> I would like to know how tags and branches are "cheap copy" in terms > of time and space. > > Since we can't reorganize the layout, we will need to tag big > directories (about 500 Mb) even if we just sparse-chechkout single > files. > This operation might be done up to 10 times per day. > Is this operation really a constant-time copy? What about space?
Tags are merely references to an already existing object and revision. Doing a few dozen tags a day will take up practically nothing in the terms of disk space. In large sites that do a tag for every checkout, they might be creating hundreds of tags per day. In fact, copying is the same thing and also takes up no time to do and extremely little space. Reorganizing your layout is really no different than copying/tagging. Directories will instantly be moved without taking up any additional space (except for a few bytes for referencing the move). When you say you can't "reorganize", do you mean you'd like to except there's too much to do, or that your repository is the way your users want it? -- David Weintraub qazw...@gmail.com
