remove all binary files recursively from git repo and commit history
git, git-rewrite-history
Solution
The process seems right.
You can also test your clean process with a tool like bfg repo cleaner, as in this answer:
java -jar bfg.jar --delete-files *.{jpg,png,mp4,m4v,ogv,webm} ${bare-repo-dir};
(Except BFG makes sure it doesn't delete anything in your latest commit, so you need to remove those files in the current index and make a "clean" commit. All other previous commits will be cleaned by BFG)
Update 2020: for removing files, you would now use `git filter-repo` (Git 2.22+, Q4 2019), since `git filter-branch` or `BFG` are now, 7 years later, obsolete.
git filter-repo --path fileToRemove --invert-paths
Problem
I have read a few different threads on removing large binary files from git commit history, but my problem is just a little bit different. Hence my question here to understand and confirm the steps-- My git repo is `~/foo`. I want to remove all *.jpg, *.png, *.mp4, *.ogv (and so on) from one of the directories inside the repo, specifically from `~/foo/public/data`. Step 1. Remove the files ``` ~/foo/data > find -E . -regex ".*\.(jpg|png|mp4|m4v|ogv|webm)" \ -exec git filter-branch --force --index-filter \ 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch {}' \ --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all \; ``` Step 2. Add the binary file extensions to .gitignore and commit .gitignore ``` ~/foo/data > cd .. ~/foo > git add .gitignore ~/foo > git commit -m "added binary files to .gitignore" ``` Step 3. Push everything ``` ~/foo > git push origin master --force ``` Am I on the right track above? I want to measure twice before I cut once, so to say. Update: Well, the above gives me the error ``` You need to run this command from the toplevel of the working tree. You need to run this command from the toplevel of the working tree. .. ``` So I went up the tree to the top level and re-ran the command, and it all worked.