Remove a large file from GitHub repo

Question

I am trying to push a local repo to my private GitHub and got an error saying the file size exceeded 100MB. That I understand. I actually don't need that file, so I deleted if from my repository (actually deleted it from my computer).

When I went to push the repository again (without that large file since it had been deleted) I get the same error for that file that was deleted from my computer. I even added it to my gitignore file.

Not sure why that file is still causing an issues as it has been deleted from my computer.

@woodlumhoodlum no, is that the command or is there more to it? — user2184718, Jan 31 '14 at 18:20
the file is still included in your history. you will need to rewrite history to remove it. you can follow [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/2158271/1761499) or [this Github guide](https://help.github.com/articles/remove-sensitive-data) — Nevik Rehnel, Jan 31 '14 at 18:26

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 31 '14 at 18:26

Since you have committed your large file, it is currently in git history, and deleting it will not help - git keeps it should you ever want to rewind back to that commit.

What you need to do is to rewrite history. Easiest way to kill last commit is:

git reset --hard HEAD~

If this was not last commit, you may need to kill more, or use git filter-branch. You can find more about rewriting history in git documentation.

Remove a large file from GitHub repo

1 Answers1