Getting Error like "git error: "index file is too small"

Question

I had to re-install the OS (Windows 7 x64), everything related to the project was on another partition so my projects remained. Among the applications that I needed to install was also git but after I tried to see what is the status of the project (git status) the following exceptions occurred:

error: index file .git/objects/pack/pack-d3325f684a4eca22c0c168d7c63119da147865e 4.idx is too small

error: index file .git/objects/pack/pack-d3325f684a4eca22c0c168d7c63119da147865e
4.idx is too small

error: index file .git/objects/pack/pack-d3325f684a4eca22c0c168d7c63119da147865e
4.idx is too small

error: index file .git/objects/pack/pack-d3325f684a4eca22c0c168d7c63119da147865e
4.idx is too small

warning: packfile .git/objects/pack/pack-dc512716779f21b39f70fea9afcb5baa36ea872
d.pack cannot be accessed

error: index file .git/objects/pack/pack-d3325f684a4eca22c0c168d7c63119da147865e
4.idx is too small

fatal: unable to read tree 30cda07e931a7c9f3b1e3383c18efa10b2523c67

This is a first one for me. I was wondering whether somebody else encountered something similar and which was the solution for it.

Thank you!

good question. The new version is 1.8.1.msysgit.1. The old one...no idea. Is there a way to find that out? — Olimpiu POP, Apr 03 '13 at 06:59
I experienced this after tar'ing up a repo on a Mac and unpacking it on a Linux system.. both systems are using git 2.20.1, although the Mac says "(Apple Git-117)" after the version. It's possible there was file corruption on the Mac side. The `repack` suggestion resolved it for me. — adfaklsdjf, May 05 '20 at 19:51

score 29 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 03 '13 at 06:57

29

Have you tried like

In the local repository’s config, and set repack.usedeltabaseoffset to false and then repacked the repository:

git config repack.usedeltabaseoffset false
git repack -a -d

answered Apr 03 '13 at 06:57

Abimaran Kugathasan

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This seems borrowed from here: http://joemaller.com/1283/git-error-index-file-is-too-small/. The original author has a decent explanation. – pattivacek Jun 24 '13 at 15:21
1

I second @patrickvacek: it's polite to give credit to the original author. – Erik Kaplun Aug 21 '13 at 16:49
1

This is a better answer, it solves the problem generically. – moodboom Oct 24 '15 at 22:51

CB Bailey · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-03T07:43:21.633

10

It sounds like the index for your pack file is corrupt. If you're sure that you haven't run out of disk space you can delete the index file and recreate it with:

git index-pack -v .git/objects/pack/pack-d3325f684a4eca22c0c168d7c63119da147865e4.pack

Note that it's extremely rare to have to do something like this so you should treat the errors as a sign of possible file system corruption. You may want to wipe everything and restore from backup.

edited Apr 03 '13 at 07:43

answered Apr 03 '13 at 07:03

CB Bailey

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I spitted out some errors that the index pack is not finishing with the .pack extension. – Olimpiu POP Apr 03 '13 at 07:33
1

@user503413: Sorry, my mistake; I copied the name of the index files and forgot to change the extension. I've updated my answer, please try again. – CB Bailey Apr 03 '13 at 07:43
Unfortunately I re-cloned the repo, so I cannot try it again. Thank you – Olimpiu POP Apr 03 '13 at 07:49
This approach did not work for me. I got "fatal: early EOF" in response. – Chris Apr 08 '14 at 15:17
@Chris: Then it is likely that you pack file is corrupt as well as the index file. – CB Bailey Apr 08 '14 at 15:32
I get this message from the console: 'fatal: pack signature mismatch' What does it mean ? – Mic Jul 21 '21 at 07:55

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 03 '13 at 06:55

3

Using git fsck you might be able to recover your repository.

But, more likely than not, you should look around for other options, like restoring from backup, or cloning from some git remote. As part of normal git development, you should have been pushing your changes to some remote server, like your another git server or Github. If you didn't, you may have really bad day.

answered Apr 03 '13 at 06:55

mvp

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git fsck not working. I will reclone my repo - I was just hopping that I can do without and I can learn something new. Thank you. Can you please clarify in two words what git fsck is doing. – Olimpiu POP Apr 03 '13 at 07:03
1

Two words is not a lot of words. :) Let me try anyway: filesystem check. – pattivacek Jun 24 '13 at 15:19

Getting Error like "git error: "index file is too small"

3 Answers3

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