git-repo/docs/internal-fs-layout.md

Repo internal filesystem layout

A reference to the .repo/ tree in repo client checkouts. Hopefully it's complete & up-to-date, but who knows!

*** note Warning: This is meant for developers of the repo project itself as a quick reference. Nothing in here must be construed as ABI, or that repo itself will never change its internals in backwards incompatible ways.

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[TOC]

.repo/ layout

All content under .repo/ is managed by repo itself with few exceptions.

In general, you should not make manual changes in here. If a setting was initialized using an option to repo init, you should use that command to change the setting later on. It is always safe to re-run repo init in existing repo client checkouts. For example, if you want to change the manifest branch, you can simply run repo init --manifest-branch=<new name> and repo will take care of the rest.

repo/ state

• repo/: A git checkout of the repo project. This is how repo re-execs itself to get the latest released version.

  It tracks the git repository at REPO_URL using the REPO_REV branch. Those are specified at repo init time using the --repo-url=<REPO_URL> and --repo-branch=<REPO_REV> options.

  Any changes made to this directory will usually be automatically discarded by repo itself when it checks for updates. If you want to update to the latest version of repo, use repo selfupdate instead. If you want to change the git URL/branch that this tracks, re-run repo init with the new settings.

• .repo_fetchtimes.json: Used by repo sync to record stats when syncing the various projects.

Manifests

For more documentation on the manifest format, including the local_manifests support, see the manifest-format.md file.

• manifests/: A git checkout of the manifest project. Its .git/ state points to the manifest.git bare checkout (see below). It tracks the git branch specified at repo init time via --manifest-branch.

  The local branch name is always default regardless of the remote tracking branch. Do not get confused if the remote branch is not default, or if there is a remote default that is completely different!

  No manual changes should be made in here as it will just confuse repo and it won't automatically recover causing no new changes to be picked up.

• manifests.git/: A bare checkout of the manifest project. It tracks the git repository specified at repo init time via --manifest-url.

  No manual changes should be made in here as it will just confuse repo. If you want to switch the tracking settings, re-run repo init with the new settings.

• manifest.xml -> manifests/<manifest-name>.xml: A symlink to the manifest that the user wishes to sync. It is specified at repo init time via --manifest-name.

  Do not try to repoint this symlink to other files as it will confuse repo. If you want to switch manifest files, re-run repo init with the new setting.

• manifests.git/.repo_config.json: JSON cache of the manifests.git/config file for repo to read/process quickly.

• local_manifest.xml (Deprecated): User-authored tweaks to the manifest used to sync. See local manifests for more details.

• local_manifests/: Directory of user-authored manifest fragments to tweak the manifest used to sync. See local manifests for more details.

Project objects

• project.list: Tracking file used by repo sync to determine when projects are added or removed and need corresponding updates in the checkout.

• projects/: Bare checkouts of every project synced by the manifest. The filesystem layout matches the <project path=... setting in the manifest (i.e. where it's checked out in the repo client source tree). Those checkouts will symlink their .git/ state to paths under here.

  Some git state is further split out under project-objects/.

• project-objects/: Git objects that are safe to share across multiple git checkouts. The filesystem layout matches the <project name=... setting in the manifest (i.e. the path on the remote server). This allows for multiple checkouts of the same remote git repo to share their objects. For example, you could have different branches of foo/bar.git checked out to foo/bar-master, foo/bar-release, etc... There will be multiple trees under projects/ for each one, but only one under project-objects/.

  This can run into problems if different remotes use the same path on their respective servers ...

• subprojects/: Like projects/, but for git submodules.

• subproject-objects/: Like project-objects/, but for git submodules.

Settings

The .repo/manifests.git/config file is used to track settings for the entire repo client checkout. Most settings use the [repo] section to avoid conflicts with git. User controlled settings are initialized when running repo init.

Setting	repo init Option	Use/Meaning
manifest.groups	--groups & --platform	The manifest groups to sync
repo.archive	--archive	Use git archive for checkouts
repo.clonefilter	--clone-filter	Filter setting when using partial git clones
repo.depth	--depth	Create shallow checkouts when cloning
repo.dissociate	--dissociate	Dissociate from any reference/mirrors after initial clone
repo.mirror	--mirror	Checkout is a repo mirror
repo.partialclone	--partial-clone	Create partial git clones
repo.reference	--reference	Reference repo client checkout
repo.submodules	--submodules	Sync git submodules
user.email	--config-name	User's e-mail address; Copied into .git/config when checking out a new project
user.name	--config-name	User's name; Copied into .git/config when checking out a new project

~/ dotconfig layout

Repo will create & maintain a few files in the user's home directory.

• .repoconfig/: Repo's per-user directory for all random config files/state.

• .repoconfig/keyring-version: Cache file for checking if the gnupg subdir has all the same keys as the repo launcher. Used to avoid running gpg constantly as that can be quite slow.

• .repoconfig/gnupg/: GnuPG's internal state directory used when repo needs to run gpg. This provides isolation from the user's normal ~/.gnupg/.

• .repo_.gitconfig.json: JSON cache of the .gitconfig file for repo to read/process quickly.