GitHub has an article for exactly this. Check it out here. To sum up the article: you can use either the git filter-branch command or the BFG Repo-Cleaner. BFG Repo-Cleaner is easier and faster to use, so I use that. To use BFG Repo-Cleaner follow these steps:
- Download the jar file at the project repo or with macos use
brew install bfg - Clone a fresh copy of your repo, using the
--mirrorflag:
git clone --mirror git://example.com/some-big-repo.git
if using SSH or
git clone --mirror https://example.com/some-big-repo.git
if using HTTPS.
This is a bare repository so you won't be able to see your files but it will be a full copy of your repository with all commits.
- You can then use the following command to delete specific files from previous commits:
java -jar bfg.jar --delete-files [FILE NAME] --no-blob-protection my-repo.git
or if installed to the PATH
bfg --delete-files [FILE NAME] --no-blob-protection my-repo.git
or to delete a password from an old commit
bfg --replace-text passwords.txt
- Before pushing back up to your repo, check that the repo history has changed by going into your git repo folder and running the following command:
git reflog expire --expire=now --all && git gc --prune=now --aggressive
and then
git gc
to strip out unwanted data that you don't want to push back up to your repo.
- Once your happy, push back up to your remote repo by running
git push- note that, because you used the--mirrorflag when cloning your repo, when you push back to your repo, you will also push back reference changes.
To read up more about BFG Repo-Cleaner, visit this link.
This is a comment (a good one, never mind). Answers should never be link-only. See why-do-i-need-50-reputation-to-comment-what-can-i-do-instead An answer should be valid even if the link goes down.
Thank you for editing and responding to feedback your answer is much more acceptable for this site, and suits the Q&A format. :)
Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate your efforts. I have to read this in detail. But I need that file which has password. Because that file handles main logic of my application. So I can't delete that file.
Hi Akshay C. I answered the question and here's a link to an answer which answers your question. stackoverflow.com/a/2397905
@PritamSangani Thank you so much for the detailed information on BFG Repo-Cleaner. But in this case, it won't be useful for me, because the password is saved in the same file which handles the main logic for the app. So I cannot delete this file. Is there a way to delete the file and upload a new one by overwriting the previous commit?