What is gitc filesystem from repo's source code?

Question

I used basic repo commands to download Android sources. Then decided to browse the source code of repo. Things looked straightforward but there are few things that I didn't find explanation for and Google search didn't help.

What does gitc-init command do?

I used repo init so what it is the difference between repo init and repo gitc-init

In the source of repo the function

def gitc_parse_clientdir(gitc_fs_path):
  """Parse a path in the GITC FS and return its client name.

  Args:
    gitc_fs_path: A subdirectory path within the GITC_FS_ROOT_DIR.

  Returns:
    The GITC client name.
  """

What are the gitc clients to use?

In the _Init function

  try:
    if gitc_init:
      gitc_manifest_dir = get_gitc_manifest_dir()
      if not gitc_manifest_dir:
        print('fatal: GITC filesystem is not available. Exiting...',
              file=sys.stderr)
        sys.exit(1)

What is ia GITC filesystem? Is it available on Linux?

Answer 1

gitc logic is only usable by internal Google employees which is why it isn't displayed in any normal output. It's also deprecated and not really supported, so hopefully we'll delete it someday.

Some more random answers:

• GitC stands for "Git in the Cloud".
• GitC FS is a networked FUSE filesystem which allows you to operate on git checkouts without actually having to clone or check them out locally. This is particularly helpful in cases like Android source checkouts which have hundreds of git projects taking up GB of data. Only content actually accessed is downloaded & cached locally.
• No, the code isn't available publicly, and it most likely won't be as the tech has been obsoleted by other things.