Fix refspec for shallow clones to use single-branch instead of wildcard #2229
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[WIP] Fix refspec for shallow cloning
Fix refspec for shallow clones to use single-branch instead of wildcard
Oct 22, 2025
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October 22, 2025 16:25
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When doing shallow clones (depth != NoChange), it now uses a single-branch refspec instead of fetching all branches. This matches Git's behavior and significantly reduces the repository size for shallow clones. For shallow clones: - If ref_name is specified: uses that branch - Otherwise: attempts to detect from Protocol V1 handshake or falls back to init.defaultBranch config or "main" This addresses issue #2227 where `gix clone --depth 1` was creating repositories ~130MB vs Git's ~70MB due to fetching all branches. Co-authored-by: Byron <63622+Byron@users.noreply.github.com>
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I must say that I am very impressed by this PR! Review notes
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Problem
When performing a shallow clone with
gix clone --depth 1, gitoxide was fetching all branches using the wildcard refspec+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*, resulting in significantly larger repositories compared to Git. For example, cloning the gitoxide repository itself produced a ~130MB.gitdirectory with gitoxide vs ~70MB with Git.Root Cause
The refspec in
gix/src/clone/fetch/mod.rswas hardcoded to always use the wildcard pattern+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*, regardless of whether the clone was shallow or not. This meant all branches were fetched and stored, even though shallow clones typically only need a single branch.Solution
Modified the clone logic to detect shallow clones and automatically use single-branch refspecs when appropriate, matching Git's behavior:
ref_nameis specified: Uses a refspec targeting that specific branch (e.g.,+refs/heads/feature:refs/remotes/origin/feature)ref_nameis not specified: Attempts to detect the remote's default branch:init.defaultBranchconfig or defaults to "main"+refs/heads/main:refs/remotes/origin/maininstead of wildcardThis only applies when no custom
configure_remotecallback is provided, preserving flexibility for advanced use cases.Results
.git/configfor future fetchesNote: The remaining size difference with Git (49MB vs 6.6MB) is due to tag fetching behavior - gitoxide currently fetches all tags by default while Git doesn't for shallow clones. This is a separate behavioral difference that could be addressed in a future PR.
Fixes #2227
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