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Virtual File System for Git: Enable Git at Enterprise Scale

54 mentions on Hacker News by 48 people: 5 stories, 49 comments · first 2017-02-03 · latest 2025-10-22

Mentions per year 54 mentions · busiest year 2017 (15)
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  1. …But initially the article sounded like it was describing a mix of tup and Microsoft's git vfs ( https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit ) mushed together. But doing that by itself is probably a pile of work already.
    comment by mook · 2025-10-22 · in SourceFS: A 2h+ Android build becomes a 15m task with a virtual filesystem
  2. …Office to move as well. VFS for Git [1] and Scalar [2] are really good pieces of software. [1] - https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit [2] - https://github.com/microsoft/scalar
    comment by redleader55 · 2024-04-02 · in Debian Git Monorepo
  3. …Microsoft to manage their monorepo via a VFS layer. [1]: https://github.com/microsoft/scalar [2]: https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by stevefan1999 · 2024-02-19 · in Serving a website from a Git repo without cloning it
  4. …just get in the way. [1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/announcing-gvfs-git-vi... [2] https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by kudokatz · 2023-08-28 · in We put half a million files in one Git repository (2022)
  5. VFS for Git is still Open Source: https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit Microsoft's blog posts have indicated a move to use something as close to off-the-shelf git as possible, though. They say they've stopped using VFS much and are…
    comment by WorldMaker · 2023-08-28 · in We put half a million files in one Git repository (2022)
  6. https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit better than it used to, with the caveat that git in particular is not and has never claimed to be good at versioning blobs.
    comment by hprotagonist · 2023-07-24 · in Why SQLite does not use Git (2018)
  7. Looks like you've just reinvented GVFS ( https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit ) for a specific use case? Or is this just a partial clone? Or a shallow clone? Or both? It's unclear from the video if this is 130 GB of current state at the…
    comment by wrfopk · 2023-05-13 · in Committing changes to a 130GB Git repository without full checkouts [video]
  8. …on demand. MSFT uses it internally for the Windows source tree (which now exceeds 300GB). [0]: https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by dblitt · 2023-01-30 · in FYI: LLVM-project repo has exceeded GitHub upload size limit (2022)
  9. I was just looking at Microsoft's git VFS ( https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit ), which is deprecated and now points to Scalar ( https://github.com/microsoft/scalar ), which is also deprecated I think? What's Microsoft's story with git…
    comment by modeless · 2022-08-31 · in WebKit on GitHub
  10. Have you seen https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit ? It's used by the Windows team to manage a monorepo containing most Windows source code. Unfortunately that approach was put in maintenance mode since it didn't seem like it would be…
    comment by neerajsi · 2022-06-30 · in Improve Git monorepo performance with a file system monitor
  11. Did you consider VFS For Git and Scalar from Microsoft? What was the result? https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit https://github.com/microsoft/scalar
    comment by c8g · 2022-06-16 · in We Put Half a Million Files in One Git Repository, Here’s What We Learned
  12. First it was https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit then replaced with https://github.com/microsoft/scalar and then into their git fork https://github.com/microsoft/git
    comment by MikusR · 2022-04-13 · in Eden
  13. …file system [0]) and had some major teams actively using it, but that was a while ago too. [0] https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by strongpigeon · 2022-04-12 · in Eden
  14. https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit Which seems to have been superseded by https://github.com/microsoft/scalar according to the README.
    comment by zellyn · 2022-04-12 · in Eden
  15. …as commit-graphs and reachability bitmaps rather than repetitively rebuilding them in memory.) [1] https://github.com/microsoft/vfsforgit [2] https://github.com/microsoft/scalar
    comment by WorldMaker · 2022-04-07 · in Advantages of Monorepos (2015)
  16. How does this compare with Microsoft's "VFS for Git"? https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by jiggawatts · 2021-08-22 · in Gitfs: Version Controlled File System
  17. …mentioned: * VFS for Git: I believe abandonded by MSFT in favor of improved client-side tooling: https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit/blob/master/docs/faq.... . * Sparse checkout: limits ability to use a build system to dynamically find…
    comment by jazzkingrt · 2021-07-15 · in Josh: Get the advantages of a monorepo with multirepo setups
  18. …with GitHub, but not VFS. Scalar also supports Windows and macOS, while VFS only supports Windows: https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit/blob/v1.0.21014.1/doc...
    comment by hyperrail · 2021-03-16 · in Improving large monorepo performance on GitHub
  19. When is GitHub going to finally add support for Microsoft’s VFSforGit? https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit https://vfsforgit.org/
    comment by wikibob · 2021-03-16 · in Improving large monorepo performance on GitHub
  20. …having to extend git significantly https://devblogs.microsoft.com/bharry/scaling-git-and-some-b... https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by bdcravens · 2020-04-27 · in Monorepoize – Bash scripts for creating a monorepo out of smaller repos
  21. Hi Nat, What's the plans for integrating Microsoft's VFS for Git into GitHub? https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by wikibob · 2020-04-14 · in GitHub is now free for teams
  22. …me of VFS for Git, Microsoft’s solution for scaling Git for the Windows code base. [1] [2] [3] [1]: https://github.com/microsoft/VFSForGit [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14411126 [3]: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/bharry/the-lar…
    comment by divbzero · 2020-01-17 · in Bring your monorepo down to size with sparse-checkout
  23. Isn't that what GVFS is? https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by remram · 2019-11-02 · in Linus Torvalds: Git proved I could be more than a one-hit wonder
  24. …for git to handle without being intolerably slow (git status taking hours to complete for example). https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by hguant · 2019-04-14 · in Which programming language is used for making Windows 10?
  25. …scale, Microsoft internally hides git behind a custom virtual file system: https://vfsforgit.org/ https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by antiuniverse · 2019-04-14 · in Which programming language is used for making Windows 10?
  26. Microsoft actually had done it and pushed the whole Windows repo into git. https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by chokolad · 2019-01-04 · in Software Engineering at Google (2017)
  27. …directory. Microsoft uses Git in a monorepo (for Windows, and it's 2.5 million files/300GB[2]) 1. https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit 2. https://vfsforgit.org/
    comment by sangnoir · 2019-01-04 · in Software Engineering at Google (2017)
  28. Monorepo is a total win, if you have something like https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit (ex GVFS) - e.g. any monorepo that overlays changes, and the rest are simply file names with no actual contents is a win. You can certainly achieve…
    comment by malkia · 2019-01-04 · in Monorepo: please do
  29. …example, Git large file support is mostly from corporate contributors https://git-lfs.github.com/ https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit
    comment by dtech · 2019-01-03 · in Monorepos: Please don’t
  30. I also thought this was going to be something about Mu editor. Reminds all over the GVFS story again: https://github.com/Microsoft/VFSForGit/issues/7
    comment by miduil · 2018-12-20 · in Introducing Project Mu
  31. Sounds like your team would benefit from GVFS [1]. [1]: https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS
    comment by mwcampbell · 2018-07-17 · in Supercharging the Git Commit Graph IV: Bloom Filters
  32. …many millions of commits. Microsoft even created a virtual filesystem which they run git on top of: https://github.com/Microsoft/gvfs
    comment by tzahola · 2018-07-17 · in Supercharging the Git Commit Graph IV: Bloom Filters
  33. …Won't that be a violation of GNU GPLv2? [0] https://mran.microsoft.com/faq#licensing [1] https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS [2] https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS/blob/master/GvFlt_EULA.md
    comment by pksadiq · 2018-06-12 · in Microsoft’s failed attempt on Debian packaging
  34. …The only one that I know of that is closed is C++. > anything else of note https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/16/microsoft-joins-the-linux-...
    comment by will4274 · 2018-06-04 · in Hello, GitHub
  35. …[0] is windows only, and they maintain a fork of Git with "microsoft specific patches" [1]. [0] - https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS [1] - https://github.com/Microsoft/git (edit: formatting)
    comment by bjpbakker · 2018-06-04 · in What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub
  36. They've stated that they want to bring this to other platforms as well. https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS/issues/4
    comment by Rychard · 2018-06-01 · in Microsoft and GitHub have held acquisition talks
  37. …VS Code, and MS already worked on projects like Git virtual filesystem (GVFS) for their own needs ( https://github.com/Microsoft/gvfs )
    comment by seltzered_ · 2018-06-01 · in Microsoft and GitHub have held acquisition talks
  38. Note that Microsoft arrived at the opposite conclusion and wrote GVFS: https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS
    comment by sanxiyn · 2018-03-12 · in Mononoke – A Mercurial source control server designed to support large monorepos
  39. …in as needed, like the one Microsoft is building. I'm pretty excited about where that's heading. https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS for the project, https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devops/2017/11/15/updates-t... for the announcement…
    comment by zellyn · 2018-01-25 · in GitLab 10.4 released
  40. …of windows in a git mono-repo now, enabled by a custom git-supporting filesystem they've developed: https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS Pretty cool stuff. Doesn't seem to address the large-files case so much as the many-files case, though. I…
    comment by dilap · 2017-12-19 · in Oh shit, git: Getting myself out of bad situations
  41. …all of these problems can be solved seamlessly with a virtual filesystem approach. For example https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS
    comment by kevincox · 2017-12-03 · in Mercurial with Largefiles: Why it is not a solution for game development
  42. …which it is. TL;DR pretty sure it's not touching git source at all. Looking though the GVFS readme: https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS it appears that it actually wraps git, which would make sense because in that case they would have to…
    comment by tomxor · 2017-11-17 · in Microsoft and GitHub team up to take Git virtual file system to macOS, Linux
  43. …a GVFS "server" that is literally backed by IPFS or BitTorrent or some other P2P file system. [1] https://github.com/Microsoft/gvfs/blob/master/Protocol.md
    comment by WorldMaker · 2017-11-17 · in Microsoft and GitHub team up to take Git virtual file system to macOS, Linux
  44. https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS/issues/7
    comment by sam0x17 · 2017-11-17 · in Microsoft and GitHub team up to take Git virtual file system to macOS, Linux
  45. And they are still calling it GVFS -- a name that is already used by a prominent linux technology. https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS/issues/7
    comment by sam0x17 · 2017-11-17 · in Microsoft and GitHub team up to take Git virtual file system to macOS, Linux
  46. This has been noticed as an issue: https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS/issues/7#issuecomment-2781...
    comment by MaulingMonkey · 2017-08-03 · in Learn Git
  47. Between this and projects like GVFS [0], I'm excited that Microsoft is plowing ahead with Git. [0]: https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS
    comment by vsdave · 2017-08-03 · in Learn Git
  48. And for all those who still try to stick to anything older: https://github.com/Microsoft/gvfs "GVFS requires Windows 10 Anniversary Update or later."
    comment by acqq · 2017-02-03 · in Announcing GVFS: Git Virtual File System
  49. Based on the protocol https://github.com/Microsoft/gvfs/blob/master/Protocol.md#ge... don't think that "still cloning the full commit history" - this is true.
    comment by outcoldman · 2017-02-03 · in Announcing GVFS: Git Virtual File System