Delete Large Files From Your Git History Without Using Git LFS

 

If you want to delete large files from your Git history without using Git LFS, you can use the `git filter-branch` command along with the `--tree-filter` option to remove the files from your Git history. This process will rewrite the repository's history and remove the specified files.

Here's how you can do it:

1. Backup Your Repository:

   Before proceeding, make sure to create a backup of your repository to avoid data loss in case something goes wrong.

2. Identify Large Files:

   Identify the large files that you want to remove from the Git history, such as `data/hail-2015.csv`.

3. Run the `git filter-branch` Command:

   Use the `git filter-branch` command with the `--tree-filter` option to remove the large files from your Git history. Replace `data/hail-2015.csv` with the actual file path you want to remove.

   ```bash

   git filter-branch --force --index-filter \

   "git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch data/hail-2015.csv" \

   --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

   ```

This command will rewrite the Git history to exclude the specified file. Please note that this command will take some time to complete, especially for large repositories.

4. Clean Up Unreachable Objects:

   After running the `git filter-branch` command, there might be unreachable objects left in your repository. To remove them, run the following command:

   ```bash

   git reflog expire --expire=now --all && git gc --prune=now --aggressive

   ```

5. Force Push to Update Remote Repository:

   Since you've rewritten the Git history, you'll need to force push the changes to the remote repository:

   ```bash

   git push --force origin main

   ```

Replace `main` with the name of your branch if it's different.

Please use caution when performing these actions, especially if your repository is shared with others. Rewriting history can affect collaborators, so it's important to communicate with your team and coordinate this process.

Photo by Christina Morillo