High memory usage by `git pack-object` processes outside of Clean-Up window

Problem

TeamCity-invoked Git Clean-Up is not running, but git pack-object processes run on the server for a long time and consume a lot of memory.

Cause

git pack-object is a Git maintenance process that can be invoked by Git automatically after such Git commands as git fetch or git commit are run: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-maintenance

Resolution

Disable automatic in-place Git maintenance and let TeamCity run Git GC on schedule.

Note: A server health report is generated when the nightly/scheduled Git GC fails to clean up a Git mirror. Pay extra attention to such reports when disabling Git auto-maintenance. Otherwise, the lack of GC/maintenance will slow down server-side Git operations.

On TeamCity 2026.1.1 and newer

Add the following internal property.

teamcity.server.git.maintenance.auto.enable=false

On TeamCity 2026.1 and older

Containerized

Run the container with the following environment variables.

environment:
    GIT_CONFIG_COUNT: "1"
    GIT_CONFIG_KEY_0: "maintenance.auto"
    GIT_CONFIG_VALUE_0: "false"

Non-containerized

Run the following command on the TeamCity server.

git config set --global maintenance.auto false