git, filter-branch on all branches

Question

I'm using the following sources to expunge some large files and directories from my repository:

http://dound.com/2009/04/git-forever-remove-files-or-folders-from-history/

Why is my git repository so big?

git filter-branch only seems to work on the current branch - is there a way to apply it to all branches at once?

Answer 1

The solution is simple:

git filter-branch [options] -- --all

Note the four dashes (two sets of double dashes with a space in between) in -- --all.

If you look at the docs for git-filter-branch, it says this:

git filter-branch [--env-filter <command>] [--tree-filter <command>]
    [--index-filter <command>] [--parent-filter <command>]
    [--msg-filter <command>] [--commit-filter <command>]
    [--tag-name-filter <command>] [--subdirectory-filter <directory>]
    [--prune-empty]
    [--original <namespace>] [-d <directory>] [-f | --force]
    [--] [<rev-list options>…]

Reading on, the beginning of the docs say: "Lets you rewrite git revision history by rewriting the branches mentioned in the <rev-list options>, applying custom filters on each revision."

So checking the docs for rev-list gives:

< rev-list options >… Arguments for git rev-list. All positive refs included by these options are rewritten. You may also specify options such as --all, but you must use -- to separate them from the git filter-branch options.

And the docs for git-rev-list say:

--all
Pretend as if all the refs in refs/ are listed on the command line as <commit>.