1 files changed, 13 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 21ed9633b2..be28fce12a 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -360,6 +360,19 @@ struct index_state {
 	struct pattern_list *sparse_checkout_patterns;
 };
 
+/**
+ * A "struct index_state istate" must be initialized with
+ * INDEX_STATE_INIT or the corresponding index_state_init().
+ *
+ * If the variable won't be used again, use release_index() to free()
+ * its resources. If it needs to be used again use discard_index(),
+ * which does the same thing, but will use use index_state_init() at
+ * the end.
+ */
+#define INDEX_STATE_INIT { 0 }
+void index_state_init(struct index_state *istate);
+void release_index(struct index_state *istate);
+
 /* Name hashing */
 int test_lazy_init_name_hash(struct index_state *istate, int try_threaded);
 void add_name_hash(struct index_state *istate, struct cache_entry *ce);