|  | @@ -39,13 +39,16 @@ deleted documents. Merging normally happens automatically, but sometimes it is
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				|  |  |  useful to trigger a merge manually.
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				|  |  |  
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				|  |  |  // tag::force-merge-read-only-warn[]
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				|  |  | -WARNING: **Force merge should only be called against an index after you have
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				|  |  | -finished writing to it.** Force merge can cause very large (>5GB) segments to
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				|  |  | -be produced, and if you continue to write to such an index then the automatic
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				|  |  | -merge policy will never consider these segments for future merges until they
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				|  |  | -mostly consist of deleted documents. This can cause very large segments to
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				|  |  | -remain in the index which can result in increased disk usage and worse search
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				|  |  | -performance.
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				|  |  | +WARNING: **We recommend only force merging a read-only index (meaning the index
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				|  |  | +is no longer receiving writes).**  When documents are updated or deleted, the
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				|  |  | +old version is not immediately removed, but instead soft-deleted and marked
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				|  |  | +with a "tombstone". These soft-deleted documents are automatically cleaned up
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				|  |  | +during regular segment merges. But force merge can cause very large (> 5GB)
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				|  |  | +segments to be produced, which are not eligible for regular merges. So the
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				|  |  | +number of soft-deleted documents can then grow rapidly, resulting in higher
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				|  |  | +disk usage and worse search performance. If you regularly force merge an index
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				|  |  | +receiving writes, this can also make snapshots more expensive, since the new
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				|  |  | +documents can't be backed up incrementally.
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				|  |  |  // end::force-merge-read-only-warn[]
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