Highlights from Git 2.41

Git 2.41 introduces several enhancements and bug fixes thanks to contributions from over 95 individuals, 29 of whom are new contributors. Among the notable improvements is the default generation of cruft packs, which efficiently store unreachable objects, preventing system resource strain by consolidating them into packfiles with auxiliary files tracking their age. Another significant update is the default creation of on-disk reverse indexes, which enhance performance by pre-computing and storing index mappings, resulting in faster operations such as git push and object size determination. Credential management has been improved with support for passing WWW-Authenticate headers, enabling more granular access control through OAuth scopes. The release also streamlines branch comparison tasks by introducing a new formatting atom, %(ahead-behind:<base>), which reduces processing time. Git fetch now includes a --porcelain option for machine-friendly output and a fetch.hideRefs option, enhancing connectivity checks by narrowing the focus to specific remotes, which is particularly beneficial for resource-constrained systems. Finally, git fsck has been updated to detect corruption in reachability bitmaps and on-disk reverse indexes, ensuring repository integrity.