# How to remove invalid remote repository 4 messages from 2007-06-05 to 2007-06-05. Participants: Matt Seitz, Jan Hudec, Linus Torvalds. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/8452 ## Matt Seitz, 2007-06-05 19:41 Subject: How to remove invalid remote repository Message-ID: <8A00BB77B01133479F4A56D932A1132202906FD8@EX-401.mail.navisite.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/8A00BB77B01133479F4A56D932A1132202906FD8%40EX-401.mail.navisite.com ``` I mistakenly entered the wrong directory name for "git remote add" (I entered the working tree directory name instead of the ".git" directory name). So "git fetch" fails with: fatal: 'origin': unable to chdir or not a git archive fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly Cannot get the repository state from origin So, I tried removing the remote tracking branches: git branch -d -r root-etc/master But that failed with: error: remote branch 'root-etc/master' not found. So I then tried recreating the remote reference: git remote add root-etc /root/git/etc/.git But that failed with: remote root-etc already exists So, how can I remove the incorrect remote repository reference and replace it with a correct one? [root@demo5 etc]# git config -l core.repositoryformatversion=0 core.filemode=true core.bare=false core.logallrefupdates=true gui.geometry=811x591+781+0 107 172 remote.root-etc.url=/root/git/etc remote.root-etc.fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/root-etc/* [root@demo5 etc]# git version git version 1.5.0.7 ``` ## Jan Hudec, 2007-06-05 20:14 Subject: Re: How to remove invalid remote repository Message-ID: <20070605201457.GB3240@efreet.light.src> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20070605201457.GB3240%40efreet.light.src In-Reply-To: <8A00BB77B01133479F4A56D932A1132202906FD8@EX-401.mail.navisite.com> ``` On Tue, Jun 05, 2007 at 14:41:04 -0500, Matt Seitz wrote: > I mistakenly entered the wrong directory name for "git remote add" (I > entered the working tree directory name instead of the ".git" directory > name). There does not seem to be any 'git remote remove'. So you'll do it by changing the config. Either with git-config, or by editing .git/config (it *IS* meant to be hand-edited). > [...] > So, how can I remove the incorrect remote repository reference and > replace it with a correct one? > > [root@demo5 etc]# git config -l > [...] > remote.root-etc.url=/root/git/etc ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is the URL. You can simply fix it either with git-config remote.root-etc.url /root/git/etc/.git or by editing .git/config > remote.root-etc.fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/root-etc/* The section corresponding to these two entries in .git/config looks like: [remote "root-etc"] url = /root/git/etc fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/root-etc/* You can tweak it to your heart's content. The documentation is in man pages of git-config and git-fetch. -- Jan 'Bulb' Hudec ``` ## Linus Torvalds, 2007-06-05 20:18 Subject: Re: How to remove invalid remote repository Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/alpine.LFD.0.98.0706051308090.4921%40woody.linux-foundation.org In-Reply-To: <8A00BB77B01133479F4A56D932A1132202906FD8@EX-401.mail.navisite.com> ``` On Tue, 5 Jun 2007, Matt Seitz wrote: > > I mistakenly entered the wrong directory name for "git remote add" (I > entered the working tree directory name instead of the ".git" directory > name). Now, that should be fine. You don't have to add the .git name, git will figure it out on its own. > So "git fetch" fails with: > > fatal: 'origin': unable to chdir or not a git archive > fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly Well, this is because you apparently didn't call the remote "origin", but something else. So when you do git fetch without giving any remote name at all, git will *default* to using "origin" as a remote, but since no such remote name exists, it will try to use that remote as a pathname (which is admittedly a bit silly, but git doesn't know that), and so what happened was that it was trying to fetch from the git repository "origin", but no such git repository existed, and thus it says: fatal: 'origin': unable to chdir or not a git archive In fact, the remote name you added seems to be "root-etc", juding from your config file (which I've recreated here by looking at your "git config -l" output - things like whitespace may be off): [core] repositoryformatversion=0 filemode=true bare=false logallrefupdates=true [gui] geometry=811x591+781+0 107 172 [remote "root-etc"] url=/root/git/etc fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/root-etc/* > So, I tried removing the remote tracking branches: > > git branch -d -r root-etc/master > > But that failed with: > > error: remote branch 'root-etc/master' not found. The easiest way to remove the remote is _literally_ by just editing the ".git/config" file. It's not magic, and the syntax really is as trivial as it looks, and it's perfectly ok to just fire up an editor and fix it up. In this case, the easiest fix is to not delete that remote entry at all (it's a fine entry, afaik), but you have to tell git that your local "master" branch should track it. You do that by just adding [branch "master"] remote = root-etc merge = refs/heads/master which tells git that when you are on the "master" branch, and do a "git fetch", it should fetch from that "root-etc" remote (and if you doa "pull", which implies also merging, it should merge the "refs/heads/master" branch from that remote into your local master). > So I then tried recreating the remote reference: > > git remote add root-etc /root/git/etc/.git > > But that failed with: > > remote root-etc already exists Right. It already does, because you already have it, and your previous add already worked. The only issue is that since you didn't tell that your current branch should be hooked up with that particular remote, so git ended up using the default (which is called "origin", not "root-etc"). Linus ``` ## Matt Seitz, 2007-06-05 20:57 Subject: RE: How to remove invalid remote repository Message-ID: <8A00BB77B01133479F4A56D932A113220290715F@EX-401.mail.navisite.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/8A00BB77B01133479F4A56D932A113220290715F%40EX-401.mail.navisite.com In-Reply-To: ``` From: Linus Torvalds [mailto:torvalds@linux-foundation.org] > Well, this is because you apparently didn't call the remote > "origin", but something else. So when you do > > git fetch > > without giving any remote name at all, git will *default* to > using "origin" as a remote, Ah, I see now. I misread that section of the "Git User's Manual". Using git fetch root-etc worked fine. Sorry to have bothered everyone with my error. ```