http: add support for HTTP 429 rate limit retries

2026-03-17T16:14:19Z

Add retry logic for HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) responses to handle server-side rate limiting gracefully. When Git's HTTP client receives a 429 response, it can now automatically retry the request after an appropriate delay, respecting the server's rate limits. The implementation supports the RFC-compliant Retry-After header in both delay-seconds (integer) and HTTP-date (RFC 2822) formats. If a past date is provided, Git retries immediately without waiting. Retry behavior is controlled by three new configuration options (http.maxRetries, http.retryAfter, and http.maxRetryTime) which are documented in git-config(1). The retry logic implements a fail-fast approach: if any delay (whether from server header or configuration) exceeds maxRetryTime, Git fails immediately with a clear error message rather than capping the delay. This provides better visibility into rate limiting issues. The implementation includes extensive test coverage for basic retry behavior, Retry-After header formats (integer and HTTP-date), configuration combinations, maxRetryTime limits, invalid header handling, environment variable overrides, and edge cases. Signed-off-by: Vaidas Pilkauskas Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano

git/t/lib-httpd/http-429.sh, branch master

http: add support for HTTP 429 rate limit retries