How can I force GitLab to carry out a garbage collection (and permanently remove a file)

Question

One of our developers checked in (and pushed) a secure file.

I removed the file from their history, and did a push --force, in order to get the new history out there, which now doesn't include the file.

However, the orphaned check-in from before is still referenced in the project "Activity", and if I click on the hash then I can still see it that checkin, and the file.

Because it's no longer referenced by the master/head, I assume this orphan checkin will vanish the next time that GitLab carries out a garbage collection. But I'd like that to happen now, so that the secure file is no longer accessible.

How can I force this to happen?

Answer 1

Running housekeeping should solve your problem. When running housekeeping Gitlab will run a git repack or git gc (depending on the admin settings).

See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/housekeeping.html for more info.