6 git-gc - Cleanup unnecessary files and optimize the local repository
12 'git gc' [--aggressive] [--auto] [--quiet] [--prune=<date> | --no-prune] [--force]
16 Runs a number of housekeeping tasks within the current repository,
17 such as compressing file revisions (to reduce disk space and increase
18 performance) and removing unreachable objects which may have been
19 created from prior invocations of 'git add'.
21 Users are encouraged to run this task on a regular basis within
22 each repository to maintain good disk space utilization and good
23 operating performance.
25 Some git commands may automatically run 'git gc'; see the `--auto` flag
26 below for details. If you know what you're doing and all you want is to
27 disable this behavior permanently without further considerations, just do:
29 ----------------------
30 $ git config --global gc.auto 0
31 ----------------------
37 Usually 'git gc' runs very quickly while providing good disk
38 space utilization and performance. This option will cause
39 'git gc' to more aggressively optimize the repository at the expense
40 of taking much more time. The effects of this optimization are
41 persistent, so this option only needs to be used occasionally; every
42 few hundred changesets or so.
45 With this option, 'git gc' checks whether any housekeeping is
46 required; if not, it exits without performing any work.
47 Some git commands run `git gc --auto` after performing
48 operations that could create many loose objects.
50 Housekeeping is required if there are too many loose objects or
51 too many packs in the repository. If the number of loose objects
52 exceeds the value of the `gc.auto` configuration variable, then
53 all loose objects are combined into a single pack using
54 `git repack -d -l`. Setting the value of `gc.auto` to 0
55 disables automatic packing of loose objects.
57 If the number of packs exceeds the value of `gc.autopacklimit`,
58 then existing packs (except those marked with a `.keep` file)
59 are consolidated into a single pack by using the `-A` option of
60 'git repack'. Setting `gc.autopacklimit` to 0 disables
61 automatic consolidation of packs.
64 Prune loose objects older than date (default is 2 weeks ago,
65 overridable by the config variable `gc.pruneExpire`). This
66 option is on by default.
69 Do not prune any loose objects.
72 Suppress all progress reports.
75 Force `git gc` to run even if there may be another `git gc`
76 instance running on this repository.
81 The optional configuration variable 'gc.reflogExpire' can be
82 set to indicate how long historical entries within each branch's
83 reflog should remain available in this repository. The setting is
84 expressed as a length of time, for example '90 days' or '3 months'.
85 It defaults to '90 days'.
87 The optional configuration variable 'gc.reflogExpireUnreachable'
88 can be set to indicate how long historical reflog entries which
89 are not part of the current branch should remain available in
90 this repository. These types of entries are generally created as
91 a result of using `git commit --amend` or `git rebase` and are the
92 commits prior to the amend or rebase occurring. Since these changes
93 are not part of the current project most users will want to expire
94 them sooner. This option defaults to '30 days'.
96 The above two configuration variables can be given to a pattern. For
97 example, this sets non-default expiry values only to remote-tracking
101 [gc "refs/remotes/*"]
103 reflogexpireUnreachable = 3 days
106 The optional configuration variable 'gc.rerereresolved' indicates
107 how long records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
108 kept. This defaults to 60 days.
110 The optional configuration variable 'gc.rerereunresolved' indicates
111 how long records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
112 kept. This defaults to 15 days.
114 The optional configuration variable 'gc.packrefs' determines if
115 'git gc' runs 'git pack-refs'. This can be set to "notbare" to enable
116 it within all non-bare repos or it can be set to a boolean value.
117 This defaults to true.
119 The optional configuration variable 'gc.aggressiveWindow' controls how
120 much time is spent optimizing the delta compression of the objects in
121 the repository when the --aggressive option is specified. The larger
122 the value, the more time is spent optimizing the delta compression. See
123 the documentation for the --window' option in linkgit:git-repack[1] for
124 more details. This defaults to 250.
126 The optional configuration variable 'gc.pruneExpire' controls how old
127 the unreferenced loose objects have to be before they are pruned. The
128 default is "2 weeks ago".
134 'git gc' tries very hard to be safe about the garbage it collects. In
135 particular, it will keep not only objects referenced by your current set
136 of branches and tags, but also objects referenced by the index,
137 remote-tracking branches, refs saved by 'git filter-branch' in
138 refs/original/, or reflogs (which may reference commits in branches
139 that were later amended or rewound).
141 If you are expecting some objects to be collected and they aren't, check
142 all of those locations and decide whether it makes sense in your case to
143 remove those references.
148 The 'git gc --auto' command will run the 'pre-auto-gc' hook. See
149 linkgit:githooks[5] for more information.
155 linkgit:git-reflog[1]
156 linkgit:git-repack[1]
157 linkgit:git-rerere[1]
161 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite