git status shows fatal: bad object HEAD
GitGithubGit Problem Overview
I have a problem with git on Windows Azure. Git status shows - "fatal: bad object HEAD" and I tried running:
git fsck --full
git gc
But git fsck shows:
broken link from commit 739df633f185ce5d1ab7eb97d619b28e7d81185a
to tree 2a6d4876d135c1fa7cbe1348c62570006e895fc5
broken link from commit 9c7eae5ffed34dbfac977e515dee675626b59f93
to tree 400132d215ab9aced883a9971e648b82624b2032
broken link from commit 9c7eae5ffed34dbfac977e515dee675626b59f93
to commit 4a49af0a0cb64a0a0415734b11772d6df18561fb
broken link from commit bc3072f30e71c616a8196089e19a67a2c9c0a5ad
to tree 0aa813c183487d0a1b1f7ae81501ca7a1168283f
broken link from commit d3bb4f8545e91ec8ace15ad31a3147d92a1d4242
to tree 4682108accd8e72fe68858232386dffe60f9f02d
broken link from commit 6b34795c4b54286301bcdc0ed254a04c132cb2ad
to tree 5c57dd3222d11924dba841d3cae517bdc9220601
broken link from commit d70172d855391b93bc1c5eeb9b4226df525dfc6e
to commit 390c8cbd527c8e707c51e25142e54421f4dd3948
broken link from commit cc05e8d2e3733693ebb67d697ae4b65e51fea79a
to commit 32f081f8b901425fd1e8898478f0551970bee0f5
broken link from tree 6a75ed6d0311d800078e77f43d427d128372d5bc
to blob 4a064d610c0e7207967d59934c8bc5f491f26dae
broken link from tree 6a75ed6d0311d800078e77f43d427d128372d5bc
to tree 5c06ec964dcbade49287d0f36efe1f7b60f446e3
broken link from tree b4855fa6734b5652a93a9b799eafe47fad0d13a0
to blob 3e1fb421613dc9066cbf9c95eddc61619a9f8eed
broken link from tree b4855fa6734b5652a93a9b799eafe47fad0d13a0
to tree 556a50048d42346c283c94b78ea278ba1d57d251
broken link from tree 289c03409370c4ca7c12266ce2822a2976bd032b
to blob 3abf3c48ada45f63404dcf4d675ddfdadcfa83c6
broken link from tree 289c03409370c4ca7c12266ce2822a2976bd032b
to blob 3fa569892003b468ed1301426dd6d96d9644be3c
broken link from tree 289c03409370c4ca7c12266ce2822a2976bd032b
to blob 0a9a54a51e84f3bc34122dbce1146d895fcbe22c
broken link from tree 289c03409370c4ca7c12266ce2822a2976bd032b
to blob 3fa48873564361b4d95830803ae77f79eeafaf5b
git branch shows - *master
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
try this; it worked for me (Warning: this destroys work that exists only in your local repo):
rm -rf .git
You can use mv instead of rm if you don't want to lose your stashed commits
then copy .git from other clone
cp <pathofotherrepository>/.git . -r
then do
git init
this should solve your problem , ALL THE BEST
Solution 2 - Git
Your repository is corrupt. That means data is lost that cannot be recovered by git itself. If you have another clone of this repository, you can recover the objects from there, or make a new clone.
fatal: bad object HEAD means the branch referenced from HEAD is pointing to a bad commit object, which can mean it's missing or corrupt.
From the output of git fsck, you can see there are a few tree, blob and commit objects missing.
Note that using git itself is not enough to keep data safe. You still need to back it up in cases of corruption.
Solution 3 - Git
This happened because by mistake I removed some core file of GIT. Try this its worked for me.
re-initialize git
git init
fetch data from remote
git fetch
Now check all your changes and git status by
git status
Solution 4 - Git
Running
git remote set-head origin --auto
followed by
git gc
Solution 5 - Git
In my case the error came out of nowhere, but didn't let me push to the remote branch.
git fetch origin
And that solved it.
I agree this may not solve the issue for everyone, but before trying a more complex approach give it a shot at this one, nothing to loose.
Solution 6 - Git
Your repository is broken. But you can probably fix it AND keep your edits:
- Back up first:
cp your_repository your_repositry_bak - Clone the broken repository (still works):
git clone your_repository your_repository_clone - Replace the broken .git folder with the one from the clone:
rm -rf your_repository/.git && cp your_repository_clone/.git your_repository/ -r - Delete clone & backup (if everything is fine):
rm -r your_repository_*
Solution 7 - Git
I had a similar problem and what worked for me was to make a new clone from my original repository
Solution 8 - Git
I managed to fix a similar problem to this when some of git's files were corrupted:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/30871926/1737957
In my answer on that question, look for the part where I had the same error message as here:
fatal: bad object HEAD.
You could try following what I did from that point on. Make sure to back up the whole folder first.
Of course, your repository might be corrupted in a completely different way, and what I did won't solve your problem. But it might give you some ideas! Git internals seem like magic, but it's really just a bunch of files which can be edited, moved, deleted the same as any others. Once you have a good idea of what they do and how they fit together you have a good chance of success.
Solution 9 - Git
I solved this by doing git fetch. My error was because I moved my file from my main storage to my secondary storage on windows 10.
Solution 10 - Git
Make a copy of your git dir in your local host and run git init there once again. Push the project to a brand new reprository.
Solution 11 - Git
I solved this by copying the branch data (with the errors) to my apple laptop local git folder.
Somehow in the terminal and when running: git status, tells me more specific data where the error occurs. If you look under the errors, hopefully you see a list of folders with error. In my case GIT showed the folder which was responsible for the error. Deleting that folder and commiting the branche, I succeeded. git status was working again the other devices updating by git pull; everything working again on every machine.
Hopefully this will work for you also.
Solution 12 - Git
This is unlikely to be the source of your problem - but if you happen to be working in .NET you'll end up with a bunch of obj/ folders. Sometimes it is helpful to delete all of these obj/ folders in order to resolve a pesky build issue.
I received the same fatal: bad object HEAD on my current branch (master) and was unable to run git status or to checkout any other branch (I always got an error refs/remote/[branch] does not point to a valid object).
If you want to delete all of your obj folders, don't get lazy and allow .git/objects into the mix. That folder is where all of the actual contents of your git commits go.
After being close to giving up I decided to look at which files were in my recycle bin, and there it was. Restored the file and my local repository was like new.
Solution 13 - Git
This happened to me on a old simple project without branches. I made a lot of changes and when I was done, I couldn't commit. Nothing above worked so I ended up with:
- Copied all the code with my latest changes to a Backup-folder.
- Git clone to download the latest working code along with the working .git folder.
- Copied my code with latest changes from the backup and replaced the cloned code (not the .git folder).
- git add and commit works again and I have all my recent changes.
Solution 14 - Git
In my case I tried cloning from the remote repository to a new TEST local repository. Then used the new .git folder to replace the "corrupt" .git folder. Ran git status and could see the latest differences.
BEWARE: Check differences between your local folder and repo using git add . -v. To undo changes before commit use git reset. You may need to bring "deleted" files from the TEST local repository cloned in the beginning of this operation.
Solution 15 - Git
The solution by @jan-glx should always work. I am adding here step 3., which is needed in case you were working on a branch other than master/main:
- Back up first:
cp your_repository your_repositry_bak - Clone the broken repository:
git clone your_repository your_repository_clone - (if needed) Switch to your working branch in the cloned repo
cd your_repository_clone && git checkout your_working_branch - Replace the broken .git folder with the one from the clone:
rm -rf your_repository/.git && cp your_repository_clone/.git your_repository/ -r - (if everything is fine) Delete clone & backup:
rm -r your_repository_*
Solution 16 - Git
I came across this issue when I used submodules
The file structure
-- Python.Hot
-----.git/
-----Python.OpticalTweezers/
-----Python.OpticalTweezersGUI/
-----.gitmodules
Question
when I checked the log of any submodule, I came across this issue.The waring message is "Could not open log. libgit reports:bad object xxxxxxx"
This issue doesn't exist in the several versions at the very beginning.
snapshot
Solution 17 - Git
Problem
I had the problem where I had local changes preventing me from checking out the main branch, git status would give me fatal: bad object HEAD, and git stash would give me BUG: diff-lib.c:607: run_diff_index must be passed exactly one tree.
Solution
I found that I probably was on a pruned branch (I believe). Force checking out the main branch and then deleting that branch did the trick for me:
git checkout main -fgit branch -D <name_of_branch>
Note: I did do some juggling with a backup of my .git-folder, re-cloning the original repository somewhere else, and overwriting the .git folder temporarily to try to restore git functionality, but in the end the commands above was what saved me with my git history intact!
Solution 18 - Git
In my case, this happened because of a bad commit object.
For example,
ubuntu@server41:~/proj31$ git status -s | grep M
fatal: bad object HEAD
I had to copy the .git directory from the newly cloned in another directory(same repo) to the git repo that had this problem. (see below)
ubuntu@server41:~/proj31$ cd ..
ubuntu@server41:~$ mkdir newr
ubuntu@server41:~$ cd newr
ubuntu@server41:~/newr$ git clone https://github.com/account434/proj31.git
ubuntu@server41:~/newr$ cd
ubuntu@server41:~/newr$ cd proj31
# copy .git directory from newly clone(same repo) to the one which has this problem.
ubuntu@server41:~/proj31$ cp -r ../newr/proj31/.git .
And it worked.
Solution 19 - Git
I solved this by renaming the branch in the file .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD.