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+git-maintenance(1)
+==================
+
+NAME
+----
+git-maintenance - Run tasks to optimize Git repository data
+
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+[verse]
+'git maintenance' run [<options>]
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+Run tasks to optimize Git repository data, speeding up other Git commands
+and reducing storage requirements for the repository.
+
+Git commands that add repository data, such as `git add` or `git fetch`,
+are optimized for a responsive user experience. These commands do not take
+time to optimize the Git data, since such optimizations scale with the full
+size of the repository while these user commands each perform a relatively
+small action.
+
+The `git maintenance` command provides flexibility for how to optimize the
+Git repository.
+
+SUBCOMMANDS
+-----------
+
+register::
+ Initialize Git config values so any scheduled maintenance will
+ start running on this repository. This adds the repository to the
+ `maintenance.repo` config variable in the current user's global
+ config and enables some recommended configuration values for
+ `maintenance.<task>.schedule`. The tasks that are enabled are safe
+ for running in the background without disrupting foreground
+ processes.
++
+The `register` subcommand will also set the `maintenance.strategy` config
+value to `incremental`, if this value is not previously set. The
+`incremental` strategy uses the following schedule for each maintenance
+task:
++
+--
+* `gc`: disabled.
+* `commit-graph`: hourly.
+* `prefetch`: hourly.
+* `loose-objects`: daily.
+* `incremental-repack`: daily.
+--
++
+`git maintenance register` will also disable foreground maintenance by
+setting `maintenance.auto = false` in the current repository. This config
+setting will remain after a `git maintenance unregister` command.
+
+run::
+ Run one or more maintenance tasks. If one or more `--task` options
+ are specified, then those tasks are run in that order. Otherwise,
+ the tasks are determined by which `maintenance.<task>.enabled`
+ config options are true. By default, only `maintenance.gc.enabled`
+ is true.
+
+start::
+ Start running maintenance on the current repository. This performs
+ the same config updates as the `register` subcommand, then updates
+ the background scheduler to run `git maintenance run --scheduled`
+ on an hourly basis.
+
+stop::
+ Halt the background maintenance schedule. The current repository
+ is not removed from the list of maintained repositories, in case
+ the background maintenance is restarted later.
+
+unregister::
+ Remove the current repository from background maintenance. This
+ only removes the repository from the configured list. It does not
+ stop the background maintenance processes from running.
+
+TASKS
+-----
+
+commit-graph::
+ The `commit-graph` job updates the `commit-graph` files incrementally,
+ then verifies that the written data is correct. The incremental
+ write is safe to run alongside concurrent Git processes since it
+ will not expire `.graph` files that were in the previous
+ `commit-graph-chain` file. They will be deleted by a later run based
+ on the expiration delay.
+
+prefetch::
+ The `prefetch` task updates the object directory with the latest
+ objects from all registered remotes. For each remote, a `git fetch`
+ command is run. The refmap is custom to avoid updating local or remote
+ branches (those in `refs/heads` or `refs/remotes`). Instead, the
+ remote refs are stored in `refs/prefetch/<remote>/`. Also, tags are
+ not updated.
++
+This is done to avoid disrupting the remote-tracking branches. The end users
+expect these refs to stay unmoved unless they initiate a fetch. With prefetch
+task, however, the objects necessary to complete a later real fetch would
+already be obtained, so the real fetch would go faster. In the ideal case,
+it will just become an update to a bunch of remote-tracking branches without
+any object transfer.
+
+gc::
+ Clean up unnecessary files and optimize the local repository. "GC"
+ stands for "garbage collection," but this task performs many
+ smaller tasks. This task can be expensive for large repositories,
+ as it repacks all Git objects into a single pack-file. It can also
+ be disruptive in some situations, as it deletes stale data. See
+ linkgit:git-gc[1] for more details on garbage collection in Git.
+
+loose-objects::
+ The `loose-objects` job cleans up loose objects and places them into
+ pack-files. In order to prevent race conditions with concurrent Git
+ commands, it follows a two-step process. First, it deletes any loose
+ objects that already exist in a pack-file; concurrent Git processes
+ will examine the pack-file for the object data instead of the loose
+ object. Second, it creates a new pack-file (starting with "loose-")
+ containing a batch of loose objects. The batch size is limited to 50
+ thousand objects to prevent the job from taking too long on a
+ repository with many loose objects. The `gc` task writes unreachable
+ objects as loose objects to be cleaned up by a later step only if
+ they are not re-added to a pack-file; for this reason it is not
+ advisable to enable both the `loose-objects` and `gc` tasks at the
+ same time.
+
+incremental-repack::
+ The `incremental-repack` job repacks the object directory
+ using the `multi-pack-index` feature. In order to prevent race
+ conditions with concurrent Git commands, it follows a two-step
+ process. First, it calls `git multi-pack-index expire` to delete
+ pack-files unreferenced by the `multi-pack-index` file. Second, it
+ calls `git multi-pack-index repack` to select several small
+ pack-files and repack them into a bigger one, and then update the
+ `multi-pack-index` entries that refer to the small pack-files to
+ refer to the new pack-file. This prepares those small pack-files
+ for deletion upon the next run of `git multi-pack-index expire`.
+ The selection of the small pack-files is such that the expected
+ size of the big pack-file is at least the batch size; see the
+ `--batch-size` option for the `repack` subcommand in
+ linkgit:git-multi-pack-index[1]. The default batch-size is zero,
+ which is a special case that attempts to repack all pack-files
+ into a single pack-file.
+
+OPTIONS
+-------
+--auto::
+ When combined with the `run` subcommand, run maintenance tasks
+ only if certain thresholds are met. For example, the `gc` task
+ runs when the number of loose objects exceeds the number stored
+ in the `gc.auto` config setting, or when the number of pack-files
+ exceeds the `gc.autoPackLimit` config setting. Not compatible with
+ the `--schedule` option.
+
+--schedule::
+ When combined with the `run` subcommand, run maintenance tasks
+ only if certain time conditions are met, as specified by the
+ `maintenance.<task>.schedule` config value for each `<task>`.
+ This config value specifies a number of seconds since the last
+ time that task ran, according to the `maintenance.<task>.lastRun`
+ config value. The tasks that are tested are those provided by
+ the `--task=<task>` option(s) or those with
+ `maintenance.<task>.enabled` set to true.
+
+--quiet::
+ Do not report progress or other information over `stderr`.
+
+--task=<task>::
+ If this option is specified one or more times, then only run the
+ specified tasks in the specified order. If no `--task=<task>`
+ arguments are specified, then only the tasks with
+ `maintenance.<task>.enabled` configured as `true` are considered.
+ See the 'TASKS' section for the list of accepted `<task>` values.
+
+
+TROUBLESHOOTING
+---------------
+The `git maintenance` command is designed to simplify the repository
+maintenance patterns while minimizing user wait time during Git commands.
+A variety of configuration options are available to allow customizing this
+process. The default maintenance options focus on operations that complete
+quickly, even on large repositories.
+
+Users may find some cases where scheduled maintenance tasks do not run as
+frequently as intended. Each `git maintenance run` command takes a lock on
+the repository's object database, and this prevents other concurrent
+`git maintenance run` commands from running on the same repository. Without
+this safeguard, competing processes could leave the repository in an
+unpredictable state.
+
+The background maintenance schedule runs `git maintenance run` processes
+on an hourly basis. Each run executes the "hourly" tasks. At midnight,
+that process also executes the "daily" tasks. At midnight on the first day
+of the week, that process also executes the "weekly" tasks. A single
+process iterates over each registered repository, performing the scheduled
+tasks for that frequency. Depending on the number of registered
+repositories and their sizes, this process may take longer than an hour.
+In this case, multiple `git maintenance run` commands may run on the same
+repository at the same time, colliding on the object database lock. This
+results in one of the two tasks not running.
+
+If you find that some maintenance windows are taking longer than one hour
+to complete, then consider reducing the complexity of your maintenance
+tasks. For example, the `gc` task is much slower than the
+`incremental-repack` task. However, this comes at a cost of a slightly
+larger object database. Consider moving more expensive tasks to be run
+less frequently.
+
+Expert users may consider scheduling their own maintenance tasks using a
+different schedule than is available through `git maintenance start` and
+Git configuration options. These users should be aware of the object
+database lock and how concurrent `git maintenance run` commands behave.
+Further, the `git gc` command should not be combined with
+`git maintenance run` commands. `git gc` modifies the object database
+but does not take the lock in the same way as `git maintenance run`. If
+possible, use `git maintenance run --task=gc` instead of `git gc`.
+
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite