I'd say smart http is more than enough, especially since Github for example is pushing it as the preferred protocol for most users: https://github.com/blog/1104

I'd say smart http is more than enough, especially since Github for example is pushing it as the preferred protocol for most users: https://github.com/blog/1104-credential-caching-for-wrist-friendly-git-usage https://github.com/blog/1104-credential-caching-for-wrist-fr... The main issue is that Github do not have CORS support for http access to repos (though they do support CORS for access to repos via their proprietary API) and I don't think the other big public hosters like Bitbucket or Google Code support CORS either. On the subject of big pack files, sure you'd want to stream them to storage instead of trying to store in memory (for instance JGit has this as an option) but I agree Tim that to start with, even supporting small-medium size repos would be a huge win.