+/*
+ * Prepare alternate object database registry.
+ * alt_odb points at an array of struct alternate_object_database.
+ * This array is terminated with an element that has both its base
+ * and name set to NULL. alt_odb[n] comes from n'th non-empty
+ * element from colon separated ALTERNATE_DB_ENVIRONMENT environment
+ * variable, and its base points at a statically allocated buffer
+ * that contains "/the/directory/corresponding/to/.git/objects/...",
+ * while its name points just after the slash at the end of
+ * ".git/objects/" in the example above, and has enough space to hold
+ * 40-byte hex SHA1, an extra slash for the first level indirection,
+ * and the terminating NUL.
+ * This function allocates the alt_odb array and all the strings
+ * pointed by base fields of the array elements with one xmalloc();
+ * the string pool immediately follows the array.
+ */