BFG Repo-Cleaner

BFG Repo-Cleaner is a good tool to clean up a Git repository before sharing

Removes large or troublesome blobs like git-filter-branch does, but faster. And written in Scala.

bfg --strip-blobs-bigger-than 100M --replace-text banned.txt repo.git

Replace all passwords and listed in a file (prefix lines ‘regex:’; or ‘glob:’; if required) with ***REMOVED*** wherever they occur in your repository :

bfg --replace-text passwords.txt  my-repo.git

Delete all files named ‘id_rsa’ or id_dsa’ :

bfg --delete-files id_{dsa,rsa} my-repo.git

Using BFG on Windows

• Use Git Bash or Windows 10 Bash.
• Download and install Java from here.
• Download BFG here.
• Make an alias for BFG:

java -jar bfg.jar $*

• Make a replace.txt file:

PASSWORD        # Replaces PASSWORD with ***REMOVED***
PASSWORD==>TEST # Replaces PASSWORD with TEST
PASSWORD==>     # Replaces PASSWORD with blank
                # You can use Regular Expressions also

• Run this command in the repo folder from Git Bash or Win10 Bash:

bfg --replace-text replace.txt

• When bfg is done run these commands

git reflog expire -expire=now -all && git gc -prune=now -- aggressive

git push                   # -f may be needed

Notes

• I had already pushed the repo and shared it.  That got complicated by multiple branches.  My fault.  It would have been much simpler to run bfg before sharing.
• I fumbled a bit trying to get bfg running in Windows command shell.

Resources

• StackOverflow
• Removing Keys, Passwords and Other Sensitive Data from Old Github Commits on OSX
• BFG Repo-Cleaner – Removes large or troublesome blobs like git-filter-branch does, but faster. And written in Scala.
• Using BFG Repo Cleaner tool to remove sensitive files from your git repo
• The BFG Repo Cleaner