@@ -466,13 +466,13 @@ The performance of git-filter-branch is glacially slow; its design makes it
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impossible for a backward-compatible implementation to ever be fast:
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* In editing files, git-filter-branch by design checks out each and
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- every commit as it existed in the original repo. If your repo has 10\^5
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- files and 10\^5 commits, but each commit only modifies 5 files, then
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- git-filter-branch will make you do 10\^10 modifications, despite only
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- having (at most) 5*10^5 unique blobs.
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+ every commit as it existed in the original repo. If your repo has
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+ 10\^5 files and 10\^5 commits, but each commit only modifies 5
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+ files, then git-filter-branch will make you do 10\^10 modifications,
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+ despite only having (at most) 5*10^5 unique blobs.
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* If you try and cheat and try to make git-filter-branch only work on
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- files modified in a commit, then two things happen
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+ files modified in a commit, then two things happen
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** you run into problems with deletions whenever the user is simply
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trying to rename files (because attempting to delete files that
@@ -481,39 +481,41 @@ files modified in a commit, then two things happen
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user-provided shell)
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** even if you succeed at the map-deletes-for-renames chicanery, you
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- still technically violate backward compatibility because users are
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- allowed to filter files in ways that depend upon topology of
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- commits instead of filtering solely based on file contents or names
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- (though this has not been observed in the wild).
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+ still technically violate backward compatibility because users
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+ are allowed to filter files in ways that depend upon topology of
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+ commits instead of filtering solely based on file contents or
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+ names (though this has not been observed in the wild).
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* Even if you don't need to edit files but only want to e.g. rename or
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- remove some and thus can avoid checking out each file (i.e. you can use
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- --index-filter), you still are passing shell snippets for your filters.
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- This means that for every commit, you have to have a prepared git repo
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- where those filters can be run. That's a significant setup.
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-
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- * Further, several additional files are created or updated per commit by
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- git-filter-branch. Some of these are for supporting the convenience
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- functions provided by git-filter-branch (such as map()), while others
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- are for keeping track of internal state (but could have also been
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- accessed by user filters; one of git-filter-branch's regression tests
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- does so). This essentially amounts to using the filesystem as an IPC
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- mechanism between git-filter-branch and the user-provided filters.
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- Disks tend to be a slow IPC mechanism, and writing these files also
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- effectively represents a forced synchronization point between separate
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- processes that we hit with every commit.
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+ remove some and thus can avoid checking out each file (i.e. you can
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+ use --index-filter), you still are passing shell snippets for your
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+ filters. This means that for every commit, you have to have a
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+ prepared git repo where those filters can be run. That's a
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+ significant setup.
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+
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+ * Further, several additional files are created or updated per commit
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+ by git-filter-branch. Some of these are for supporting the
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+ convenience functions provided by git-filter-branch (such as map()),
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+ while others are for keeping track of internal state (but could have
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+ also been accessed by user filters; one of git-filter-branch's
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+ regression tests does so). This essentially amounts to using the
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+ filesystem as an IPC mechanism between git-filter-branch and the
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+ user-provided filters. Disks tend to be a slow IPC mechanism, and
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+ writing these files also effectively represents a forced
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+ synchronization point between separate processes that we hit with
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+ every commit.
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* The user-provided shell commands will likely involve a pipeline of
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- commands, resulting in the creation of many processes per commit.
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- Creating and running another process takes a widely varying amount of
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- time between operating systems, but on any platform it is very slow
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- relative to invoking a function.
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+ commands, resulting in the creation of many processes per commit.
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+ Creating and running another process takes a widely varying amount
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+ of time between operating systems, but on any platform it is very
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+ slow relative to invoking a function.
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* git-filter-branch itself is written in shell, which is kind of slow.
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- This is the one performance issue that could be backward-compatibly
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- fixed, but compared to the above problems that are intrinsic to the
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- design of git-filter-branch, the language of the tool itself is a
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- relatively minor issue.
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+ This is the one performance issue that could be backward-compatibly
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+ fixed, but compared to the above problems that are intrinsic to the
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+ design of git-filter-branch, the language of the tool itself is a
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+ relatively minor issue.
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** Side note: Unfortunately, people tend to fixate on the
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written-in-shell aspect and periodically ask if git-filter-branch
@@ -546,51 +548,55 @@ easily corrupt repos or end up with a mess worse than what you started
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with:
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* Someone can have a set of "working and tested filters" which they
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- document or provide to a coworker, who then runs them on a different OS
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- where the same commands are not working/tested (some examples in the
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- git-filter-branch manpage are also affected by this). BSD vs. GNU
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- userland differences can really bite. If lucky, error messages are
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- spewed. But just as likely, the commands either don't do the filtering
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- requested, or silently corrupt by making some unwanted change. The
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- unwanted change may only affect a few commits, so it's not necessarily
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- obvious either. (The fact that problems won't necessarily be obvious
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- means they are likely to go unnoticed until the rewritten history is in
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- use for quite a while, at which point it's really hard to justify
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- another flag-day for another rewrite.)
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+ document or provide to a coworker, who then runs them on a different
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+ OS where the same commands are not working/tested (some examples in
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+ the git-filter-branch manpage are also affected by this).
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+ BSD vs. GNU userland differences can really bite. If lucky, error
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+ messages are spewed. But just as likely, the commands either don't
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+ do the filtering requested, or silently corrupt by making some
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+ unwanted change. The unwanted change may only affect a few commits,
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+ so it's not necessarily obvious either. (The fact that problems
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+ won't necessarily be obvious means they are likely to go unnoticed
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+ until the rewritten history is in use for quite a while, at which
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+ point it's really hard to justify another flag-day for another
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+ rewrite.)
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* Filenames with spaces are often mishandled by shell snippets since
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- they cause problems for shell pipelines. Not everyone is familiar with
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- find -print0, xargs -0, git-ls-files -z, etc. Even people who are
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- familiar with these may assume such flags are not relevant because
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- someone else renamed any such files in their repo back before the person
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- doing the filtering joined the project. And often, even those familiar
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- with handling arguments with spaces may not do so just because they
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- aren't in the mindset of thinking about everything that could possibly
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- go wrong.
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-
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- * Non-ascii filenames can be silently removed despite being in a desired
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- directory. Keeping only wanted paths is often done using pipelines like
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- `git ls-files | grep -v ^WANTED_DIR/ | xargs git rm`. ls-files will
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- only quote filenames if needed, so folks may not notice that one of the
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- files didn't match the regex (at least not until it's much too late).
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- Yes, someone who knows about core.quotePath can avoid this (unless they
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- have other special characters like \t, \n, or "), and people who use
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- ls-files -z with something other than grep can avoid this, but that
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- doesn't mean they will.
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-
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- * Similarly, when moving files around, one can find that filenames with
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- non-ascii or special characters end up in a different directory, one
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- that includes a double quote character. (This is technically the same
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- issue as above with quoting, but perhaps an interesting different way
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- that it can and has manifested as a problem.)
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+ they cause problems for shell pipelines. Not everyone is familiar
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+ with find -print0, xargs -0, git-ls-files -z, etc. Even people who
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+ are familiar with these may assume such flags are not relevant
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+ because someone else renamed any such files in their repo back
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+ before the person doing the filtering joined the project. And
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+ often, even those familiar with handling arguments with spaces may
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+ not do so just because they aren't in the mindset of thinking about
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+ everything that could possibly go wrong.
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+
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+ * Non-ascii filenames can be silently removed despite being in a
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+ desired directory. Keeping only wanted paths is often done using
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+ pipelines like `git ls-files | grep -v ^WANTED_DIR/ | xargs git rm`.
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+ ls-files will only quote filenames if needed, so folks may not
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+ notice that one of the files didn't match the regex (at least not
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+ until it's much too late). Yes, someone who knows about
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+ core.quotePath can avoid this (unless they have other special
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+ characters like \t, \n, or "), and people who use ls-files -z with
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+ something other than grep can avoid this, but that doesn't mean they
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+ will.
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+
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+ * Similarly, when moving files around, one can find that filenames
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+ with non-ascii or special characters end up in a different
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+ directory, one that includes a double quote character. (This is
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+ technically the same issue as above with quoting, but perhaps an
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+ interesting different way that it can and has manifested as a
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+ problem.)
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* It's far too easy to accidentally mix up old and new history. It's
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- still possible with any tool, but git-filter-branch almost invites it.
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- If lucky, the only downside is users getting frustrated that they don't
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- know how to shrink their repo and remove the old stuff. If unlucky,
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- they merge old and new history and end up with multiple "copies" of each
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- commit, some of which have unwanted or sensitive files and others which
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- don't. This comes about in multiple different ways:
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+ still possible with any tool, but git-filter-branch almost
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+ invites it. If lucky, the only downside is users getting frustrated
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+ that they don't know how to shrink their repo and remove the old
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+ stuff. If unlucky, they merge old and new history and end up with
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+ multiple "copies" of each commit, some of which have unwanted or
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+ sensitive files and others which don't. This comes about in
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+ multiple different ways:
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** the default to only doing a partial history rewrite ('--all' is not
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the default and few examples show it)
@@ -609,8 +615,8 @@ don't. This comes about in multiple different ways:
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"DISCUSSION" section of the git filter-repo manual page for more
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details.
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- * Annotated tags can be accidentally converted to lightweight tags, due
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- to either of two issues:
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+ * Annotated tags can be accidentally converted to lightweight tags,
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+ due to either of two issues:
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** Someone can do a history rewrite, realize they messed up, restore
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from the backups in refs/original/, and then redo their
@@ -623,71 +629,74 @@ to either of two issues:
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restored from refs/original/ in a previously botched rewrite).
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* Any commit messages that specify an encoding will become corrupted
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- by the rewrite; git-filter-branch ignores the encoding, takes the original
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- bytes, and feeds it to commit-tree without telling it the proper
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- encoding. (This happens whether or not --msg-filter is used.)
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+ by the rewrite; git-filter-branch ignores the encoding, takes the
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+ original bytes, and feeds it to commit-tree without telling it the
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+ proper encoding. (This happens whether or not --msg-filter is
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+ used.)
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* Commit messages (even if they are all UTF-8) by default become
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- corrupted due to not being updated -- any references to other commit
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- hashes in commit messages will now refer to no-longer-extant commits.
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-
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- * There are no facilities for helping users find what unwanted crud they
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- should delete, which means they are much more likely to have incomplete
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- or partial cleanups that sometimes result in confusion and people
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- wasting time trying to understand. (For example, folks tend to just
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- look for big files to delete instead of big directories or extensions,
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- and once they do so, then sometime later folks using the new repository
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- who are going through history will notice a build artifact directory
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- that has some files but not others, or a cache of dependencies
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- (node_modules or similar) which couldn't have ever been functional since
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- it's missing some files.)
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+ corrupted due to not being updated -- any references to other commit
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+ hashes in commit messages will now refer to no-longer-extant
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+ commits.
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+
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+ * There are no facilities for helping users find what unwanted crud
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+ they should delete, which means they are much more likely to have
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+ incomplete or partial cleanups that sometimes result in confusion
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+ and people wasting time trying to understand. (For example, folks
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+ tend to just look for big files to delete instead of big directories
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+ or extensions, and once they do so, then sometime later folks using
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+ the new repository who are going through history will notice a build
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+ artifact directory that has some files but not others, or a cache of
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+ dependencies (node_modules or similar) which couldn't have ever been
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+ functional since it's missing some files.)
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* If --prune-empty isn't specified, then the filtering process can
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- create hoards of confusing empty commits
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+ create hoards of confusing empty commits
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* If --prune-empty is specified, then intentionally placed empty
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- commits from before the filtering operation are also pruned instead of
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- just pruning commits that became empty due to filtering rules.
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+ commits from before the filtering operation are also pruned instead
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+ of just pruning commits that became empty due to filtering rules.
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* If --prune-empty is specified, sometimes empty commits are missed
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- and left around anyway (a somewhat rare bug, but it happens...)
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+ and left around anyway (a somewhat rare bug, but it happens...)
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* A minor issue, but users who have a goal to update all names and
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- emails in a repository may be led to --env-filter which will only update
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- authors and committers, missing taggers.
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+ emails in a repository may be led to --env-filter which will only
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+ update authors and committers, missing taggers.
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* If the user provides a --tag-name-filter that maps multiple tags to
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- the same name, no warning or error is provided; git-filter-branch simply
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- overwrites each tag in some undocumented pre-defined order resulting in
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- only one tag at the end. (A git-filter-branch regression test requires
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- this surprising behavior.)
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+ the same name, no warning or error is provided; git-filter-branch
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+ simply overwrites each tag in some undocumented pre-defined order
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+ resulting in only one tag at the end. (A git-filter-branch
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+ regression test requires this surprising behavior.)
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Also, the poor performance of git-filter-branch often leads to safety
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issues:
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- * Coming up with the correct shell snippet to do the filtering you want
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- is sometimes difficult unless you're just doing a trivial modification
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- such as deleting a couple files. Unfortunately, people often learn if
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- the snippet is right or wrong by trying it out, but the rightness or
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- wrongness can vary depending on special circumstances (spaces in
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- filenames, non-ascii filenames, funny author names or emails, invalid
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- timezones, presence of grafts or replace objects, etc.), meaning they
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- may have to wait a long time, hit an error, then restart. The
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- performance of git-filter-branch is so bad that this cycle is painful,
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- reducing the time available to carefully re-check (to say nothing about
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- what it does to the patience of the person doing the rewrite even if
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- they do technically have more time available). This problem is extra
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- compounded because errors from broken filters may not be shown for a
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- long time and/or get lost in a sea of output. Even worse, broken
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- filters often just result in silent incorrect rewrites.
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-
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- * To top it all off, even when users finally find working commands, they
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- naturally want to share them. But they may be unaware that their repo
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- didn't have some special cases that someone else's does. So, when
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- someone else with a different repository runs the same commands, they
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- get hit by the problems above. Or, the user just runs commands that
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- really were vetted for special cases, but they run it on a different OS
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- where it doesn't work, as noted above.
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+ * Coming up with the correct shell snippet to do the filtering you
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+ want is sometimes difficult unless you're just doing a trivial
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+ modification such as deleting a couple files. Unfortunately, people
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+ often learn if the snippet is right or wrong by trying it out, but
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+ the rightness or wrongness can vary depending on special
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+ circumstances (spaces in filenames, non-ascii filenames, funny
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+ author names or emails, invalid timezones, presence of grafts or
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+ replace objects, etc.), meaning they may have to wait a long time,
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+ hit an error, then restart. The performance of git-filter-branch is
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+ so bad that this cycle is painful, reducing the time available to
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+ carefully re-check (to say nothing about what it does to the
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+ patience of the person doing the rewrite even if they do technically
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+ have more time available). This problem is extra compounded because
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+ errors from broken filters may not be shown for a long time and/or
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+ get lost in a sea of output. Even worse, broken filters often just
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+ result in silent incorrect rewrites.
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+
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+ * To top it all off, even when users finally find working commands,
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+ they naturally want to share them. But they may be unaware that
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+ their repo didn't have some special cases that someone else's does.
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+ So, when someone else with a different repository runs the same
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+ commands, they get hit by the problems above. Or, the user just
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+ runs commands that really were vetted for special cases, but they
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+ run it on a different OS where it doesn't work, as noted above.
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GIT
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