Git LFS is a command line extension and specification for managing large files with Git. Instead of storing the large files within the Git repository as blobs, Git LFS stores special “pointer files” in the repository, while storing the actual file contents on a Git LFS server. The contents of the large file are downloaded automatically when needed, for example when a Git branch containing the large file is checked out.
Git LFS works by using a “smudge” filter to look up the large file contents based on the pointer file, and a “clean” filter to create a new version of the pointer file when the large file’s contents change. It also uses a pre-push hook to upload the large file contents to the Git LFS server whenever a commit containing a new large file version is about to be pushed to the corresponding Git server.
Git Large File Storage (LFS) replaces large files such as audio samples, videos, datasets, and graphics with text pointers inside Git, while storing the file contents on a remote server like GitHub.com or GitHub Enterprise.
This is free and open source software.
Features include:
- Large file versioning – version large files—even those as large as a couple GB in size—with Git.
- More repository space.
- Faster cloning and fetching – download less data. This means faster cloning and fetching from repositories that deal with large files.
- Same Git workflow – work like you always do on Git—no need for additional commands, secondary storage systems, or toolsets.
- Same access controls and permissions – keep the same access controls and permissions for large files as the rest of your Git repository when working with a remote host like GitHub.
Website: git-lfs.com
Support: Documentation, GitHub Code Repository
Developer: Brian M. Carlson, Chris Darroch, Lars Schneider and many contributors
License: MIT License
git-lfs is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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