Cloned repositories breaking repeatedly

[pillai-s]

I am facing problems with git repositories.
The repositories seem to be broken every time I try to do a new commit or pull from master. This happens with all repositories and the only way I was able to fix it (temporarily) is reclone every thing from scratch. The problem disappears momentarily and appears again after a few days ( this is inconsistent and I am unable to figure if there is a pattern).

The following message appears when this problem occurs:

fatal: unable to read tree e036bf0d757a3ad64619f2b9e5a95d8977ede6a2

I have looked for some assistance online but it doesn't help:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1507463/how-to-deal-with-git-could-not-read-error

I am using a windows system.
For pulling or pushing, I have used github desktop, git kraken, visual studio code, and windows terminal, all giving the same result.

Kindly assist.

[seyLu]

Hi @pillai-s,

Are you by chance using a dated windows machine? If so, you might want to replace your hard disk soon.

You might also want to check if there are any corrupted objects in git:

git fsck  # file system check

# if there are any, then run
git gc  # garbage collection

You can read more on:

• Git docs: git fsck
• Git docs: git gc

[pillai-s]

Hello @seyLu,

Thank you for responding. My system is almost brand new, so I do not think it is a problem of the hard drive.

I ran the commands you suggested and i get a long list of lines starting with "missing blob".

Further, running git gc shows the following:

error: Could not read b6a225e7957c03b104268ce297ab2a8b904ef154
error: Could not read b6a225e7957c03b104268ce297ab2a8b904ef154
error: Could not read b6a225e7957c03b104268ce297ab2a8b904ef154
error: Could not read b6a225e7957c03b104268ce297ab2a8b904ef154
warning: reflog of 'HEAD' references pruned commits
warning: reflog of 'refs/heads/master' references pruned commits
warning: reflog of 'refs/remotes/origin/HEAD' references pruned commits
warning: reflog of 'refs/remotes/origin/master' references pruned commits
error: Could not read b6a225e7957c03b104268ce297ab2a8b904ef154
fatal: Failed to traverse parents of commit 0e3afbcadf2c0071ec2c60accc90a79b0732c42a
fatal: failed to run repack

[milindaShehan]

Check Disk Health:

• On Windows, open the Command Prompt with administrative privileges. You can do this by searching for "cmd" or "Command Prompt" in the Start menu, then right-click and choose "Run as administrator."
• Type the following command and press Enter: chkdsk /f
• If prompted, confirm that you want to schedule a check for the next time you restart your computer.
• Restart your computer. The disk check will run before Windows starts.

File System Check:

• Open the Command Prompt with administrative privileges (as explained above).
• Type the following command and press Enter: sfc /scannow
• Let the system scan and repair any corrupted system files.

Disable Anti-Virus/Security Software:

• Locate your anti-virus or security software in the system tray (usually at the bottom-right corner of your screen).
• Right-click on its icon and look for an option like "Disable," "Pause," or "Suspend Protection."
• Disable the software temporarily.

Reinstall Git:

• Go to the Control Panel on your computer.
• Click on "Programs" or "Programs and Features."
• Locate Git in the list of installed programs, click on it, and select "Uninstall."
• Download the latest version of Git from the official website and install it.

Git Garbage Collection:

• Open a Command Prompt.
• Navigate to your repository's directory using the cd command (e.g., cd C:\path\to\your\repository ).
• Run the command: git gc --prune=now

Check for Disk Space:

• Open File Explorer and go to the drive where your Git repositories are stored.
• Check the available free space.

Check for Repository Corruption:

• Open a Command Prompt and navigate to your repository's directory.
• Run the command: git fsck
• Follow any instructions it provides to fix any issues.

Update Git Configuration:

Open a Command Prompt and run the following commands:

git config --global core.autocrlf true

git config --global core.filemode false

Check for Proxy/VPN Issues:

• If you're using a proxy or VPN, ensure they are configured correctly or try disabling them temporarily to see if it resolves the issue.

[pillai-s]

Hello @milindaShehan. Thank you for responding. I tried all the things you suggested. and at the end when i check the status of the repo, i still get the fatal error.

[pillai-s]

The repo which breaks was one which was used to maintain CAD files designed in PTC Creo. PTC Creo handles different file revision by incrementing a counter at the end of the file name, after the file extension (e.g. myPart.prt.1 or myAssembly.asm.1).

Usually, when saving PTC Creo creates a new file with the same name and extension, but with the version incremented of 1 unit. While this behavior is desiderable to easily retrive previous version of files, is not suitable to store the data in a version control system.

Spekan Purge Tool was used to easily purge all the files that have a revision smaller than the highest, and rename the highest to ".1". The problem of the repos breaking was due to clicking on the DELETE button of the Spekan Purge Tool. The DELETE button removes the .idx files that PTC Creo generates from the directories its pointed at, and in the process also removes the .idx files from the .git folder which identifies the folder as a GitHub repository.

Therefore, to prevent the repos from breaking, the DELETE button on the Spekan Purge Tool should not be clicked.

Closing the issue as solved.