Use mirror when cloning to improve easy method

It is possible to download all advertised refs which gives much greater
coverage of the repository. This updates the docs to improve the first
method significantly rather than relying on the project export which is
more complex.

The first method is now more complete by including the commit map upload
step which was previously only included in the second method.

doc/user/project/repository/reducing_the_repo_size_using_git.md

@@ -32,15 +32,24 @@ Git LFS files can only be removed by an Administrator using a
 
 ## Purge files from repository history
 
-To make cloning your project faster, rewrite branches and tags to remove unwanted files.
+To reduce the size of your repository in GitLab, you must remove references to large files from branches, tags, and
+other internal references (refs) that are automatically created by GitLab. These refs include:
+
+- `refs/merge-requests/*` for merge requests.
+- `refs/pipelines/*` for
+  [pipelines](../../../ci/pipelines/index.md#troubleshooting-fatal-reference-is-not-a-tree).
+- `refs/environments/*` for environments.
+
+Git doesn't usually download theses refs to make cloning and fetch faster, but we can use the `--mirror` option to
+download all the advertised refs.
 
 1. [Install `git filter-repo`](https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/blob/main/INSTALL.md)
    using a supported package manager or from source.
 
-1. Clone a fresh copy of the repository using `--bare`:
+1. Clone a fresh copy of the repository using `--bare` and `--mirror`:
 
    ```shell
-   git clone --bare https://example.gitlab.com/my/project.git
+   git clone --bare --mirror https://example.gitlab.com/my/project.git
    ```
 
 1. Using `git filter-repo`, purge any files from the history of your repository.
@@ -77,22 +86,13 @@ To make cloning your project faster, rewrite branches and tags to remove unwante
 1. Force push your changes to overwrite all branches on GitLab:
 
    ```shell
-   git push origin --force --all
-   ```
-
-   [Protected branches](../protected_branches.md) will cause this to fail. To proceed, you must
-   remove branch protection, push, and then re-enable protected branches.
-
-1. To remove large files from tagged releases, force push your changes to all tags on GitLab:
-
-   ```shell
-   git push origin --force --tags
+   git push origin --force 'refs/{tags,heads}/*'
    ```
 
-   [Protected tags](../protected_tags.md) will cause this to fail. To proceed, you must remove tag
-   protection, push, and then re-enable protected tags.
+   [Protected branches](../protected_branches.md) and [protected tags](../protected_tags.md) will cause this to fail.
+   To proceed, you must remove branch and tag protection, push, and then re-enable protected branches and tags.
 
-1. Manually run [project housekeeping](../../../administration/housekeeping.md#manual-housekeeping)
+1. Run a [repository cleanup](#repository-cleanup).
 
 NOTE: **Note:**
 Project statistics are cached for performance. You may need to wait 5-10 minutes
@@ -100,26 +100,9 @@ to see a reduction in storage utilization.
 
 ## Purge files from GitLab storage
 
-To reduce the size of your repository in GitLab, you must remove GitLab internal references to
-commits that contain large files. Before completing these steps,
-[purge files from your repository history](#purge-files-from-repository-history).
-
-As well as [branches](branches/index.md) and tags, which are a type of Git ref, GitLab automatically
-creates other refs. These refs prevent dead links to commits, or missing diffs when viewing merge
-requests. [Repository cleanup](#repository-cleanup) can be used to remove these from GitLab.
-
-The following internal refs are not advertised:
-
-- `refs/merge-requests/*` for merge requests.
-- `refs/pipelines/*` for
-  [pipelines](../../../ci/pipelines/index.md#troubleshooting-fatal-reference-is-not-a-tree).
-- `refs/environments/*` for environments.
-
-This means they are not usually included when fetching, which makes fetching faster. In addition,
-`refs/keep-around/*` are hidden refs to prevent commits with discussion from being deleted and
-cannot be fetched at all.
-
-However, these refs can be accessed from the Git bundle inside a project export.
+In addition to the refs mentioned above, GitLab also created hidden `refs/keep-around/*` to prevent commits being
+deleted. Hidden refs are not advertised which means we can't download them using Git, but these refs are included in
+the project export.
 
 1. [Install `git filter-repo`](https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/blob/main/INSTALL.md)
    using a supported package manager or from source.
@@ -167,6 +150,15 @@ However, these refs can be accessed from the Git bundle inside a project export.
    [`git filter-repo` documentation](https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/blob/docs/html/git-filter-repo.html#EXAMPLES)
    for more examples and the complete documentation.
 
+1. Force push your changes to overwrite all branches on GitLab:
+
+   ```shell
+   git push origin --force 'refs/{tags,heads}/*'
+   ```
+
+   [Protected branches](../protected_branches.md) and [protected tags](../protected_tags.md) will cause this to fail.
+   To proceed, you must remove branch and tag protection, push, and then re-enable protected branches and tags.
+
 1. Run a [repository cleanup](#repository-cleanup).
 
 ## Repository cleanup