command to uninitialize a git repo in Windows

Question

What specific syntax needs to be used for a command that works in Windows to uninitialize a Git repo?

In a Windows server, we are encountering the following error when a Python program tries to run shutil.rmtree() on a directory
that contains a git repo. As you can see below, the error indicates that access to a file within the .git subdirectory is
blocked to the shutil.rmtree() command.

We have read this other posting which includes suggestions such as to use rm -rf in Linux, or to manually delete the .git folder in Windows. We have also read postings that indicate
that shutil.rmtree() cannot force destruction as a non-administrator user.

However, the directory was created by the same user running a git clone command, so we imagine there must be some git command that will purge all the files in .git.

Given that our user can git clone, we imagine our use could git uninit. So what command do we need to use to approximate git uninit and effectively remove .git folder and all its contents in Windows without throwing the following error?

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:pathtomyappsetup.py", line 466, in undoConfigure
    shutil.rmtree(config_path)
  File "C:UsersuserAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython310libshutil.py", line 739, in rmtree
    return _rmtree_unsafe(path, onerror)
  File "C:UsersuserAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython310libshutil.py", line 612, in _rmtree_unsafe
    _rmtree_unsafe(fullname, onerror)
  File "C:UsersuserAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython310libshutil.py", line 612, in _rmtree_unsafe
    _rmtree_unsafe(fullname, onerror)
  File "C:UsersuserAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython310libshutil.py", line 612, in _rmtree_unsafe
    _rmtree_unsafe(fullname, onerror)
  File "C:UsersuserAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython310libshutil.py", line 617, in _rmtree_unsafe
    onerror(os.unlink, fullname, sys.exc_info())
  File "C:UsersuserAppDataLocalProgramsPythonPython310libshutil.py", line 615, in _rmtree_unsafe
    os.unlink(fullname)
PermissionError: [WinError 5] Access is denied: 'C:\path\to\callingDir\.git\objects\pack\pack-71e7a693d5aeef00d1db9bd066122dcd1a96c500.idx'

Asked By: CodeMed

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Source

Answer 1

You’re basically asking "how to remove a folder and its contents in Windows"? So rmdir /s theoffendingfolder? Assuming the git repo is in a state you want to leave it in (i.e. not with some old version currently checked out), and you are sure you want it removed (no user confirmation), this works:

rmdir /s /q .git

The /s ensures contents are removed as well. And the /q assures the operation is quiet (assuming ‘y’ for confirmation).

In case you’re on PowerShell instead of Command Prompt, you can use:

Remove-Item ".git" -Force -Recurse

Answered By: Grismar

command to uninitialize a git repo in Windows

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