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fetch: skip prune walk without refspec destinations#2336

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fetch: skip prune walk without refspec destinations#2336
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michaelm-openai:prune-skip-dstless-refspecs

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@dscho

dscho commented Jun 13, 2026

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User michaelm-openai is now allowed to use GitGitGadget.

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@michaelm-openai michaelm-openai force-pushed the prune-skip-dstless-refspecs branch from 4bc5a37 to 731237f Compare June 13, 2026 11:14
With `--prune` and explicit refspecs, get_stale_heads() compares
every local ref with every refspec. A refspec without a destination
cannot match a local ref, but get_stale_heads() still walks all local
refs.

In a repository with an `origin` remote, a user can trigger this scan
by fetching a branch without its blobs and then checking it out:

    git fetch --filter=blob:none origin <branch>
    git -c fetch.prune=true checkout FETCH_HEAD

The filtered fetch may omit blobs needed to check out FETCH_HEAD.
`git checkout` sends the missing blob OIDs to `git fetch --stdin` as
refspecs without destinations. For M missing blobs and N local refs,
get_stale_heads() performs O(MN) refspec checks and cannot prune any
ref. The checkout cannot update the worktree until the scan finishes.

Make get_stale_heads() return before it builds the fetched-ref list or
calls refs_for_each_ref() when no positive refspec has a destination.
Otherwise, build the list and walk the refs so pruning still handles
the local refs named by refspec destinations.

Add t5510 tests showing that OIDs supplied through `--stdin` keep
remote-tracking branches, while adding a refspec with a destination
still prunes mapped branches.

Add `t/perf/p5552-fetch-prune.sh` to measure elapsed time for
`git fetch --prune --stdin`. The test feeds 10,000 OIDs through
`--stdin`; each OID forms a refspec without a destination. It also
creates 20,000 packed remote-tracking refs. To isolate the local scan
from object transfer, the child repository already contains every
requested object.

Compare this commit with its parent using:

    ./t/perf/run HEAD^ HEAD -- p5552-fetch-prune.sh

The perf harness selects the best of three runs:

    5552.3: fetch --prune with refspecs without destinations
      HEAD^: 0.80(0.68+0.04)
      HEAD:  0.14(0.06+0.04) -82.5%

Signed-off-by: Michael Mitchell <michaelm@openai.com>
@michaelm-openai michaelm-openai force-pushed the prune-skip-dstless-refspecs branch from 731237f to a536eac Compare June 13, 2026 11:17
@michaelm-openai michaelm-openai changed the title fetch: skip prune walk for source-only refspecs fetch: skip prune walk without refspec destinations Jun 13, 2026
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