sparse-index: add 'sdir' index extension

The index format does not currently allow for sparse directory entries.
This violates some expectations that older versions of Git or
third-party tools might not understand. We need an indicator inside the
index file to warn these tools to not interact with a sparse index
unless they are aware of sparse directory entries.

Add a new _required_ index extension, 'sdir', that indicates that the
index may contain sparse directory entries. This allows us to continue
to use the differences in index formats 2, 3, and 4 before we create a
new index version 5 in a later change.

Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <dstolee@microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
This commit is contained in:
Derrick Stolee
2021-03-30 13:10:54 +00:00
committed by Junio C Hamano
parent 836e25c51b
commit cd42415fb4
2 changed files with 21 additions and 0 deletions

View File

@ -392,3 +392,15 @@ The remaining data of each directory block is grouped by type:
in this block of entries.
- 32-bit count of cache entries in this block
== Sparse Directory Entries
When using sparse-checkout in cone mode, some entire directories within
the index can be summarized by pointing to a tree object instead of the
entire expanded list of paths within that tree. An index containing such
entries is a "sparse index". Index format versions 4 and less were not
implemented with such entries in mind. Thus, for these versions, an
index containing sparse directory entries will include this extension
with signature { 's', 'd', 'i', 'r' }. Like the split-index extension,
tools should avoid interacting with a sparse index unless they understand
this extension.