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GIT:What is a thin pack?

+2 votes
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Please describe what is a thin pack and what are the difference between pre 1.8.5 and 1.8.5 about thin pack support?

posted Dec 5, 2013 by Kumar Mitrasen

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1 Answer

+1 vote

Under the hood objects are deltified, only the differences between an object and its base are stored. If both the diff and the base are in a pack, it's a normal pack. If the pack lacks the base, it's "thin". This makes thin packs more suited for network transfer because you transfer much less.

Imagine you have a 5k file, you fetch another version of the same file that changes 1 line. With thin pack, you receive just that line (not entirely true, but good enough). Without thin pack, you also receive the 5k file you already have because it's the base of the new version.

answer Dec 5, 2013 by Abhay Kulkarni
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