Re: git fetch --prune fails with "fatal: bad object"

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Jun 11, 2024, 07:31 UTC
Message-ID: <20240611073134.GE3248245@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <5247e0cc-ef0e-558a-7e06-5a7425a52329@fastmail.fm>

On Sat, Jun 08, 2024 at 02:02:52PM -0700, Fred Long wrote:

Show 16 quoted lines

> >    git for-each-ref --format='%(refname)' refs/remotes/ |
> >    git cat-file --batch-check='%(objectname)' |
> >    perl -alne 'print "delete $F[0]" if $F[1] eq "missing"' |
> >    tee /dev/stderr |
> >    git update-ref --stdin
> > 
> Thanks. Here's what I have been using:
> 
> git fsck |& grep "invalid sha1 pointer" | (
>     while read err ref rest
>     do
>         ref=${ref%:}
>         echo got $ref, removing .git/$ref
>         rm .git/$ref
>     done
> )

Parsing fsck's errors should be OK, I think, but your "rm" won't be reliable. If the ref is packed, then it needs to be removed from .git/packed-refs, too. Calling "git update-ref -d $ref" should work, even for a broken ref.

-Peff