builtin/commit-graph.c: introduce split strategy 'replace'

When using split commit-graphs, it is sometimes useful to completely
replace the commit-graph chain with a new base.

For example, consider a scenario in which a repository builds a new
commit-graph incremental for each push. Occasionally (say, after some
fixed number of pushes), they may wish to rebuild the commit-graph chain
with all reachable commits.

They can do so with

  $ git commit-graph write --reachable

but this removes the chain entirely and replaces it with a single
commit-graph in 'objects/info/commit-graph'. Unfortunately, this means
that the next push will have to move this commit-graph into the first
layer of a new chain, and then write its new commits on top.

Avoid such copying entirely by allowing the caller to specify that they
wish to replace the entirety of their commit-graph chain, while also
specifying that the new commit-graph should become the basis of a fresh,
length-one chain.

This addresses the above situation by making it possible for the caller
to instead write:

  $ git commit-graph write --reachable --split=replace

which writes a new length-one chain to 'objects/info/commit-graphs',
making the commit-graph incremental generated by the subsequent push
relatively cheap by avoiding the aforementioned copy.

In order to do this, remove an assumption in 'write_commit_graph_file'
that chains are always at least two incrementals long.

Signed-off-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 4 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit-graph.txt b/Documentation/git-commit-graph.txt
index a4c4a64..46f7f7c 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit-graph.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit-graph.txt
@@ -64,9 +64,10 @@ strategy and other splitting options. The new commits not already in the
 commit-graph are added in a new "tip" file. This file is merged with the
 existing file if the following merge conditions are met:
 * If `--split=no-merge` is specified, a merge is never performed, and
-the remaining options are ignored. A bare `--split` defers to the
-remaining options. (Note that merging a chain of commit graphs replaces
-the existing chain with a length-1 chain where the first and only
+the remaining options are ignored. `--split=replace` overwrites the
+existing chain with a new one. A bare `--split` defers to the remaining
+options. (Note that merging a chain of commit graphs replaces the
+existing chain with a length-1 chain where the first and only
 incremental holds the entire graph).
 +
 * If `--size-multiple=<X>` is not specified, let `X` equal 2. If the new