upstream version 1:2.39.2.upstream/1%2.39.2upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/technical/scalar.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/scalar.txt | 66 |
1 files changed, 66 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/scalar.txt b/Documentation/technical/scalar.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..921cb10 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/scalar.txt @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +Scalar +====== + +Scalar is a repository management tool that optimizes Git for use in large +repositories. It accomplishes this by helping users to take advantage of +advanced performance features in Git. Unlike most other Git built-in commands, +Scalar is not executed as a subcommand of 'git'; rather, it is built as a +separate executable containing its own series of subcommands. + +Background +---------- + +Scalar was originally designed as an add-on to Git and implemented as a .NET +Core application. It was created based on the learnings from the VFS for Git +project (another application aimed at improving the experience of working with +large repositories). As part of its initial implementation, Scalar relied on +custom features in the Microsoft fork of Git that have since been integrated +into core Git: + +* partial clone, +* commit graphs, +* multi-pack index, +* sparse checkout (cone mode), +* scheduled background maintenance, +* etc + +With the requisite Git functionality in place and a desire to bring the benefits +of Scalar to the larger Git community, the Scalar application itself was ported +from C# to C and integrated upstream. + +Features +-------- + +Scalar is comprised of two major pieces of functionality: automatically +configuring built-in Git performance features and managing repository +enlistments. + +The Git performance features configured by Scalar (see "Background" for +examples) confer substantial performance benefits to large repositories, but are +either too experimental to enable for all of Git yet, or only benefit large +repositories. As new features are introduced, Scalar should be updated +accordingly to incorporate them. This will prevent the tool from becoming stale +while also providing a path for more easily bringing features to the appropriate +users. + +Enlistments are how Scalar knows which repositories on a user's system should +utilize Scalar-configured features. This allows it to update performance +settings when new ones are added to the tool, as well as centrally manage +repository maintenance. The enlistment structure - a root directory with a +`src/` subdirectory containing the cloned repository itself - is designed to +encourage users to route build outputs outside of the repository to avoid the +performance-limiting overhead of ignoring those files in Git. + +Design +------ + +Scalar is implemented in C and interacts with Git via a mix of child process +invocations of Git and direct usage of `libgit.a`. Internally, it is structured +much like other built-ins with subcommands (e.g., `git stash`), containing a +`cmd_<subcommand>()` function for each subcommand, routed through a `cmd_main()` +function. Most options are unique to each subcommand, with `scalar` respecting +some "global" `git` options (e.g., `-c` and `-C`). + +Because `scalar` is not invoked as a Git subcommand (like `git scalar`), it is +built and installed as its own executable in the `bin/` directory, alongside +`git`, `git-gui`, etc. |