Managing .git file size

Question

My .git file has grown to 229Mb and I wondering what the best way to cut down the size is. I know about git gc and have been using it a fair amount. I\'m not totally sure

Answer 1

If you want to keep your (reachable) commit history intact, then expire, repack, prune, and garbage collect:

git reflog expire --expire=0 --all
git repack -ad
git prune 
git gc

This should be the minimal size you can get your repo and keep your commit history.

If not, i.e., you want or do not mind starting afresh with the current state of the repo as the initial commit, then Peter Tillemans' approach will do it.