Repository keeps growning despite removing larger files from commit history

[fasc8]

My repository reported a size over 2GB and I started to remove larger files from the commit history by using the suggested BFG tool.

The tool reported a successful run and the repository seems to be significantly smaller locally. But whenever I try to trigger the remote garbage collection the repository seems to grow rather than shrinking in size.

I tried several different methods (from the atlassion post and from SO) but nothing seems to be working.

[Caroline R · Accepted solution]

Hi, @fasc8! 

Thank you for reaching out to Atlassian Community!

I ran the GC against your repository that was above 2 GB and was able to reduce its size to 235.6 MB. 

Just to give you some context around this behavior, after you push the changes with BFG, the remote repository still has the old references as well. So the GC is required on the remote repository to clean up any old references you have removed. 

We have a feature request to allow users to mark repositories for git GC, as you can check here:

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/BCLOUD-11593

Please consider adding yourself as a watcher to receive the updates as we make progress with this. If you are not familiar with our Feature Request Policy, you can read more about it here.

Feel free to share any additional questions or concerns regarding this case.

Kind regards,
Caroline

[fasc8]

Thank you. You ran the garbage collection for the right repository. It is now significantly smaller.

And I took a look at the feature request and added my vote to it.

[Caroline R]

Hi, @fasc8! Thanks for your confirmation, I'm glad to help. 

Kind regards,
Caroline