Trying to remove git repo on ubuntu guest

Question

I am trying to remove whole git repository from my local machine, but git prohibits to delete several files.

I've tried:

rm -r folder
It asked me do I want to delete some write-protected files? I've asked y.

Following message appeared:

rm: cannot remove ‘.git/objects/08/fa4fcd8413b84a1605e1c4866cb2493daf4c4e’: Operation not permitted
rm: cannot remove ‘.git/objects/96/de4fe9aa42239290cae341427649f2afbdab16’: Operation not permitted
rm: cannot remove ‘.git/objects/fd/ed37600b5fe66e1a0d0e4355b387e56ca2638e’: Operation not permitted
rm: cannot remove ‘.git/objects/pack/pack-cb277ab3b4a3510209a9784a76760e6281da5218.idx’: Operation not permitted
rm: cannot remove ‘.git/objects/pack/pack-cb277ab3b4a3510209a9784a76760e6281da5218.pack’: Operation not permitted

The ls command showed that all local files were deleted. Then I tried sudo rm -r .git from that folder - same result.

Help me please delete that folder.

FYI: Contrary to some pop culture in the US, `dat` is not a word. — Jonathon Reinhart, Apr 21 '14 at 23:13
Are these files on a network share, or some unusual non-disk mount? Otherwise, I don't see how `sudo rm -r` could fail. — Thanatos, Apr 22 '14 at 00:43
It is mounted on ubuntu. I've made a folder, containing folder with that repo, shared between windows (host) and ubuntu (guest). I am using virtual box for such purposes. — Danny Ocean, Apr 22 '14 at 07:08

score 36 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 18 '16 at 11:06

36

Close any git clients that might be running.
Set the permissions to delete first:
```
chmod -R 777 folder
```
Try to force the deletion:
```
rm -rf folder
```

edited Mar 18 '16 at 11:06

kenorb

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answered Apr 21 '14 at 23:14

Phillip Ngan

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2

I got this same issue and with you answer it worked! Thank you! – Valter Silva Jan 26 '15 at 13:37
3

_"Close any git clients that might be running"_ bingo! I had Atom open using the directory as a project - close any IDE too. – Emissary Apr 15 '18 at 15:02
Thank you Worked for deleting Dir in a WSL. – sg28 Nov 30 '20 at 20:20

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '14 at 15:10

3

So I figured it out. The problem was that on my host machine (windows 7 x64) this folder was allowed to read only. I disabled it, and removed it from the host machine. Sorry for not saying that it was mounted, and thanks for all replies : )

answered May 10 '14 at 15:10

Danny Ocean

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score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 18 '16 at 11:19

3

The following command may help:

chmod -R u+w folder/

Also make sure you own all the files which you're trying to remove:

chown -R $USER folder/

On Linux it may be also a file attribute (check by lsattr):

chattr -R -AacdDijsStu folder/

answered Mar 18 '16 at 11:19

kenorb

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 22 '19 at 01:48

2

In my case, for some reason the user immutable flag (uchg) was switched on for everything in the .git folder. This fixed it:

chflags -R nouchg folder/

I could then delete with rm -rf folder/.

answered May 22 '19 at 01:48

Stephen S

61
5

Trying to remove git repo on ubuntu guest

4 Answers4

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