git-pack-redundant

git pack-redundant [-q] [-a] [-d]

-q
    Run quietly. Only errors are printed.

-a
    Consider all pack files, not just those that are considered 'redundant' by Git's internal heuristics.

-d
    Delete the redundant pack files found (after confirmation if not running quietly). This operation is destructive and irreversible if not backed up.

The git-pack-redundant command identifies and eliminates redundant pack files within a Git repository's object database. Redundant pack files arise when multiple pack files contain overlapping sets of Git objects. This often happens after running git repack multiple times without carefully managing the resulting pack files.
By removing redundancy, git-pack-redundant helps reclaim disk space and potentially improve Git performance by reducing the number of pack files that need to be searched during object lookup. This command iterates through all pack files in the repository, determines overlaps based on the objects contained within them, and then identifies packs that can be safely removed without losing any objects. It's typically used as a maintenance tool to optimize the repository's object storage.

Always back up your repository before running git pack-redundant -d, as it permanently deletes files. Removing the wrong pack files can corrupt your repository. Use the command without the -d flag first to see what it intends to delete, and carefully verify the output before proceeding.

The command builds an index of all objects contained in each pack file. It then compares these indexes to identify packs whose contents are entirely subsumed by other packs. The command only identifies packs as redundant if all of their objects are also present in other packs. The object ID-to-offset index is used to calculate redundancy, avoiding expensive object content reads and comparisons.

For very large repositories with a large number of pack files, git pack-redundant can take a considerable amount of time to run, especially without the -q (quiet) flag. Consider running it during off-peak hours or on a dedicated machine.

git repack(1), git gc(1)