git-commit-folders

A folder for every commit in your git repository, served over NFSv3.

Rust port of jvns/git-commit-folders. The Go original supports FUSE, NFS, and WebDAV; this port is NFS-only and uses fractal-nfs and gix. The on-disk layout matches the Go version, so the upstream README is the authoritative tour of the directory structure.

Build

cargo build --release

Run

The binary starts an NFS server, then mount(8)s it onto your chosen mountpoint. Mounting needs root, so:

sudo ./target/release/git-commit-folders \
    --mountpoint /tmp/mnt \
    --repo /path/to/your/repo

If you'd rather run the server unprivileged and mount it yourself:

./target/release/git-commit-folders \
    --mountpoint /tmp/mnt \
    --repo /path/to/your/repo \
    --no-mount

# in another shell:
sudo mount -o port=12000,mountport=12000,vers=3,tcp,nolock,soft,intr \
    -t nfs localhost:/ /tmp/mnt

Flags:

Flag	Default	Description
--mountpoint <PATH>	required	Directory to mount onto (created if absent)
--repo <PATH>	.	Path to the git repository
--port <PORT>	12000	TCP port for NFS + MOUNT (single port, no portmapper)
--threads <N>	num CPUs	NFS listener threads (each with its own runtime + SO_REUSEPORT socket)
--no-mount	off	Start the server only; you run mount yourself

Layout

/tmp/mnt
├── branches/           # symlinks → commits/<XX>/<XXXX>/<full-hash>
├── tags/               # symlinks → commits/<XX>/<XXXX>/<full-hash>
├── branch_histories/   # one dir per branch, last 100 commits as numbered symlinks
└── commits/            # every commit, indexed by 2- then 4-char hash prefix
    └── c8/c801/c801dcaa777b9d94a4fc30f0b670936a6403eadd/
        └── <files at that commit>

Same trick the Go version describes: you can grep across history, e.g.

cd /tmp/mnt/branch_histories/main
grep -l 'fn read_blob' */src/*.rs

Caveats

• Read-only.
• NFSv3 over TCP only; no Kerberos, no portmapper. Mount with explicit port= and mountport=.
• Linux/macOS only (relies on mount -t nfs).
• The commits index is cached in memory and refreshed at most once a minute; new loose commits show up on the next refresh, packed objects are scanned once at process start.

License

Apache-2.0.