Recursively retrieving files up to specific depth

[Henning Blohm]

Hello,

in my application I need to introspect a given repository up to max 
depth three. Actually I only care about some specific files that may be 
found no deeper than depth three.

Today this is done by listing the first level, if applicable going down 
into level two and finally fishing some more on level three. Data load 
is very light, but roundtrips may be many which is why this approach 
becomes very slow on remote repositories that expose a high latency.

Is there a way to recursively retrieve all files to a certain (finite) 
depth, including content, in one go (i.e. avoiding multi-roundtrip 
latency)? When looking for something like that, it seems that you can 
only chose between IMMEDIATE and INFINITE really.

Alternatively, is there a way to bulk-retrieve a number of (potentially 
existing) files in one go?

Thanks!
Henning