How to remove all traces of a single file in git

Question

I recently noticed that I had a file with sensitive information under version control in git. I have now added this file to my .gitignore list, but how can I remove all mention of it from my commit history without touching anything else? i.e., I don't want to just delete my .git directory.

Answer 1

Try this guide on the GitHub help site: https://help.github.com/articles/remove-sensitive-data

Specifically:

git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
  'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch Rakefile' \
  --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

Answer 2

Good question. This github remove-sensitive-data and this remove-sensitive-files-and-their-commits-from-git-history explain it.