diff --git a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt index b5944b4c51..6fec1eb8dc 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-maintenance.txt @@ -175,6 +175,50 @@ OPTIONS `maintenance..enabled` configured as `true` are considered. See the 'TASKS' section for the list of accepted `` values. + +TROUBLESHOOTING +--------------- +The `git maintenance` command is designed to simplify the repository +maintenance patterns while minimizing user wait time during Git commands. +A variety of configuration options are available to allow customizing this +process. The default maintenance options focus on operations that complete +quickly, even on large repositories. + +Users may find some cases where scheduled maintenance tasks do not run as +frequently as intended. Each `git maintenance run` command takes a lock on +the repository's object database, and this prevents other concurrent +`git maintenance run` commands from running on the same repository. Without +this safeguard, competing processes could leave the repository in an +unpredictable state. + +The background maintenance schedule runs `git maintenance run` processes +on an hourly basis. Each run executes the "hourly" tasks. At midnight, +that process also executes the "daily" tasks. At midnight on the first day +of the week, that process also executes the "weekly" tasks. A single +process iterates over each registered repository, performing the scheduled +tasks for that frequency. Depending on the number of registered +repositories and their sizes, this process may take longer than an hour. +In this case, multiple `git maintenance run` commands may run on the same +repository at the same time, colliding on the object database lock. This +results in one of the two tasks not running. + +If you find that some maintenance windows are taking longer than one hour +to complete, then consider reducing the complexity of your maintenance +tasks. For example, the `gc` task is much slower than the +`incremental-repack` task. However, this comes at a cost of a slightly +larger object database. Consider moving more expensive tasks to be run +less frequently. + +Expert users may consider scheduling their own maintenance tasks using a +different schedule than is available through `git maintenance start` and +Git configuration options. These users should be aware of the object +database lock and how concurrent `git maintenance run` commands behave. +Further, the `git gc` command should not be combined with +`git maintenance run` commands. `git gc` modifies the object database +but does not take the lock in the same way as `git maintenance run`. If +possible, use `git maintenance run --task=gc` instead of `git gc`. + + GIT --- Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite