dist/tools: deprecate `git-cache` script, embrace `git-cache-rs` by crasbe · Pull Request #22045 · RIOT-OS/RIOT

crasbe · 2026-02-04T16:38:24Z

Contribution description

The git-cache script was added by @kaspar030 in 2016 to speed up the build process. It has since been replaced by git-cache-rs by @kaspar030, which is still under active development and offers features such as sparse checkout that the original script does not.

Staying compatible with git-cache was quite a pain in #21800 and #22039.

I brought the topic up in the weekly a couple of weeks ago and AFAIR there were no voices against the deprecation of git-cache.

Testing procedure

To avoid using any caches, we have to temporarily disable git-cache-rs and git-cache:

cbuec@W11nMate:~$ mv .cargo/bin/git-cache .cargo/bin/git-cache-old
cbuec@W11nMate:~$ mv .gitcache/ .gitcache_disabled

cbuec@W11nMate:~/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT$ rm -rf build && time QUIETER= BOARD=nrf52dk make -C tests/sys/shell -j
make: Entering directory '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell'
Building application "tests_shell" for "nrf52dk" with CPU "nrf52".

[INFO] cloning without cache nrf5x_nrfx_mdk
[INFO] Consider using git-cache-rs to speed up your build and reduce network traffic! See: https://guides.riot-os.org/build-system/advanced_build_system_tricks/#speed-up-builds-with-git-cache-rs
[INFO] updating nrf5x_nrfx_mdk /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/nrf5x_nrfx_mdk/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch nrf5x_nrfx_mdk
[INFO] cloning without cache cmsis
[INFO] Consider using git-cache-rs to speed up your build and reduce network traffic! See: https://guides.riot-os.org/build-system/advanced_build_system_tricks/#speed-up-builds-with-git-cache-rs
[INFO] updating cmsis /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/cmsis/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch cmsis
[INFO] cloning without cache mpaland-printf
[INFO] Consider using git-cache-rs to speed up your build and reduce network traffic! See: https://guides.riot-os.org/build-system/advanced_build_system_tricks/#speed-up-builds-with-git-cache-rs
[INFO] updating mpaland-printf /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/mpaland-printf/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch mpaland-printf
"make" -C /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/pkg/cmsis/
...
"make" -C /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/sys/ztimer
   text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
  15080     128    2564   17772    456c /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell/bin/nrf52dk/tests_shell.elf
make: Leaving directory '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell'

real    0m40.870s
user    0m20.226s
sys     0m7.308s

To use the now deprecated git-cache script, we have to enable the cache directory again:

cbuec@W11nMate:~$ mv .gitcache_disabled/ .gitcache

cbuec@W11nMate:~/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT$ rm -rf build && time QUIETER= BOARD=nrf52dk make -C tests/sys/shell -j
make: Entering directory '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell'
Building application "tests_shell" for "nrf52dk" with CPU "nrf52".

[INFO] cloning nrf5x_nrfx_mdk with git-cache
Warning: git-cache is deprecated and will be removed after the 2026.04 release! See https://guides.riot-os.org/build-system/advanced_build_system_tricks/#speed-up-builds-with-git-cache-rs for more information.
git-cache: cloning from cache. tag=commit11f57e578c7feea13f21c79ea0efab2630ac68c7-106746
[INFO] updating nrf5x_nrfx_mdk /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/nrf5x_nrfx_mdk/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch nrf5x_nrfx_mdk
[INFO] cloning cmsis with git-cache
Warning: git-cache is deprecated and will be removed after the 2026.04 release! See https://guides.riot-os.org/build-system/advanced_build_system_tricks/#speed-up-builds-with-git-cache-rs for more information.
git-cache: cloning from cache. tag=commit2b7495b8535bdcb306dac29b9ded4cfb679d7e5c-106822
[INFO] updating cmsis /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/cmsis/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch cmsis
[INFO] cloning mpaland-printf with git-cache
Warning: git-cache is deprecated and will be removed after the 2026.04 release! See https://guides.riot-os.org/build-system/advanced_build_system_tricks/#speed-up-builds-with-git-cache-rs for more information.
git-cache: cloning from cache. tag=commit0dd4b64bc778bf55229428cefccba4c0a81f384b-106924
[INFO] updating mpaland-printf /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/mpaland-printf/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch mpaland-printf
"make" -C /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/pkg/cmsis/
...
"make" -C /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/sys/ztimer
   text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
  15080     128    2564   17772    456c /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell/bin/nrf52dk/tests_shell.elf
make: Leaving directory '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell'

real    0m6.216s
user    0m15.888s
sys     0m5.134s

To use git-cache-rs, we have to enable it again:

cbuec@W11nMate:~$ mv .cargo/bin/git-cache-old .cargo/bin/git-cache

cbuec@W11nMate:~/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT$ rm -rf build && time QUIETER= BOARD=nrf52dk make -C tests/sys/shell -j
make: Entering directory '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell'
Building application "tests_shell" for "nrf52dk" with CPU "nrf52".

[INFO] cloning nrf5x_nrfx_mdk
Cloning into '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/nrf5x_nrfx_mdk'...
done.
HEAD is now at 11f57e5 nrfx 3.14.0 release
[INFO] updating nrf5x_nrfx_mdk /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/nrf5x_nrfx_mdk/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch nrf5x_nrfx_mdk
[INFO] cloning cmsis
Cloning into '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/cmsis'...
done.
HEAD is now at 2b7495b85 Merge branch 'develop'
[INFO] updating cmsis /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/cmsis/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch cmsis
[INFO] cloning mpaland-printf
Cloning into '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/mpaland-printf'...
done.
HEAD is now at 0dd4b64 test(test_suite): added support for PRINTF_DISABLE_SUPPORT_EXPONENTIAL
[INFO] updating mpaland-printf /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/build/pkg/mpaland-printf/.pkg-state.git-downloaded
[INFO] patch mpaland-printf
"make" -C /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/pkg/cmsis/
...
"make" -C /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/sys/ztimer
   text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
  15080     128    2564   17772    456c /home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell/bin/nrf52dk/tests_shell.elf
make: Leaving directory '/home/cbuec/RIOTstuff/riot-vanilla/RIOT/tests/sys/shell'

real    0m3.546s
user    0m13.220s
sys     0m3.132s

Due to the sparse checkout supported by git-cache-rs, we have a 50% performance increase compared to git-cache.
Since I only have DSL 16.000, the speedup for any caching is significant anyways :D

Issues/PRs references

None.

riot-ci · 2026-02-04T18:41:07Z

Murdock results

✔️ PASSED

d9e1a83 pkg/pkg.mk: deprecate git-cache, embrace git-cache-rs

Success	Failures	Total	Runtime
11000	0	11003	09m:13s

Artifacts

Documentation preview

AnnsAnns

With your test example provided I get sub-1s on the non-cached 30s pull 🥳

AnnsAnns · 2026-02-05T10:43:15Z

Feel free to squash

crasbe · 2026-02-05T12:08:25Z

With your test example provided I get sub-1s on the non-cached 30s pull 🥳

That speedup is caused by the changes of #22039, not this PR 😅

AnnsAnns · 2026-02-05T12:17:46Z

With your test example provided I get sub-1s on the non-cached 30s pull 🥳

That speedup is caused by the changes of #22039, not this PR 😅

I know but that was part of the examples you gave in the PR description :P git-cache-rs only gives me a warm feeling of memory safety.

The old git-cache script is not under active development anymore and lacks features such as sparse checkout that is offered by git-cache-rs. This commit adds a deprecation message for git-cache as well as information how to migrate to git-cache-rs. Furthermore, it tries to use GIT_CACHE_RS by default if it is installed in the default location in the Cargo home directory.

crasbe requested review from AnnsAnns and kaspar030 February 4, 2026 16:38

crasbe added the Type: enhancement The issue suggests enhanceable parts / The PR enhances parts of the codebase / documentation label Feb 4, 2026

crasbe requested review from aabadie and jia200x as code owners February 4, 2026 16:38

crasbe added CI: ready for build If set, CI server will compile all applications for all available boards for the labeled PR Process: deprecation Integration Process: The PR is deprecating a feature or API labels Feb 4, 2026

github-actions bot added Area: doc Area: Documentation Area: build system Area: Build system Area: pkg Area: External package ports labels Feb 4, 2026

basilfx mentioned this pull request Feb 4, 2026

cpu/efm32: replace vendor files with the ones from pkg/gecko_sdk #22040

Merged

doc/guides: add guide for git-cache-rs

2d00621

crasbe force-pushed the pr/deprecate_git-cache branch from e1cc2ae to c924807 Compare February 4, 2026 21:29

AnnsAnns approved these changes Feb 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

crasbe force-pushed the pr/deprecate_git-cache branch from c924807 to d9e1a83 Compare February 5, 2026 14:15

crasbe added this pull request to the merge queue Feb 5, 2026

github-merge-queue bot removed this pull request from the merge queue due to failed status checks Feb 5, 2026

crasbe added this pull request to the merge queue Feb 5, 2026

Merged via the queue into RIOT-OS:master with commit 3542a9c Feb 5, 2026
26 checks passed

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

dist/tools: deprecate `git-cache` script, embrace `git-cache-rs`#22045

dist/tools: deprecate `git-cache` script, embrace `git-cache-rs`#22045
crasbe merged 2 commits intoRIOT-OS:masterfrom
crasbe:pr/deprecate_git-cache

crasbe commented Feb 4, 2026

Uh oh!

riot-ci commented Feb 4, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

AnnsAnns left a comment

Uh oh!

AnnsAnns commented Feb 5, 2026

Uh oh!

crasbe commented Feb 5, 2026

Uh oh!

AnnsAnns commented Feb 5, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

Conversation

crasbe commented Feb 4, 2026

Contribution description

Testing procedure

Issues/PRs references

Uh oh!

riot-ci commented Feb 4, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Murdock results

Artifacts

Uh oh!

AnnsAnns left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

AnnsAnns commented Feb 5, 2026

Uh oh!

crasbe commented Feb 5, 2026

Uh oh!

AnnsAnns commented Feb 5, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

riot-ci commented Feb 4, 2026 •

edited

Loading