git-gc(1)
=========

NAME
----
git-gc - Cleanup unnecessary files and optimize the local repository


SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git gc' [--aggressive] [--auto] [--[no-]detach] [--quiet] [--prune=<date> | --no-prune] [--force] [--keep-largest-pack]

DESCRIPTION
-----------
Runs a number of housekeeping tasks within the current repository,
such as compressing file revisions (to reduce disk space and increase
performance), removing unreachable objects which may have been
created from prior invocations of 'git add', packing refs, pruning
reflog, rerere metadata or stale working trees. May also update ancillary
indexes such as the commit-graph.

When common porcelain operations that create objects are run, they
will check whether the repository has grown substantially since the
last maintenance, and if so run `git gc` automatically. See `gc.auto`
below for how to disable this behavior.

Running `git gc` manually should only be needed when adding objects to
a repository without regularly running such porcelain commands, to do
a one-off repository optimization, or e.g. to clean up a suboptimal
mass-import. See the "PACKFILE OPTIMIZATION" section in
linkgit:git-fast-import[1] for more details on the import case.

OPTIONS
-------

--aggressive::
	Usually 'git gc' runs very quickly while providing good disk
	space utilization and performance.  This option will cause
	'git gc' to more aggressively optimize the repository at the expense
	of taking much more time.  The effects of this optimization are
	mostly persistent. See the "AGGRESSIVE" section below for details.

--auto::
	With this option, 'git gc' checks whether any housekeeping is
	required; if not, it exits without performing any work.
+
See the `gc.auto` option in the "CONFIGURATION" section below for how
this heuristic works.
+
Once housekeeping is triggered by exceeding the limits of
configuration options such as `gc.auto` and `gc.autoPackLimit`, all
other housekeeping tasks (e.g. rerere, working trees, reflog...) will
be performed as well.

--[no-]detach::
	Run in the background if the system supports it. This option overrides
	the `gc.autoDetach` config.

--[no-]cruft::
	When expiring unreachable objects, pack them separately into a
	cruft pack instead of storing them as loose objects. `--cruft`
	is on by default.

--max-cruft-size=<n>::
	When packing unreachable objects into a cruft pack, limit the
	size of new cruft packs to be at most `<n>` bytes. Overrides any
	value specified via the `gc.maxCruftSize` configuration. See
	the `--max-cruft-size` option of linkgit:git-repack[1] for
	more.

--expire-to=<dir>::
	When packing unreachable objects into a cruft pack, write a cruft
	pack containing pruned objects (if any) to the directory `<dir>`.
	This option only has an effect when used together with `--cruft`.
	See the `--expire-to` option of linkgit:git-repack[1] for
	more information.

--prune=<date>::
	Prune loose objects older than date (default is 2 weeks ago,
	overridable by the config variable `gc.pruneExpire`).
	--prune=now prunes loose objects regardless of their age and
	increases the risk of corruption if another process is writing to
	the repository concurrently; see "NOTES" below. --prune is on by
	default.

--no-prune::
	Do not prune any loose objects.

--quiet::
	Suppress all progress reports.

--force::
	Force `git gc` to run even if there