>>> René Scharfe <l.s.r@xxxxxx> schrieb am 06.07.2021 um 16:25 in Nachricht <fcfd0401-df5b-15ec-29c4-74d2903274cd@xxxxxx>: > Am 06.07.21 um 09:12 schrieb Ulrich Windl: >>>>> René Scharfe <l.s.r@xxxxxx> schrieb am 05.07.2021 um 16:44 in Nachricht >> <77655a4e-8c39-5ccc-71af-d2d8684bf208@xxxxxx>: >>> Am 05.07.21 um 09:42 schrieb Ulrich Windl: >>>>> You *can* overwrite them using "git branch --force foo" and then >>>>> "git branch -d foo" works. >>>> >>>> Would it be OK to force the branch to any commit (e.g.: "master"), relying >> >>> on >>>> the fact that any reference (read: "master") to that commit will prevent >>> actual >>>> removal of the commit? >>> >>> Yes, any valid commit would do. This turns dangling branches into >>> normal delete-able ones. Other branches are unaffected. >> >> OK, but either it does not work, or I did not understand what to do: >> >>> git branch --force bitmap-generic >> fatal: Not a valid object name: 'bitmap-generic'. >>> git fsck >> Checking object directories: 100% (256/256), done. >> Checking objects: 100% (173/173), done. >> notice: HEAD points to an unborn branch (bitmap-generic) >> dangling blob 0458be7cf03f35be365c819afe0104ff3c178ca0 >> dangling blob 3000d29f0a652f3f7ed25572cac9969b90adeca5 >> dangling commit 90e8531086d3efaeefdf6c8d39b6782e49dd2a0d >> dangling commit b598195f859106662bde746f391a7df9162231e9 >> dangling tree fb4866ab5cc2f0c34a63334b90550ef7199a2098 >> ... > > First: Please make backups. > > Here's what works for me. First reproducing the error: > > $ echo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa >.git/refs/heads/broken Hi! Thanks for the hints. But first the problem is in the repository, not in the workspace, so I don't have a ".git/refs/", but "refs/". The other thing is that the only "refs" that is there is "master"; the one with the problem isn't there. So I tried: % echo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa >refs/heads/bitmap-generic Then "git branch" indicated that "bitmap-generic" would be the current branch: % cat HEAD ref: refs/heads/bitmap-generic Next I brute-force edited HEAD, repacing bitmap-generic with master. Still, that would not work: % git branch --delete --force bitmap-generic error: Couldn't look up commit object for 'refs/heads/bitmap-generic' But the next command worked: % git branch --force bitmap-generic Finally, this also worked: % git branch --delete bitmap-generic Deleted branch bitmap-generic (was 03aa7ca). Most importantly "git fsck" did no longer complain. Thanks for the help! Do you want to provide an answer to stackexchange, or may I use your procedure to write an answer? Regards, Ulrich > $ git branch --delete --force broken > error: Couldn't look up commit object for 'refs/heads/broken' > > Now I have a broken branch that I cannot delete. We should be on the > same page now. > > $ git branch > broken > * master > > So I'm on master, a valid branch. > > $ git branch --force broken > > Now the broken branch is overwritten and points to the same commit as > master. > > $ git branch --delete broken > Deleted branch broken (was 83d267b). > > And now it's gone. > > René
