git-backfill(1) Manual Page

Blobless partial clones are created using git clone --filter=blob:none and then configure the local repository such that the Git client avoids downloading blob objects unless they are required for a local operation. This initially means that the clone and later fetches download reachable commits and trees but no blobs. Later operations that change the HEAD pointer, such as git checkout or git merge, may need to download missing blobs in order to complete their operation.

In the worst cases, commands that compute blob diffs, such as git blame, become very slow as they download the missing blobs in single-blob requests to satisfy the missing object as the Git command needs it. This leads to multiple download requests and no ability for the Git server to provide delta compression across those objects.

The git backfill command provides a way for the user to request that Git downloads the missing blobs (with optional filters) such that the missing blobs representing historical versions of files can be downloaded in batches. The backfill command attempts to optimize the request by grouping blobs that appear at the same path, hopefully leading to good delta compression in the packfile sent by the server.

In this way, git backfill provides a mechanism to break a large clone into smaller chunks. Starting with a blobless partial clone with git clone --filter=blob:none and then running git backfill in the local repository provides a way to download all reachable objects in several smaller network calls than downloading the entire repository at clone time.

By default, git backfill downloads all blobs reachable from the HEAD commit. This set can be restricted or expanded using various options.

THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. ITS BEHAVIOR MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.

git-clone(1).

Part of the git(1) suite