man5/gitformat-chunk.5

'\" t
.\"     Title: gitformat-chunk
.\"    Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 2025-07-24
.\"    Manual: Git Manual
.\"    Source: Git 2.50.1.461.ge4ef0485fd
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "GITFORMAT\-CHUNK" "5" "2025-07-24" "Git 2\&.50\&.1\&.461\&.ge4ef04" "Git Manual"
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" * Define some portability stuff
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
.\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
.\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
.el       .ds Aq '
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" * set default formatting
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" disable hyphenation
.nh
.\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
.ad l
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
.\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
.SH "NAME"
gitformat-chunk \- Chunk\-based file formats
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
Used by \fBgitformat-commit-graph\fR(5) and the "MIDX" format (see the pack format documentation in \fBgitformat-pack\fR(5))\&.
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
Some file formats in Git use a common concept of "chunks" to describe sections of the file\&. This allows structured access to a large file by scanning a small "table of contents" for the remaining data\&. This common format is used by the \fBcommit\-graph\fR and \fBmulti\-pack\-index\fR files\&. See the \fBmulti\-pack\-index\fR format in \fBgitformat-pack\fR(5) and the \fBcommit\-graph\fR format in \fBgitformat-commit-graph\fR(5) for how they use the chunks to describe structured data\&.
.sp
A chunk\-based file format begins with some header information custom to that format\&. That header should include enough information to identify the file type, format version, and number of chunks in the file\&. From this information, that file can determine the start of the chunk\-based region\&.
.sp
The chunk\-based region starts with a table of contents describing where each chunk starts and ends\&. This consists of (C+1) rows of 12 bytes each, where C is the number of chunks\&. Consider the following table:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
| Chunk ID (4 bytes) | Chunk Offset (8 bytes) |
|\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-|\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-|
| ID[0]              | OFFSET[0]              |
| \&.\&.\&.                | \&.\&.\&.                    |
| ID[C]              | OFFSET[C]              |
| 0x0000             | OFFSET[C+1]            |
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
Each row consists of a 4\-byte chunk identifier (ID) and an 8\-byte offset\&. Each integer is stored in network\-byte order\&.
.sp
The chunk identifier \fBID\fR[\fBi\fR] is a label for the data stored within this file from \fBOFFSET\fR[\fBi\fR] (inclusive) to \fBOFFSET\fR[\fBi+1\fR] (exclusive)\&. Thus, the size of the \fBi\fR`th \fBchunk\fR \fBis\fR \fBequal\fR \fBto\fR \fBthe\fR \fBdifference\fR \fBbetween\fR `OFFSET[\fBi+1\fR] and \fBOFFSET\fR[\fBi\fR]\&. This requires that the chunk data appears contiguously in the same order as the table of contents\&.
.sp
The final entry in the table of contents must be four zero bytes\&. This confirms that the table of contents is ending and provides the offset for the end of the chunk\-based data\&.
.sp
Note: The chunk\-based format expects that the file contains \fIat least\fR a trailing hash after \fBOFFSET\fR[\fBC+1\fR]\&.
.sp
Functions for working with chunk\-based file formats are declared in \fBchunk\-format\&.h\fR\&. Using these methods provide extra checks that assist developers when creating new file formats\&.
.SH "WRITING CHUNK\-BASED FILE FORMATS"
.sp
To write a chunk\-based file format, create a \fBstruct\fR \fBchunkfile\fR by calling \fBinit_chunkfile\fR() and pass a \fBstruct\fR \fBhashfile\fR pointer\&. The caller is responsible for opening the \fBhashfile\fR and writing header information so the file format is identifiable before the chunk\-based format begins\&.
.sp
Then, call \fBadd_chunk\fR() for each chunk that is intended for writing\&. This populates the \fBchunkfile\fR with information about the order and size of each chunk to write\&. Provide a \fBchunk_write_fn\fR function pointer to perform the write of the chunk data upon request\&.
.sp
Call \fBwrite_chunkfile\fR() to write the table of contents to the \fBhashfile\fR followed by each of the chunks\&. This will verify that each chunk wrote the expected amount of data so the table of contents is correct\&.
.sp
Finally, call \fBfree_chunkfile\fR() to clear the \fBstruct\fR \fBchunkfile\fR data\&. The caller is responsible for finalizing the \fBhashfile\fR by writing the trailing hash and closing the file\&.
.SH "READING CHUNK\-BASED FILE FORMATS"
.sp
To read a chunk\-based file format, the file must be opened as a memory\-mapped region\&. The chunk\-format API expects that the entire file is mapped as a contiguous memory region\&.
.sp
Initialize a \fBstruct\fR \fBchunkfile\fR pointer with \fBinit_chunkfile\fR(\fBNULL\fR)\&.
.sp
After reading the header information from the beginning of the file, including the chunk count, call \fBread_table_of_contents\fR() to populate the \fBstruct\fR \fBchunkfile\fR with the list of chunks, their offsets, and their sizes\&.
.sp
Extract the data information for each chunk using \fBpair_chunk\fR() or \fBread_chunk\fR():
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBpair_chunk\fR() assigns a given pointer with the location inside the memory\-mapped file corresponding to that chunk\(cqs offset\&. If the chunk does not exist, then the pointer is not modified\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBread_chunk\fR() takes a
\fBchunk_read_fn\fR
function pointer and calls it with the appropriate initial pointer and size information\&. The function is not called if the chunk does not exist\&. Use this method to read chunks if you need to perform immediate parsing or if you need to execute logic based on the size of the chunk\&.
.RE
.sp
After calling these methods, call \fBfree_chunkfile\fR() to clear the \fBstruct\fR \fBchunkfile\fR data\&. This will not close the memory\-mapped region\&. Callers are expected to own that data for the timeframe the pointers into the region are needed\&.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.sp
These file formats use the chunk\-format API, and can be used as examples for future formats:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBcommit\-graph:\fR
see
\fBwrite_commit_graph_file\fR() and
\fBparse_commit_graph\fR() in
\fBcommit\-graph\&.c\fR
for how the chunk\-format API is used to write and parse the commit\-graph file format documented in the commit\-graph file format in
\fBgitformat-commit-graph\fR(5)\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
\fBmulti\-pack\-index:\fR
see
\fBwrite_midx_internal\fR() and
\fBload_multi_pack_index\fR() in
\fBmidx\&.c\fR
for how the chunk\-format API is used to write and parse the multi\-pack\-index file format documented in the multi\-pack\-index file format section of
\fBgitformat-pack\fR(5)\&.
.RE
.SH "GIT"
.sp
Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite