`gix-ref`: ref-table backend (research)

[Byron]

It's not in mainline yet, but definitely kind of on the way and available.

• an integration to mainline - superseded
• a standalone implementation
• the documentation in reftable.txt in the git repository

I thought I saw it show up once in the mainline git repository, but it's definitely not there anymore.

[KarthikNayak]

FYI this is now merged into v2.45.0 https://gitlab.com/git-vcs/git/-/blob/v2.45.1/Documentation/RelNotes/2.45.0.txt?ref_type=tags#L8

[kamulos]

This would be quite nice if supported. Just out of curiosity I used --ref-format=reftable when cloning some repos, but my starship prompt cannot show most information about the repo (for example which branch I am on).

[Byron]

Thanks for the heads-up! It will definitely take a while until this becomes priority, as it will only really be needed when gitoxide gets to the server side.

[KarthikNayak]

Thanks for the heads-up! It will definitely take a while until this becomes priority, as it will only really be needed when gitoxide gets to the server side.

Reftables can be used on the client side too. Like @kamulos mentioned, clients like starship would already break.

[Byron]

I am quite aware - however, those most interested would be servers, or users with huge monorepos. The latter are probably missing more features than just ref-table at the moment, so it will take a while. Ordinary use-cases don't have benefits switching to ref-table, as it makes the ref-database more obscure.

[KarthikNayak]

Yup, that I agree with. There is also talks about making it default a lot later, something to keep an eye out for https://lore.kernel.org/git/84c01f1b0a2d24d7de912606f548623601c0d715.1716555034.git.ps@pks.im/

[Byron]

Thanks! Please keep me posted about this. I definitely hope they won't make it default anytime soon, that would force my hand 😅. Thinking about it - the ton of Git libraries out there would all have to struggle to get that implemented, so my feeling is they will just keep what's working well by now.

[nasamuffin]

BTW, you may know that Patrick Steinhardt is dabbling in rewriting reftable into Rust. That might be reusable for gitoxide too, not sure.

[Byron]

That's great to hear, thank for sharing! I am pretty sure it will be reusable and am looking forward to integrating with it.

[Binlogo]

Thanks! Please keep me posted about this. I definitely hope they won't make it default anytime soon, that would force my hand 😅. Thinking about it - the ton of Git libraries out there would all have to struggle to get that implemented, so my feeling is they will just keep what's working well by now.

Just passing by with FYI: The [ANNOUNCE] Git v2.51.0 mentions:

 * The reftable ref backend has matured enough; Git 3.0 will make it
   the default format in a newly created repositories by default.

[Byron]

Thanks! In other news: I am in close contact with Patrick Steinhardt, the original author of the C version of RefTables. He has now found 2 great folks who want to take on the Rust port. That port will happen in the Git codebase itself, and should have a usable MIT-licensed crate as a result.

That then should be something gitoxide can consume and bring it into its own API. I will be in touch with everyone as it happens, and maybe we figure out together how that Rust port can be suitable for everyone.

In any case: great excitement :).