Add a FAQ entry re memory usage by Git when cloning - #6137
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As discussed in response to the question raised in issue git-lfs#6132, at present Git's implementation of the long-running filter protocol is such that for each file whose contents are "smudged" by a process like the "git lfs filter-process" command, Git reads the output into an in-memory buffer: https://github.com/git/git/blob/v2.51.2/convert.c#L912-L913 As a result, Git's memory usage scales with the size of the largest Git LFS file when a "git clone" command is run, unless the Git LFS client is configured not to "smudge" files. To help users who may have questions about this behaviour in the future, we add a section to our FAQ manual page which explains the current situation and how it may be ameliorated by avoiding the "smudge" filter step during cloning and using the "git lfs pull" command instead to populate a working tree with Git LFS files.
larsxschneider
approved these changes
Nov 10, 2025
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As discussed in response to the question raised in issue #6132, at present Git's implementation of the long-running filter protocol is such that for each file whose contents are smudged by a process like the
git lfs filter-processcommand, Git reads the output into an in-memory buffer.As a result, Git's memory usage scales with the size of the largest Git LFS file when a
git clonecommand is run, unless the Git LFS client is configured not to smudge files.To help users who may have questions about this behaviour in the future, we add a section to our FAQ manual page which explains the current situation and how it may be ameliorated by avoiding the smudge filter step during cloning and using the
git lfs pullcommand instead to populate a working tree with Git LFS files./cc @bk2204
/cc @ivonindza as reporter of #6132