From 3f7c0e722e2733aede32b1e531caf83e7043d1bd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:06:51 -0400
Subject: pack-objects: support excluded-open packs with --stdin-packs

In cd846bacc7d (pack-objects: introduce '--stdin-packs=follow',
2025-06-23), pack-objects learned to traverse through commits in
included packs when using '--stdin-packs=follow', rescuing reachable
objects from unlisted packs into the output.

When we encounter a commit in an excluded pack during this rescuing
phase we will traverse through its parents. But because we set
`revs.no_kept_objects = 1`, commit simplification will prevent us from
showing it via `get_revision()`. (In practice, `--stdin-packs=follow`
walks commits down to the roots, but only opens up trees for ones that
do not appear in an excluded pack.)

But there are certain cases where we *do* need to see the parents of an
object in an excluded pack. Namely, if an object is rescue-able, but
only reachable from object(s) which appear in excluded packs, then
commit simplification will exclude those commits from the object
traversal, and we will never see a copy of that object, and thus not
rescue it.

This is what causes the failure in the previous commit during repacking.
When performing a geometric repack, packs above the geometric split that
weren't part of the previous MIDX (e.g., packs pushed directly into
`$GIT_DIR/objects/pack`) may not have full object closure.  When those
packs are listed as excluded via the '^' marker, the reachability
traversal encounters the sequence described above, and may miss objects
which we expect to rescue with `--stdin-packs=follow`.

Introduce a new "excluded-open" pack prefix, '!'. Like '^'-prefixed
packs, objects from '!'-prefixed packs are excluded from the resulting
pack. But unlike '^', commits in '!'-prefixed packs *are* used as
starting points for the follow traversal, and the traversal does not
treat them as a closure boundary.

In order to distinguish excluded-closed from excluded-open packs during
the traversal, introduce a new `pack_keep_in_core_open` bit on
`struct packed_git`, along with a corresponding `KEPT_PACK_IN_CORE_OPEN`
flag for the kept-pack cache.

In `add_object_entry_from_pack()`, move the `want_object_in_pack()`
check to *after* `add_pending_oid()`. This is necessary so that commits
from excluded-open packs are added as traversal tips even though their
objects won't appear in the output. As a consequence, the caller
`for_each_object_in_pack()` will always provide a non-NULL 'p', hence we
are able to drop the "if (p)" conditional.

The `include_check` and `include_check_obj` callbacks on `rev_info` are
used to halt the walk at closed-excluded packs, since objects behind a
'^' boundary are guaranteed to have closure and need not be rescued.

The following commit will make use of this new functionality within the
repack layer to resolve the test failure demonstrated in the previous
commit.

Signed-off-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc | 25 ++++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

(limited to 'Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc')

diff --git a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc
index 71b9682485..b78175fbe1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.adoc
@@ -94,13 +94,24 @@ base-name::
 	included packs (those not beginning with `^`), excluding any
 	objects listed in the excluded packs (beginning with `^`).
 +
-When `mode` is "follow", objects from packs not listed on stdin receive
-special treatment. Objects within unlisted packs will be included if
-those objects are (1) reachable from the included packs, and (2) not
-found in any excluded packs. This mode is useful, for example, to
-resurrect once-unreachable objects found in cruft packs to generate
-packs which are closed under reachability up to the boundary set by the
-excluded packs.
+When `mode` is "follow" packs may additionally be prefixed with `!`,
+indicating that they are excluded but not necessarily closed under
+reachability.  In addition to objects in included packs, the resulting
+pack may include additional objects based on the following:
++
+--
+* If any packs are marked with `!`, then objects reachable from such
+  packs or included ones via objects outside of excluded-closed packs
+  will be included. In this case, all `^` packs are treated as closed
+  under reachability.
+* Otherwise (if there are no `!` packs), objects within unlisted packs
+  will be included if those objects are (1) reachable from the
+  included packs, and (2) not found in any excluded packs.
+--
++
+This mode is useful, for example, to resurrect once-unreachable
+objects found in cruft packs to generate packs which are closed under
+reachability up to the boundary set by the excluded packs.
 +
 Incompatible with `--revs`, or options that imply `--revs` (such as
 `--all`), with the exception of `--unpacked`, which is compatible.
-- 
cgit v1.3

