Git error, need to remove large file

Question

I am getting this error when I try to push to git and I have no idea how to fix it.

Counting objects: 1239, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (1062/1062), done.
Writing objects: 100% (1239/1239), 26.49 MiB | 679.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 1239 (delta 128), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: warning: File log/development.log is 98.59 MB; this is larger than GitHub's recommended maximum file size of 50.00 MB
remote: error: GH001: Large files detected. You may want to try Git Large File Storage - https://git-lfs.github.com.
remote: error: Trace: efd2d13efa4a231e3216dad097ec25d6
remote: error: See http://git.io/iEPt8g for more information.
remote: error: File log/development.log is 108.86 MB; this exceeds GitHub's file size limit of 100.00 MB
remote: error: File log/development.log is 108.74 MB; this exceeds GitHub's file size limit of 100.00 MB
remote: error: File log/development.log is 108.56 MB; this exceeds GitHub's file size limit of 100.00 MB
remote: error: File log/development.log is 106.58 MB; this exceeds GitHub's file size limit of 100.00 MB
remote: error: File log/development.log is 103.70 MB; this exceeds GitHub's file size limit of 100.00 MB
To git@github.com:myUsername/myRepo.git
! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)
error: failed to push some refs to 'git@github.com:myUsername/myRepo.git'

I'm guessing I need to remove the large file from the commit, but how do I do that?

Is this a rails project? Don't add your `log/` directory to git. That shouldn't be versioned. — Andy Ray, Oct 27 '15 at 04:39

Daniel Andrei Mincă · Answer 1 · 2015-10-27T10:26:18.180

51

To remove large files, GitHub suggests:

$ git rm --cached giant_file
# Stage our giant file for removal, but leave it on disk

git commit --amend -CHEAD
# Amend the previous commit with your change
# Simply making a new commit won't work, as you need
# to remove the file from the unpushed history as well

git push
# Push our rewritten, smaller commit

Or if you want more general information on how to work with large files on GitHub.

And next time add /log in your .gitignore

edited Oct 27 '15 at 10:26

answered Oct 27 '15 at 08:33

Daniel Andrei Mincă

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This doesn't work when you already made another commit deleting the file in an initial attempt to get past Git's annoyances.. – aviator Aug 03 '22 at 02:31

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 04 '19 at 12:32

30

To improve upon one of the reply above, you need

git filter-branch -f --tree-filter 'rm -f /path/to/file' HEAD --all

in order to remove your file even from the history. You need -f to force rewriting any backup and --all to remove file from all branches. More information here: Git docs

Your large file error won't go away by removing it from the git cache because it is still lurking in the commit history.

answered Apr 04 '19 at 12:32

user30850

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Thanks, this worked for me! As a side note, I had to ensure to have forward slashes and relativ path for "/path/to/file" – Pierre Chavaroche Sep 11 '19 at 08:52
how can I remove it from the commit history? – jhabar singh Bhati May 21 '21 at 03:26
@jhabarsinghBhati That is exactly what the command does. – user30850 May 21 '21 at 10:33
This works perfectly, but notice that git will throw a warning that users should try git-filter-repo instead. See my answer below: https://stackoverflow.com/a/74174551/5741644 – childerino Oct 23 '22 at 20:32
if you have made another commit after deleting the large file then this is the solution – Baki Billah Aug 27 '23 at 17:16

score 23 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 29 '18 at 11:09

23

I faced the same issue recently, you can actually just filter the branch for specific file and remove it -

git filter-branch --tree-filter 'rm -rf path/to/your/file' HEAD

answered Jun 29 '18 at 11:09

Ritesh Chandnani

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You need to run this command from the toplevel of the working tree. – Jan 02 '20 at 01:59

score 16 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 12 '19 at 10:25

16

git reset --soft HEAD~1

then exclude the file from the commit.

Note: Use HEAD~N to go back to N number of previous commits.

use this , go back a commit ,remove the large file from the commit if you can see it , then re commit and push.

this should solve the problem

answered Aug 12 '19 at 10:25

Sithija Piyuman Thewa Hettige

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Perfect solution. git reset --soft HEAD~n is the best command to go back – Tek Kshetri Feb 24 '22 at 01:55

score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 05 '21 at 13:59

11

I had already deleted the file thinking that would help. Running this command on the the branch worked for me.

git filter-branch -f --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch path/to/file'

answered Aug 05 '21 at 13:59

CZTopp

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score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 08 '20 at 01:48

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Adding to the previous answers:

git filter-branch -f --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch path_to_the_file/your_big_file'

Additionally, when I tried to pull I got "Refusing to merge unrelated histories".

Solution was to use:

git pull origin branch_name --allow-unrelated-histories

Then solve your possible conflicts, and push this time without the big_file.

edited Nov 08 '20 at 01:48

Kim

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answered Sep 21 '19 at 15:50

Timbus Calin

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score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 23 '22 at 20:30

As of October 2022, git instructs the user to use 'git filter-repo' because:

WARNING: git-filter-branch has a glut of gotchas generating mangled history
         rewrites.  Hit Ctrl-C before proceeding to abort, then use an 
alternative filtering tool such as 'git filter-repo'
         (https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/) instead.  See the
         filter-branch manual page for more details; to squelch this warning,
         set FILTER_BRANCH_SQUELCH_WARNING=1.

If (for some reason) the documentation for git-filter-repo (https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/) is not exactly clear, the following will definitely get you on track (it did for me, as I'm apparently a bit obtuse):

https://superuser.com/a/1589985/1054410

The following examples from the git-filter-repo docs show how to translate between, say:

git filter-branch -f --tree-filter 'rm -f /path/to/file' HEAD --all

to

git filter-repo --invert-paths --path /path/to/file

https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/blob/main/Documentation/converting-from-filter-branch.md#cheat-sheet-conversion-of-examples-from-the-filter-branch-manpage

Finally, you might need to add '--force' to the end of the statement, because git filter-repo expects a 'fresh clone'.

Aborting: Refusing to destructively overwrite repo history since      
this does not look like a fresh clone.
  (expected freshly packed repo)
Please operate on a fresh clone instead.  If you want to proceed      
anyway, use --force.

Guy Luz · Answer 8 · 2020-04-10T12:41:44.793

Adding to the previous answers:

We are going to remove the large file from the commit as you said

Do the push from the terminal just to get the large file path git push --set-upstream origin Remote_branch_name, locate the large file path in the errors, something like RepositoryName/folders.../bigFileName.
Remove the file from all the branches, git filter-branch -f --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch path_and_big_file' past the path that we found in section one instead of path_and_big_file.
Execute git pull origin branch_name --allow-unrelated-histories to not get unrelated histories error
Now try to push to git, it should work

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

0

You can revert git add before commit.

Check this question: How to undo 'git add' before commit? It should work. And don't send big files to git, it's not worthy ;)

Also, exclude your logs, by adding git ignore on your logs path.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

Community

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answered Oct 27 '15 at 04:39

m.aibin

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If you're getting this error it means you're trying to push which means you've already committed. – gargoylebident May 26 '21 at 22:46

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 27 '15 at 04:49

0

@Daniel

You can ignore that log(s) file from git repo using .gitignore file. for that you have to add below line to your .gitignore file

/log

and try to commit again.
Hope this details help you to fix your issue.

answered Oct 27 '15 at 04:49

hgsongra

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I had already tried this and commited again but it did not work. – Daniel Oct 27 '15 at 05:00
you need to revert git add, check my answer @Daniel – m.aibin Oct 27 '15 at 05:22

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered May 27 '21 at 06:15

0

This command worked for me

git filter-branch -f --index-filter 'file path'

answered May 27 '21 at 06:15

Tejas Niturkar

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 09 '23 at 19:00

0

i was able to solve mine with this

git reset --soft HEAD~1
git pull origin master --allow-unrelated-histories
git push -u origin master or git push

answered May 09 '23 at 19:00

Abayomi Olowu

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Git error, need to remove large file

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