Re: Deleting first commits; maintaining last commits

>
> On Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 12:18:09AM +0000, brian m. carlson wrote:
> > > My Git repository on GitHub <https://github.com/espindula/br-blfs> has
> > > about 23,500 commits. However, there are several old (before Feb, 28
> > > 2022) commits I would like to delete and maintain the newer ones
> > > (after Feb, 28 2022). So, Is there any Git command (or combined
> > > commands) I could use?
> >
> > No, Git doesn't offer such a thing.  Due to the use of cryptographic
> > hashes used, it would be impossible to verify the integrity of the
> > repository if it could just be truncated like that.  In addition, the
> > goal of Git as a version control system is to track history, not to
> > destroy it.
> >
> > However, if the concern is size and not something else (like removing
> > personal information), then you could use a shallow clone to just
> > download a certain number of revisions and work on that.  The full
> > history would remain on the server, and you could still push newer
> > changes, but the size on your local machine would be smaller.  If you
> > need more history, you could use a partial clone instead if you're
> > willing to be online to work.
>
> Another approach is to create a new repository and use a graft/replacement
> commit to indicate that history continues in a different repository, right? I
> do sometimes wish this was a bit easier/more accessible to perform, because
> that would allow creating "epochs" for very large repos. Unfortunately,
> shallow clones tend to be very heavy on the server-side.