Bash script to nuke unwanted files from the history of a git repository

Git Purge

# Bash script to nuke unwanted files from the history of a git repository

# Modification of David Underhill's script http://dound.com/2009/04/git-forever-remove-files-or-folders-from-history/
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2100907/how-do-i-purge-a-huge-file-from-commits-in-git-history
# usage : execute from repository root ./git-purge.sh "path to unwanted files"

#!/bin/bash
set -o errexit
 
if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    exit 0
fi
 
# make sure we're at the root of git repo
if [ ! -d .git ]; then
    echo "Error: must run this script from the root of a git repository"
    exit 1
fi
 
# remove all files/paths passed as arguments from the history of the repo
files=$@
git filter-branch --force --index-filter "git rm -rf --cached --ignore-unmatch $files" --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

# remove the temporary history git-filter-branch otherwise it will persist in the cache
rm -rf .git/refs/original/
git reflog expire --expire=now --all
git gc --prune=now
git gc --aggressive --prune=now