3 == What's an Object Walk?
5 The object walk is a key concept in Git - this is the process that underpins
6 operations like object transfer and fsck. Beginning from a given commit, the
7 list of objects is found by walking parent relationships between commits (commit
8 X based on commit W) and containment relationships between objects (tree Y is
9 contained within commit X, and blob Z is located within tree Y, giving our
10 working tree for commit X something like `y/z.txt`).
12 A related concept is the revision walk, which is focused on commit objects and
13 their parent relationships and does not delve into other object types. The
14 revision walk is used for operations like `git log`.
18 - `Documentation/user-manual.txt` under "Hacking Git" contains some coverage of
19 the revision walker in its various incarnations.
21 - https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/[Git for Computer Scientists]
22 gives a good overview of the types of objects in Git and what your object
23 walk is really describing.
27 Create a new branch from `master`.
30 git checkout -b revwalk origin/master
33 We'll put our fiddling into a new command. For fun, let's name it `git walken`.
34 Open up a new file `builtin/walken.c` and set up the command handler:
40 * Part of the "My First Object Walk" tutorial.
45 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
47 trace_printf(_("cmd_walken incoming...\n"));
52 NOTE: `trace_printf()` differs from `printf()` in that it can be turned on or
53 off at runtime. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will write `walken` as
54 though it is intended for use as a "plumbing" command: that is, a command which
55 is used primarily in scripts, rather than interactively by humans (a "porcelain"
56 command). So we will send our debug output to `trace_printf()` instead. When
57 running, enable trace output by setting the environment variable `GIT_TRACE`.
59 Add usage text and `-h` handling, like all subcommands should consistently do
60 (our test suite will notice and complain if you fail to do so).
63 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
65 const char * const walken_usage[] = {
69 struct option options[] = {
73 argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, walken_usage, 0);
79 Also add the relevant line in `builtin.h` near `cmd_whatchanged()`:
82 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
85 Include the command in `git.c` in `commands[]` near the entry for `whatchanged`,
86 maintaining alphabetical ordering:
89 { "walken", cmd_walken, RUN_SETUP },
92 Add it to the `Makefile` near the line for `builtin/worktree.o`:
95 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/walken.o
98 Build and test out your command, without forgetting to ensure the `DEVELOPER`
99 flag is set, and with `GIT_TRACE` enabled so the debug output can be seen:
102 $ echo DEVELOPER=1 >>config.mak
104 $ GIT_TRACE=1 ./bin-wrappers/git walken
107 NOTE: For a more exhaustive overview of the new command process, take a look at
108 `Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt`.
110 NOTE: A reference implementation can be found at
111 https://github.com/nasamuffin/git/tree/revwalk.
113 === `struct rev_cmdline_info`
115 The definition of `struct rev_cmdline_info` can be found in `revision.h`.
117 This struct is contained within the `rev_info` struct and is used to reflect
118 parameters provided by the user over the CLI.
120 `nr` represents the number of `rev_cmdline_entry` present in the array.
122 `alloc` is used by the `ALLOC_GROW` macro. Check `cache.h` - this variable is
123 used to track the allocated size of the list.
127 `item` is the object provided upon which to base the object walk. Items in Git
128 can be blobs, trees, commits, or tags. (See `Documentation/gittutorial-2.txt`.)
130 `name` is the object ID (OID) of the object - a hex string you may be familiar
131 with from using Git to organize your source in the past. Check the tutorial
132 mentioned above towards the top for a discussion of where the OID can come
135 `whence` indicates some information about what to do with the parents of the
136 specified object. We'll explore this flag more later on; take a look at
137 `Documentation/revisions.txt` to get an idea of what could set the `whence`
140 `flags` are used to hint the beginning of the revision walk and are the first
141 block under the `#include`s in `revision.h`. The most likely ones to be set in
142 the `rev_cmdline_info` are `UNINTERESTING` and `BOTTOM`, but these same flags
143 can be used during the walk, as well.
145 === `struct rev_info`
147 This one is quite a bit longer, and many fields are only used during the walk
148 by `revision.c` - not configuration options. Most of the configurable flags in
149 `struct rev_info` have a mirror in `Documentation/rev-list-options.txt`. It's a
150 good idea to take some time and read through that document.
154 First, let's see if we can replicate the output of `git log --oneline`. We'll
155 refer back to the implementation frequently to discover norms when performing
156 an object walk of our own.
158 To do so, we'll first find all the commits, in order, which preceded the current
159 commit. We'll extract the name and subject of the commit from each.
161 Ideally, we will also be able to find out which ones are currently at the tip of
166 Preparing for your object walk has some distinct stages.
168 1. Perform default setup for this mode, and others which may be invoked.
169 2. Check configuration files for relevant settings.
170 3. Set up the `rev_info` struct.
171 4. Tweak the initialized `rev_info` to suit the current walk.
172 5. Prepare the `rev_info` for the walk.
173 6. Iterate over the objects, processing each one.
177 Before examining configuration files which may modify command behavior, set up
178 default state for switches or options your command may have. If your command
179 utilizes other Git components, ask them to set up their default states as well.
180 For instance, `git log` takes advantage of `grep` and `diff` functionality, so
181 its `init_log_defaults()` sets its own state (`decoration_style`) and asks
182 `grep` and `diff` to initialize themselves by calling each of their
183 initialization functions.
185 For our first example within `git walken`, we don't intend to use any other
186 components within Git, and we don't have any configuration to do. However, we
187 may want to add some later, so for now, we can add an empty placeholder. Create
188 a new function in `builtin/walken.c`:
191 static void init_walken_defaults(void)
194 * We don't actually need the same components `git log` does; leave this
200 Make sure to add a line invoking it inside of `cmd_walken()`.
203 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
205 init_walken_defaults();
209 ==== Configuring From `.gitconfig`
211 Next, we should have a look at any relevant configuration settings (i.e.,
212 settings readable and settable from `git config`). This is done by providing a
213 callback to `git_config()`; within that callback, you can also invoke methods
214 from other components you may need that need to intercept these options. Your
215 callback will be invoked once per each configuration value which Git knows about
216 (global, local, worktree, etc.).
218 Similarly to the default values, we don't have anything to do here yet
219 ourselves; however, we should call `git_default_config()` if we aren't calling
220 any other existing config callbacks.
222 Add a new function to `builtin/walken.c`:
225 static int git_walken_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
228 * For now, we don't have any custom configuration, so fall back to
229 * the default config.
231 return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
235 Make sure to invoke `git_config()` with it in your `cmd_walken()`:
238 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
242 git_config(git_walken_config, NULL);
248 ==== Setting Up `rev_info`
250 Now that we've gathered external configuration and options, it's time to
251 initialize the `rev_info` object which we will use to perform the walk. This is
252 typically done by calling `repo_init_revisions()` with the repository you intend
253 to target, as well as the `prefix` argument of `cmd_walken` and your `rev_info`
256 Add the `struct rev_info` and the `repo_init_revisions()` call:
258 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
260 /* This can go wherever you like in your declarations.*/
264 /* This should go after the git_config() call. */
265 repo_init_revisions(the_repository, &rev, prefix);
271 ==== Tweaking `rev_info` For the Walk
273 We're getting close, but we're still not quite ready to go. Now that `rev` is
274 initialized, we can modify it to fit our needs. This is usually done within a
275 helper for clarity, so let's add one:
278 static void final_rev_info_setup(struct rev_info *rev)
281 * We want to mimic the appearance of `git log --oneline`, so let's
282 * force oneline format.
284 get_commit_format("oneline", rev);
286 /* Start our object walk at HEAD. */
287 add_head_to_pending(rev);
293 Instead of using the shorthand `add_head_to_pending()`, you could do
296 struct setup_revision_opt opt;
298 memset(&opt, 0, sizeof(opt));
300 opt.revarg_opt = REVARG_COMMITTISH;
301 setup_revisions(argc, argv, rev, &opt);
303 Using a `setup_revision_opt` gives you finer control over your walk's starting
307 Then let's invoke `final_rev_info_setup()` after the call to
308 `repo_init_revisions()`:
311 int cmd_walken(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
315 final_rev_info_setup(&rev);
321 Later, we may wish to add more arguments to `final_rev_info_setup()`. But for
322 now, this is all we need.
324 ==== Preparing `rev_info` For the Walk
326 Now that `rev` is all initialized and configured, we've got one more setup step
327 before we get rolling. We can do this in a helper, which will both prepare the
328 `rev_info` for the walk, and perform the walk itself. Let's start the helper
329 with the call to `prepare_revision_walk()`, which can return an error without
333 static void walken_commit_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
335 if (prepare_revision_walk(rev))
336 die(_("revision walk setup failed"));
340 NOTE: `die()` prints to `stderr` and exits the program. Since it will print to
341 `stderr` it's likely to be seen by a human, so we will localize it.
343 ==== Performing the Walk!
345 Finally! We are ready to begin the walk itself. Now we can see that `rev_info`
346 can also be used as an iterator; we move to the next item in the walk by using
347 `get_revision()` repeatedly. Add the listed variable declarations at the top and
348 the walk loop below the `prepare_revision_walk()` call within your
349 `walken_commit_walk()`:
352 static void walken_commit_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
354 struct commit *commit;
355 struct strbuf prettybuf = STRBUF_INIT;
359 while ((commit = get_revision(rev))) {
360 strbuf_reset(&prettybuf);
361 pp_commit_easy(CMIT_FMT_ONELINE, commit, &prettybuf);
364 strbuf_release(&prettybuf);
368 NOTE: `puts()` prints a `char*` to `stdout`. Since this is the part of the
369 command we expect to be machine-parsed, we're sending it directly to stdout.
375 $ ./bin-wrappers/git walken
378 You should see all of the subject lines of all the commits in
379 your tree's history, in order, ending with the initial commit, "Initial revision
380 of "git", the information manager from hell". Congratulations! You've written
381 your first revision walk. You can play with printing some additional fields
382 from each commit if you're curious; have a look at the functions available in
387 Next, let's try to filter the commits we see based on their author. This is
388 equivalent to running `git log --author=<pattern>`. We can add a filter by
389 modifying `rev_info.grep_filter`, which is a `struct grep_opt`.
391 First some setup. Add `init_grep_defaults()` to `init_walken_defaults()` and add
392 `grep_config()` to `git_walken_config()`:
395 static void init_walken_defaults(void)
397 init_grep_defaults(the_repository);
402 static int git_walken_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
404 grep_config(var, value, cb);
405 return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
409 Next, we can modify the `grep_filter`. This is done with convenience functions
410 found in `grep.h`. For fun, we're filtering to only commits from folks using a
411 `gmail.com` email address - a not-very-precise guess at who may be working on
412 Git as a hobby. Since we're checking the author, which is a specific line in the
413 header, we'll use the `append_header_grep_pattern()` helper. We can use
414 the `enum grep_header_field` to indicate which part of the commit header we want
417 In `final_rev_info_setup()`, add your filter line:
420 static void final_rev_info_setup(int argc, const char **argv,
421 const char *prefix, struct rev_info *rev)
425 append_header_grep_pattern(&rev->grep_filter, GREP_HEADER_AUTHOR,
427 compile_grep_patterns(&rev->grep_filter);
433 `append_header_grep_pattern()` adds your new "gmail" pattern to `rev_info`, but
434 it won't work unless we compile it with `compile_grep_patterns()`.
436 NOTE: If you are using `setup_revisions()` (for example, if you are passing a
437 `setup_revision_opt` instead of using `add_head_to_pending()`), you don't need
438 to call `compile_grep_patterns()` because `setup_revisions()` calls it for you.
440 NOTE: We could add the same filter via the `append_grep_pattern()` helper if we
441 wanted to, but `append_header_grep_pattern()` adds the `enum grep_context` and
442 `enum grep_pat_token` for us.
444 === Changing the Order
446 There are a few ways that we can change the order of the commits during a
447 revision walk. Firstly, we can use the `enum rev_sort_order` to choose from some
450 `topo_order` is the same as `git log --topo-order`: we avoid showing a parent
451 before all of its children have been shown, and we avoid mixing commits which
452 are in different lines of history. (`git help log`'s section on `--topo-order`
453 has a very nice diagram to illustrate this.)
455 Let's see what happens when we run with `REV_SORT_BY_COMMIT_DATE` as opposed to
456 `REV_SORT_BY_AUTHOR_DATE`. Add the following:
459 static void final_rev_info_setup(int argc, const char **argv,
460 const char *prefix, struct rev_info *rev)
465 rev->sort_order = REV_SORT_BY_COMMIT_DATE;
471 Let's output this into a file so we can easily diff it with the walk sorted by
476 $ ./bin-wrappers/git walken > commit-date.txt
479 Then, let's sort by author date and run it again.
482 static void final_rev_info_setup(int argc, const char **argv,
483 const char *prefix, struct rev_info *rev)
488 rev->sort_order = REV_SORT_BY_AUTHOR_DATE;
496 $ ./bin-wrappers/git walken > author-date.txt
499 Finally, compare the two. This is a little less helpful without object names or
500 dates, but hopefully we get the idea.
503 $ diff -u commit-date.txt author-date.txt
506 This display indicates that commits can be reordered after they're written, for
507 example with `git rebase`.
509 Let's try one more reordering of commits. `rev_info` exposes a `reverse` flag.
510 Set that flag somewhere inside of `final_rev_info_setup()`:
513 static void final_rev_info_setup(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
514 struct rev_info *rev)
524 Run your walk again and note the difference in order. (If you remove the grep
525 pattern, you should see the last commit this call gives you as your current
530 So far we've been walking only commits. But Git has more types of objects than
531 that! Let's see if we can walk _all_ objects, and find out some information
534 We can base our work on an example. `git pack-objects` prepares all kinds of
535 objects for packing into a bitmap or packfile. The work we are interested in
536 resides in `builtins/pack-objects.c:get_object_list()`; examination of that
537 function shows that the all-object walk is being performed by
538 `traverse_commit_list()` or `traverse_commit_list_filtered()`. Those two
539 functions reside in `list-objects.c`; examining the source shows that, despite
540 the name, these functions traverse all kinds of objects. Let's have a look at
541 the arguments to `traverse_commit_list_filtered()`, which are a superset of the
542 arguments to the unfiltered version.
544 - `struct list_objects_filter_options *filter_options`: This is a struct which
545 stores a filter-spec as outlined in `Documentation/rev-list-options.txt`.
546 - `struct rev_info *revs`: This is the `rev_info` used for the walk.
547 - `show_commit_fn show_commit`: A callback which will be used to handle each
548 individual commit object.
549 - `show_object_fn show_object`: A callback which will be used to handle each
550 non-commit object (so each blob, tree, or tag).
551 - `void *show_data`: A context buffer which is passed in turn to `show_commit`
553 - `struct oidset *omitted`: A linked-list of object IDs which the provided
554 filter caused to be omitted.
556 It looks like this `traverse_commit_list_filtered()` uses callbacks we provide
557 instead of needing us to call it repeatedly ourselves. Cool! Let's add the
560 For the sake of this tutorial, we'll simply keep track of how many of each kind
561 of object we find. At file scope in `builtin/walken.c` add the following
565 static int commit_count;
566 static int tag_count;
567 static int blob_count;
568 static int tree_count;
571 Commits are handled by a different callback than other objects; let's do that
575 static void walken_show_commit(struct commit *cmt, void *buf)
581 The `cmt` argument is fairly self-explanatory. But it's worth mentioning that
582 the `buf` argument is actually the context buffer that we can provide to the
583 traversal calls - `show_data`, which we mentioned a moment ago.
585 Since we have the `struct commit` object, we can look at all the same parts that
586 we looked at in our earlier commit-only walk. For the sake of this tutorial,
587 though, we'll just increment the commit counter and move on.
589 The callback for non-commits is a little different, as we'll need to check
590 which kind of object we're dealing with:
593 static void walken_show_object(struct object *obj, const char *str, void *buf)
606 BUG("unexpected commit object in walken_show_object\n");
608 BUG("unexpected object type %s in walken_show_object\n",
609 type_name(obj->type));
614 Again, `obj` is fairly self-explanatory, and we can guess that `buf` is the same
615 context pointer that `walken_show_commit()` receives: the `show_data` argument
616 to `traverse_commit_list()` and `traverse_commit_list_filtered()`. Finally,
617 `str` contains the name of the object, which ends up being something like
618 `foo.txt` (blob), `bar/baz` (tree), or `v1.2.3` (tag).
620 To help assure us that we aren't double-counting commits, we'll include some
621 complaining if a commit object is routed through our non-commit callback; we'll
622 also complain if we see an invalid object type. Since those two cases should be
623 unreachable, and would only change in the event of a semantic change to the Git
624 codebase, we complain by using `BUG()` - which is a signal to a developer that
625 the change they made caused unintended consequences, and the rest of the
626 codebase needs to be updated to understand that change. `BUG()` is not intended
627 to be seen by the public, so it is not localized.
629 Our main object walk implementation is substantially different from our commit
630 walk implementation, so let's make a new function to perform the object walk. We
631 can perform setup which is applicable to all objects here, too, to keep separate
632 from setup which is applicable to commit-only walks.
634 We'll start by enabling all types of objects in the `struct rev_info`. We'll
635 also turn on `tree_blobs_in_commit_order`, which means that we will walk a
636 commit's tree and everything it points to immediately after we find each commit,
637 as opposed to waiting for the end and walking through all trees after the commit
638 history has been discovered. With the appropriate settings configured, we are
639 ready to call `prepare_revision_walk()`.
642 static void walken_object_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
644 rev->tree_objects = 1;
645 rev->blob_objects = 1;
646 rev->tag_objects = 1;
647 rev->tree_blobs_in_commit_order = 1;
649 if (prepare_revision_walk(rev))
650 die(_("revision walk setup failed"));
658 Let's start by calling just the unfiltered walk and reporting our counts.
659 Complete your implementation of `walken_object_walk()`:
662 traverse_commit_list(rev, walken_show_commit, walken_show_object, NULL);
664 printf("commits %d\nblobs %d\ntags %d\ntrees %d\n", commit_count,
665 blob_count, tag_count, tree_count);
669 NOTE: This output is intended to be machine-parsed. Therefore, we are not
670 sending it to `trace_printf()`, and we are not localizing it - we need scripts
671 to be able to count on the formatting to be exactly the way it is shown here.
672 If we were intending this output to be read by humans, we would need to localize
675 Finally, we'll ask `cmd_walken()` to use the object walk instead. Discussing
676 command line options is out of scope for this tutorial, so we'll just hardcode
677 a branch we can change at compile time. Where you call `final_rev_info_setup()`
678 and `walken_commit_walk()`, instead branch like so:
682 add_head_to_pending(&rev);
683 walken_object_walk(&rev);
685 final_rev_info_setup(argc, argv, prefix, &rev);
686 walken_commit_walk(&rev);
690 NOTE: For simplicity, we've avoided all the filters and sorts we applied in
691 `final_rev_info_setup()` and simply added `HEAD` to our pending queue. If you
692 want, you can certainly use the filters we added before by moving
693 `final_rev_info_setup()` out of the conditional and removing the call to
694 `add_head_to_pending()`.
696 Now we can try to run our command! It should take noticeably longer than the
697 commit walk, but an examination of the output will give you an idea why. Your
698 output should look similar to this example, but with different counts:
701 Object walk completed. Found 55733 commits, 100274 blobs, 0 tags, and 104210 trees.
704 This makes sense. We have more trees than commits because the Git project has
705 lots of subdirectories which can change, plus at least one tree per commit. We
706 have no tags because we started on a commit (`HEAD`) and while tags can point to
707 commits, commits can't point to tags.
709 NOTE: You will have different counts when you run this yourself! The number of
710 objects grows along with the Git project.
714 There are a handful of filters that we can apply to the object walk laid out in
715 `Documentation/rev-list-options.txt`. These filters are typically useful for
716 operations such as creating packfiles or performing a partial clone. They are
717 defined in `list-objects-filter-options.h`. For the purposes of this tutorial we
718 will use the "tree:1" filter, which causes the walk to omit all trees and blobs
719 which are not directly referenced by commits reachable from the commit in
720 `pending` when the walk begins. (`pending` is the list of objects which need to
721 be traversed during a walk; you can imagine a breadth-first tree traversal to
722 help understand. In our case, that means we omit trees and blobs not directly
723 referenced by `HEAD` or `HEAD`'s history, because we begin the walk with only
724 `HEAD` in the `pending` list.)
726 First, we'll need to `#include "list-objects-filter-options.h`" and set up the
727 `struct list_objects_filter_options` at the top of the function.
730 static void walken_object_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
732 struct list_objects_filter_options filter_options = {};
737 For now, we are not going to track the omitted objects, so we'll replace those
738 parameters with `NULL`. For the sake of simplicity, we'll add a simple
739 build-time branch to use our filter or not. Replace the line calling
740 `traverse_commit_list()` with the following, which will remind us which kind of
741 walk we've just performed:
746 trace_printf(_("Unfiltered object walk.\n"));
747 traverse_commit_list(rev, walken_show_commit,
748 walken_show_object, NULL);
751 _("Filtered object walk with filterspec 'tree:1'.\n"));
752 parse_list_objects_filter(&filter_options, "tree:1");
754 traverse_commit_list_filtered(&filter_options, rev,
755 walken_show_commit, walken_show_object, NULL, NULL);
759 `struct list_objects_filter_options` is usually built directly from a command
760 line argument, so the module provides an easy way to build one from a string.
761 Even though we aren't taking user input right now, we can still build one with
762 a hardcoded string using `parse_list_objects_filter()`.
764 With the filter spec "tree:1", we are expecting to see _only_ the root tree for
765 each commit; therefore, the tree object count should be less than or equal to
766 the number of commits. (For an example of why that's true: `git commit --revert`
767 points to the same tree object as its grandparent.)
769 === Counting Omitted Objects
771 We also have the capability to enumerate all objects which were omitted by a
772 filter, like with `git log --filter=<spec> --filter-print-omitted`. Asking
773 `traverse_commit_list_filtered()` to populate the `omitted` list means that our
774 object walk does not perform any better than an unfiltered object walk; all
775 reachable objects are walked in order to populate the list.
777 First, add the `struct oidset` and related items we will use to iterate it:
780 static void walken_object_walk(
783 struct oidset omitted;
784 struct oidset_iter oit;
785 struct object_id *oid = NULL;
786 int omitted_count = 0;
787 oidset_init(&omitted, 0);
792 Modify the call to `traverse_commit_list_filtered()` to include your `omitted`
798 traverse_commit_list_filtered(&filter_options, rev,
799 walken_show_commit, walken_show_object, NULL, &omitted);
804 Then, after your traversal, the `oidset` traversal is pretty straightforward.
805 Count all the objects within and modify the print statement:
808 /* Count the omitted objects. */
809 oidset_iter_init(&omitted, &oit);
811 while ((oid = oidset_iter_next(&oit)))
814 printf("commits %d\nblobs %d\ntags %d\ntrees%d\nomitted %d\n",
815 commit_count, blob_count, tag_count, tree_count, omitted_count);
818 By running your walk with and without the filter, you should find that the total
819 object count in each case is identical. You can also time each invocation of
820 the `walken` subcommand, with and without `omitted` being passed in, to confirm
821 to yourself the runtime impact of tracking all omitted objects.
823 === Changing the Order
825 Finally, let's demonstrate that you can also reorder walks of all objects, not
826 just walks of commits. First, we'll make our handlers chattier - modify
827 `walken_show_commit()` and `walken_show_object()` to print the object as they
831 static void walken_show_commit(struct commit *cmt, void *buf)
833 trace_printf("commit: %s\n", oid_to_hex(&cmt->object.oid));
837 static void walken_show_object(struct object *obj, const char *str, void *buf)
839 trace_printf("%s: %s\n", type_name(obj->type), oid_to_hex(&obj->oid));
845 NOTE: Since we will be examining this output directly as humans, we'll use
846 `trace_printf()` here. Additionally, since this change introduces a significant
847 number of printed lines, using `trace_printf()` will allow us to easily silence
848 those lines without having to recompile.
850 (Leave the counter increment logic in place.)
852 With only that change, run again (but save yourself some scrollback):
855 $ GIT_TRACE=1 ./bin-wrappers/git walken | head -n 10
858 Take a look at the top commit with `git show` and the object ID you printed; it
859 should be the same as the output of `git show HEAD`.
861 Next, let's change a setting on our `struct rev_info` within
862 `walken_object_walk()`. Find where you're changing the other settings on `rev`,
863 such as `rev->tree_objects` and `rev->tree_blobs_in_commit_order`, and add the
864 `reverse` setting at the bottom:
869 rev->tree_objects = 1;
870 rev->blob_objects = 1;
871 rev->tag_objects = 1;
872 rev->tree_blobs_in_commit_order = 1;
878 Now, run again, but this time, let's grab the last handful of objects instead
879 of the first handful:
883 $ GIT_TRACE=1 ./bin-wrappers git walken | tail -n 10
886 The last commit object given should have the same OID as the one we saw at the
887 top before, and running `git show <oid>` with that OID should give you again
888 the same results as `git show HEAD`. Furthermore, if you run and examine the
889 first ten lines again (with `head` instead of `tail` like we did before applying
890 the `reverse` setting), you should see that now the first commit printed is the
891 initial commit, `e83c5163`.
895 Let's review. In this tutorial, we:
897 - Built a commit walk from the ground up
898 - Enabled a grep filter for that commit walk
899 - Changed the sort order of that filtered commit walk
900 - Built an object walk (tags, commits, trees, and blobs) from the ground up
901 - Learned how to add a filter-spec to an object walk
902 - Changed the display order of the filtered object walk