Phantom file in github commit

Question

I am trying to push some changes to my github repository but the push is failing because of a large file that git thinks is in the repository.

remote: Error code: 38865a38ccad9b1d9f394c35344906e6
remote: warning: Error GH413: Large files detected.
remote: warning: See http://git.io/iEPt8g for more information.
remote: error: File videos/Lecture2.mp4 is 134.01 MB; this exceeds GitHub's file size limit of 100 MB

But the file videos/Lecture2.mp4 is not in the repository. There is no videos directory either.

Any ideas of how to remove this file so that I can push the other changes?

Answer 1

If that file was committed at any point in the history of the git repo, but then deleted, you wouldn't see it in your current status, but it would still be pushed.

Give BFG a try to remove that large file from your history.

BFG Repo-Cleaner: "Removes large or troublesome blobs like git-filter-branch does, but faster."