How to remove a deleted file from git history - including rev-list

Question

I have tried filter-branch, and got to the point where it is removed from git log, but still in rev-list. Then I tried bfg repo cleaner and it still is listed in rev-list. Ultimately I need it to be removed from rev-list because the file is missing from our git lfs server, which causes a git lfs fetch --all to fail...

Answer 1

Aha! I found that there were some really old branches that had the file still in HEAD - so I had to use --no-blob-protection. Of course I will now go and check those branches as I know this is actually a dangerous action, but at least bfg shows me these branches. For any future searchers I would suggest running with protection to clear all normal branches - THEN run without protection so that you get ONLY the branches that have the file(s) in head.