TeamForge-Git integration: History protection FAQ

Questions on history protection for Git repositories in TeamForge.

What is history protection?

History rewrites are non-fast-forward updates of remote refs and associated objects. History rewrites happen when a branch in a remote repository gets deleted, previously pushed commits get amended/tree filtered and forcefully re-pushed, or a remote branch/tag is pointed to an entirely different commit history. For more information, see History Protection.

Is it possible to turn on history protection for all Git repositories hosted on a Git integration server? If yes, how?

Yes, a user with file system access to the Unix machine where the Git integration is hosted can turn on history protection. First set the property forceHistoryProtection = true in /opt/collabnet/gerrit/etc/gerrit.config in the [gerrit] section. Then restart the gerrit service by running $ service gerrit restart on a shell.

With TeamForge 7.1 and later, do the following:

Set GERRIT_FORCE_HISTORY_PROTECTION=true in /opt/collabnet/teamforge/runtime/conf/runtime-options.conf.
Restart the gerrit service.
```
/etc/init.d/collabnet restart gerrit
```

The GERRIT_FORCE_HISTORY_PROTECTION site-options token is no longer supported in TeamForge 17.4 and later. Remove this token from the site-options.conf file while upgrading to TeamForge 17.4 or later. History Protection is enabled by default in TeamForge 17.4 and later. However, Site Administrators can disable History Protection at the site level if need be, after which Project Administrators can choose to have History Protection enabled or disabled for individual repositories.

I've enabled Protect History for my TeamForge project's Git repository. Will this be effective immediately?

To enable history protection immediately, a TeamForge user with the Source Code Admin permission must do this right after enabling Protect History: temporarily remove any user with a project role with any SCM permission, and then add that user back. This will trigger an immediate sync after which history will be protected for the Git repository. Otherwise, history protection will be enabled after a periodical sync.

Can I turn off history protection for any particular Git repository when it is enabled server-wide?

No, when history protection is enabled server-wide for the Git integration server, it cannot be turned off for a particular Git repository.

Where can I see the backup branches generated by history protection?

Backup branches are generated based on the type of History Rewrite. For a remote branch that is deleted, this is under refs/delete. For a non-fast-forward push, this is under refs/rewrite with the branch name containing the timestamp, original branch and the user who rewrote history, for example, refs/delete/20121112042512-test--david.

Who can resurrect or permanently delete backup branches?

A user who is a member of the Gerrit Administrator group can resurrect or permanently delete backup branches. By default, the TeamForge site administrator whose credentials are used for running the post-installation script is part of the Gerrit Administrator group.

Who can see backup branches?

By default, a TeamForge user with SCM View (or more) permission can see all backup branches by executing git fetch && git ls-remote origin. In Gerrit, the user must be part of a group which has at least read access for refs/delete and refs/rewrite for the given Gerrit project (TeamForge Git repository).

Are the backup branches under refs/rewrite and refs/delete protected from Git garbage collection which removes unreferenced objects?

Yes, objects in backup branches under refs/rewrite and refs/deleted are referenced and cannot be cleaned up by Git's garbage collection.

Do backup branches take up a lot of disk space on the Git server?

The backup branches on the Git server are mainly Git objects that are compressed deltas of original file versions. Git regularly compresses these objects to save disk space.

What is the difference between Git reflog and History Protect?

In Git, reflog records all activity on a branch, while History Protect only reports deleted branches/tags and history rewrites (non-fast-forward pushes) For more information, see Git reflog vs TeamForge-Git integration History Protect Git reflog vs Perforce History Protect.