can't git rm a directory

Question

I accidentally added a directory to the list of items i'm supposed to git commit. Now when I try to run a git rm dirname, I get the error

rm 'dirname'
fatal: git rm: 'dirname': Is a directory

I tried the following commands git rm -rf dirname and git rm dirname --force, but none of these worked. They all produced the same error message.

How do I prevent dirname from being committed?

I am using git version 1.7.0.4

Thanks

Additional Notes

Ok, it appears git rm -rf dirname works only under some conditions. I ran some tests and normally it works. However, it will fail if dirname is itself a separately controlled git repository with a .git directory in it. I have this set up because dirname is a git controlled framework shared by many of my projects.

What version of git are you using? What error message do you get when using `git rm -rf dirname`? — chuckx, Apr 06 '11 at 15:46
runnign that command gave me same error as above. I am running git version 1.7.0.4 — John, Apr 06 '11 at 15:56

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 06 '11 at 16:37

7

Barring any permissions issues...

git rm --cached -r dirname

This should remove the directory from the staged commits.

At this point, it should be untracked and it may be a good idea to set it up to be ignored via gitignore.

answered Apr 06 '11 at 16:37

chuckx

1,120
6
8

MUCH cleaner/easier than my solutions. – voretaq7 Apr 06 '11 at 16:52
_WHY_ does git make an operation this simple so complicated? Thank you. – Justin Force Jan 27 '12 at 17:03
I'm getting `fatal: pathspec 'lib' did not match any files` unfortunately when running this command. – fIwJlxSzApHEZIl Feb 19 '15 at 20:36

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 06 '11 at 16:35

Never had this problem (so no promises that this will work and/or not destroy your data - working on a backup of your repository would be best!), but some options:

Option 1 (if you haven't committed locally):

git stash any valuable changes you've made.
git reset your tree (probably need to do git reset --hard HEAD)
git unstash your stashed changes and add/commit them carefully.

Option 2 (If you haven't committed locally, or if you have but there's a remote you haven't pushed to yet):

git clone a clean version of the repository
Carefully copy your changes over there
add/commit your changes carefully.

Option 3 (which makes a mess of your repo):

Commit your mistake to the repository.
Clean up using git rm -r

(You don't want to do this if the contents of that directory are huge, obviously.)

can't git rm a directory

2 Answers2