fetch: document and test --refmap=""
To prevent long blocking time during a 'git fetch' call, a user
may want to set up a schedule for background 'git fetch' processes.
However, these runs will update the refs/remotes branches due to
the default refspec set in the config when Git adds a remote.
Hence the user will not notice when remote refs are updated during
their foreground fetches. In fact, they may _want_ those refs to
stay put so they can work with the refs from their last foreground
fetch call.
This can be accomplished by overriding the configured refspec using
'--refmap=' along with a custom refspec:
git fetch --refmap='' <remote> +refs/heads/*:refs/hidden/<remote>/*
to populate a custom ref space and download a pack of the new
reachable objects. This kind of call allows a few things to happen:
1. We download a new pack if refs have updated.
2. Since the refs/hidden branches exist, GC will not remove the
newly-downloaded data.
3. With fetch.writeCommitGraph enabled, the refs/hidden refs are
used to update the commit-graph file.
To avoid the refs/hidden directory from filling without bound, the
--prune option can be included. When providing a refspec like this,
the --prune option does not delete remote refs and instead only
deletes refs in the target refspace.
Update the documentation to clarify how '--refmap=""' works and
create tests to guarantee this behavior remains in the future.
Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <dstolee@microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>