Documentation/technical/api-path-walk.adoc

Path-Walk API
=============

The path-walk API is used to walk reachable objects, but to visit objects
in batches based on a common path they appear in, or by type.

For example, all reachable commits are visited in a group. All tags are
visited in a group. Then, all root trees are visited. At some point, all
blobs reachable via a path `my/dir/to/A` are visited. When there are
multiple paths possible to reach the same object, then only one of those
paths is used to visit the object.

Basics
------

To use the path-walk API, include `path-walk.h` and call
`walk_objects_by_path()` with a customized `path_walk_info` struct. The
struct is used to set all of the options for how the walk should proceed.
Let's dig into the different options and their use.

`path_fn` and `path_fn_data`::
	The most important option is the `path_fn` option, which is a
	function pointer to the callback that can execute logic on the
	object IDs for objects grouped by type and path. This function
	also receives a `data` value that corresponds to the
	`path_fn_data` member, for providing custom data structures to
	this callback function.

`revs`::
	To configure the exact details of the reachable set of objects,
	use the `revs` member and initialize it using the revision
	machinery in `revision.h`. Initialize `revs` using calls such as
	`setup_revisions()` or `parse_revision_opt()`. Do not call
	`prepare_revision_walk()`, as that will be called within
	`walk_objects_by_path()`.
+
It is also important that you do not specify the `--objects` flag for the
`revs` struct. The revision walk should only be used to walk commits, and
the objects will be walked in a separate way based on those starting
commits.

`commits`, `blobs`, `trees`, `tags`::
	By default, these members are enabled and signal that the path-walk
	API should call the `path_fn` on objects of these types. Specialized
	applications could disable some options to make it simpler to walk
	the objects or to have fewer calls to `path_fn`.
+
While it is possible to walk only commits in this way, consumers would be
better off using the revision walk API instead.

`prune_all_uninteresting`::
	By default, all reachable paths are emitted by the path-walk API.
	This option allows consumers to declare that they are not
	interested in paths where all included objects are marked with the
	`UNINTERESTING` flag. This requires using the `boundary` option in
	the revision walk so that the walk emits commits marked with the
	`UNINTERESTING` flag.

`pl`::
	This pattern list pointer allows focusing the path-walk search to
	a set of patterns, only emitting paths that match the given
	patterns. See linkgit:gitignore[5] or
	linkgit:git-sparse-checkout[1] for details about pattern lists.
	When the pattern list uses cone-mode patterns, then the path-walk
	API can prune the set of paths it walks to improve performance.

Examples
--------

See example usages in:
	`t/helper/test-path-walk.c`,
	`builtin/backfill.c`