On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 10:44:46AM +0100, Omar Polo wrote:
> Diff below adds a -D flag that force gotadmin to generate a packfile
> using ref-delta only.  It's meant only for the regress suite, since
> that part of the code is never triggered by the regress.
> 
> I'm not sure if documenting this option makes sense.  Outside of the
> regress suite it shouldn't be used; if only because it makes packfiles
> bigger.

There can be various reasons why people might want to use this
option (e.g. compat with very old versions of Git). I would just
leave the purpose documented and not even mention debugging.

If someone doesn't understand what this option does they should
not be using it. And we do in fact document the difference between
the two types of deltas in git-repository(5).

> @@ -128,6 +128,9 @@ Unless this option is specified, only loose objects wi
>  Add objects to the generated pack file even if they are already packed
>  in a different pack file.
>  Unless this option is specified, only loose objects will be added.
> +.It Fl D
> +Force the packfile to use the ref-delta representation for objects.
> +It is intended for debug only.

I would drop "It is intended for debug only." and add:

  If this option is not specified, offset-deltas will be used to
  represent deltified objects.