Replying to another blog post thanks to Mint.
DTS was helpful this time. Of course, the answer is that it's a bug in Tiger. They asked for a Radar, so maybe in 10.4.13...
@mgrimes Agreed, but this repository I hadn't packed at all.
How did I forget to "git gc" that repository?
Wishing I'd kept a list of all the e-mail aliases I've given out.