git how to remove untracked files from the pack file

Question

I removed a folder\files from my Git repo by running

git rm -r --cached Application01

to untrack all the files in that folder and reduce the size of the Git repo.

The problem is that the pack file .git/objects/pack/*.pack is still holding the files I removed\untracked.

How can I completely remove all untracked files and lose all their history and make the pack file smaller?

Thanks

The files still exist in your version history - after all, git is a version control system - so if you really want to reduce the size of your repo you need to rewrite history. — 1615903, May 23 '17 at 08:00

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 23 '17 at 07:54

1

try to run this command

git gc

this will run git garbage collector to clean up unnecessary files and optimise your local repository

answered May 23 '17 at 07:54

Anas Laghouaouta

you can try with the option --aggressive as well. See documentation below https://git-scm.com/docs/git-gc – Anas Laghouaouta May 23 '17 at 08:01
I tried `git gc --prune=now --aggressive`, but that didn't remove the files. – RaamEE May 23 '17 at 08:56
1

I think the problem has been solved here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11050265/remove-large-pack-file-created-by-git – Anas Laghouaouta May 23 '17 at 09:19

1 Answers1