Remove files from git without deleting
Remove one file from git without deleting local copy
git rm --cached mylogfile.log
To remove thousands of files in directory from git only:
find mydirectory/ -type f | xargs git rm --cached
Completely remove one or more files from git history
First, change directory to root of repository...
Here is how to completely remove all .tar.bz2 files from the repository (all commits):
git filter-branch --force --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch *.tar.bz2' --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all |
Remove specific file (remember, must give full path to file):
git filter-branch --force --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch GIT/PATH/TO/FILE.EXT' --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all |