Purging file from Git repo failed, unable to create new backup Purging file from Git repo failed, unable to create new backup git git

Purging file from Git repo failed, unable to create new backup


You have already performed a filter-branch operation. After filter-branch, Git keeps refs to the old commits around, in case something goes wrong.

You can find those in .git/refs/original/…. Either delete that directory and all files within, or use the -f flag to force Git to delete the old references.

git filter-branch -f \--index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch Rakefile' HEAD


Use this command to remove original backup:

git update-ref -d refs/original/refs/heads/master

Here is gist I used to filter-branch my git repo: https://gist.github.com/k06a/25a0214c98bc19fd6817


I had the same problem and the answer above didn't fix it. There was no .git/refs/original/ directory left. The solution for me was to delete the .git/packed-refs file.