When trying to describe a commit, we'll traverse from the commit, collecting candidate tags that point to its ancestors. But once we've seen all of the tags in the repo, there's no point in traversing further. There's nothing left to find! For a default "git describe", this isn't usually a big problem. In a large repo you'll probably have multiple tags, so we'll eventually find 10 candidates (the default for max_candidates) and stop there. And in a small repo, it's quick to traverse to the root. But you can imagine a large repo with few tags. Or, as we saw in a real world case, explicitly limiting the set of matches like this (on linux.git): git describe --match=v6.12-rc4 HEAD which goes all the way to the root before realizing that no, there are no other tags under consideration besides the one we fed via --match. If we add in "--candidates=1" there, it's much faster (at least as of the previous commit). But we should be able to speed this up without the user asking for it. After expanding all matching tags, we know the total number of names. We could just stop the traversal there, but as hinted at above we already have a mechanism for doing that: the max_candidate limit. So we can just reduce that limit to match the number of possible candidates. Our p6100 test shows this off: Test HEAD^ HEAD --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6100.2: describe HEAD 0.71(0.65+0.06) 0.72(0.68+0.04) +1.4% 6100.3: describe HEAD with one max candidate 0.01(0.00+0.00) 0.01(0.00+0.00) +0.0% 6100.4: describe HEAD with one tag 0.72(0.66+0.05) 0.01(0.00+0.00) -98.6% Now we are fast automatically, just as if --candidates=1 were supplied by the user. Reported-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org> Helped-by: Rasmus Villemoes <ravi@prevas.dk> Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system
Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.
Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.
Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.
Many Git online resources are accessible from https://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.
See Documentation/gittutorial.txt to get started, then see
Documentation/giteveryday.txt for a useful minimum set of commands, and
Documentation/git-<commandname>.txt for documentation of each command.
If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be
read with man gittutorial or git help tutorial, and the
documentation of each command with man git-<commandname> or git help <commandname>.
CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.txt
(man gitcvs-migration or git help cvs-migration if git is
installed).
The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission and Documentation/CodingGuidelines).
Those wishing to help with error message, usage and informational message
string translations (localization l10) should see po/README.md
(a po file is a Portable Object file that holds the translations).
To subscribe to the list, send an email to git+subscribe@vger.kernel.org (see https://subspace.kernel.org/subscribing.html for details). The mailing list archives are available at https://lore.kernel.org/git/, https://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.
Issues which are security relevant should be disclosed privately to the Git Security mailing list git-security@googlegroups.com.
The maintainer frequently sends the "What's cooking" reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.
The name "git" was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as "the stupid content tracker" and the name as (depending on your mood):
- random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of "get" may or may not be relevant.
- stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
- "global information tracker": you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
- "goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t": when it breaks