# git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' 6 messages from 2010-04-01 to 2010-04-05. Participants: Eugene Sajine, Jeff King. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/23287 ## Eugene Sajine, 2010-04-01 17:37 Subject: git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/j2k76c5b8581004011037rb81d80cdu1a4713cde31d4b56%40mail.gmail.com ``` I was running git gc weekly on my machine and today for some reason it failed on one of my repos with an error saying Error: cannot lock ref ‘RENAMED-REF..1’ Error: failed to run ref-log The problem is I have no idea what it is talking about… “git show-ref” doesn’t show anything even close to this name. Fools day joke?;) Any advice? Thanks in advance, Eugene ``` ## Eugene Sajine, 2010-04-02 02:08 Subject: git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/g2x76c5b8581004011908r35cbaf3au545b7f11bd6db8fc%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` Hi, I was running git gc weekly on my machine and today for some reason it failed on one of my repos with an error saying Error: cannot lock ref ‘RENAMED-REF..1’ Error: failed to run ref-log The problem is I have no idea what it is talking about… “git show-ref” doesn’t show anything even close to this name. Fools day joke?;) Any advice? Thanks in advance, Eugene ``` ## Eugene Sajine, 2010-04-03 03:38 Subject: Re: git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/u2s76c5b8581004022038rf8aa0017l5dea55689c738fd9%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` Hi, Can, please, somebody advise what do i have to do in the situation described below? Thanks, Eugene On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 10:08 PM, Eugene Sajine wrote: > Hi, > > I was running git gc weekly on my machine and today for some reason it > failed on one of my repos with an error saying > > Error: cannot lock ref ‘RENAMED-REF..1’ > Error: failed to run ref-log > > The problem is I have no idea what it is talking about… “git show-ref” > doesn’t show anything even close to this name. Fools day joke?;) > Any advice? > > Thanks in advance, > Eugene > ``` ## Jeff King, 2010-04-03 04:22 Subject: Re: git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' Message-ID: <20100403042211.GA22150@coredump.intra.peff.net> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20100403042211.GA22150%40coredump.intra.peff.net In-Reply-To: ``` On Fri, Apr 02, 2010 at 11:38:03PM -0400, Eugene Sajine wrote: > On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 10:08 PM, Eugene Sajine wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I was running git gc weekly on my machine and today for some reason it > > failed on one of my repos with an error saying > > > > Error: cannot lock ref ‘RENAMED-REF..1’ > > Error: failed to run ref-log > > > > The problem is I have no idea what it is talking about… “git show-ref” > > doesn’t show anything even close to this name. Fools day joke?;) > > Any advice? If you look in the .git directory, is there a file named RENAMED-REF..1? I have no idea how you would create such a ref, nor why it would fail to lock (perhaps because of the funny name?), but removing it should probably clear up your problem at least. The name "RENAMED-REF" is only used by git during ref renames, and those only happen when renaming branches (via "git branch -m") or remotes (via "git remote rename"). So presumably the source of the problem is related to one of those operations. -Peff ``` ## Eugene Sajine, 2010-04-04 03:52 Subject: Re: git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/v2i76c5b8581004032052q950584e1y603319ec6f341542%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <20100403042211.GA22150@coredump.intra.peff.net> ``` On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Jeff King wrote: > On Fri, Apr 02, 2010 at 11:38:03PM -0400, Eugene Sajine wrote: > >> On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 10:08 PM, Eugene Sajine wrote: >> > Hi, >> > >> > I was running git gc weekly on my machine and today for some reason it >> > failed on one of my repos with an error saying >> > >> > Error: cannot lock ref ‘RENAMED-REF..1’ >> > Error: failed to run ref-log >> > >> > The problem is I have no idea what it is talking about… “git show-ref” >> > doesn’t show anything even close to this name. Fools day joke?;) >> > Any advice? > > If you look in the .git directory, is there a file named RENAMED-REF..1? > I have no idea how you would create such a ref, nor why it would fail to > lock (perhaps because of the funny name?), but removing it should > probably clear up your problem at least. > > The name "RENAMED-REF" is only used by git during ref renames, and those > only happen when renaming branches (via "git branch -m") or remotes (via > "git remote rename"). So presumably the source of the problem is related > to one of those operations. > > -Peff > Thanks Jeff, i will take a look if i will be able to find this ref. The problem though is that i don't remeber doing any renaming of branches or remote in this repo. Probably somebody did and pushed it to the mainline where i got it from by pull... I'll tyr to check this out. Thanks, Eugene ``` ## Eugene Sajine, 2010-04-05 13:42 Subject: Re: git gc error - cannot lock ref 'RENAMED-REF..1' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/l2m76c5b8581004050642n2ea328f6wdbfbe3991a1f5e50%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` >> If you look in the .git directory, is there a file named RENAMED-REF..1? >> I have no idea how you would create such a ref, nor why it would fail to >> lock (perhaps because of the funny name?), but removing it should >> probably clear up your problem at least. >> >> The name "RENAMED-REF" is only used by git during ref renames, and those >> only happen when renaming branches (via "git branch -m") or remotes (via >> "git remote rename"). So presumably the source of the problem is related >> to one of those operations. >> >> -Peff >> > > Thanks Jeff, > > i will take a look if i will be able to find this ref. The problem > though is that i don't remeber doing any renaming of branches or > remote in this repo. Probably somebody did and pushed it to the > mainline where i got it from by pull... I'll tyr to check this out. > > Thanks, > Eugene > Well, I have removed the file "RENAMEDREF..1" and it didn't resolve the problem. But then i made a "find -name REN*" and found another instance in logs folder. Removing this actually resolved the problem with gc. Still - i have no idea how this ref has appeared there as i believe there was no renaming operations done as well as no manual creation of such ref of course... Thanks, Eugene ```