Repository files navigation

Git LFS is a command line extension andspecification for managing large files with Git.

The client is written in Go, with pre-compiled binaries available for Mac,Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD. Check out thewebsitefor an overview of features.

Debian and RPM packages are available from packagecloud, see theLinux installation instructions.

Homebrew bottles are distributed and can be installed viabrew install git-lfs.

Git LFS is included in the distribution ofGit for Windows.Alternatively, you can install a recent version of Git LFS from theChocolatey package manager.

Binary packages areavailable for Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD.The binary packages include a script which will:

• Install Git LFS binaries onto the system$PATH. On Windows in particular, you may need to restart your command shell so any change to$PATH will take effect and Git can locate the Git LFS binary.
• Rungit lfs install to perform required global configuration changes.

$./install.sh

Note that Debian and RPM packages are built for multiple Linux distributions and versions for both amd64 and i386.For arm64, only Debian packages are built and only for recent versions due to the cost of building in emulation.

• Ensure you have the latest version of Go, GNU make, and a standard Unix-compatible build environment installed.
• On Windows, installgoversioninfo withgo install github.com/josephspurrier/goversioninfo/cmd/goversioninfo@latest.
• Runmake.
• Place thegit-lfs binary, which can be found inbin, on your system’s executable$PATH or equivalent.
• Git LFS requires global configuration changes once per-machine. This can be done byrunning:git lfs install

Releases are signed with the OpenPGP key of one of the core team members. Toget these keys, you can run the following command, which will print them tostandard output:

$curl -L https://api.github.com/repos/git-lfs/git-lfs/tarball/core-gpg-keys| tar -Ozxf -

Once you have the keys, you can download thesha256sums.asc file and verifythe file you want like so:

$gpg -d sha256sums.asc| grep git-lfs-linux-amd64-v2.10.0.tar.gz| shasum -a 256 -c

For the convenience of distributors, we also provide a wider variety of signedhashes in thehashes.asc file. Those hashes are in the tagged BSD format, butcan be verified with Perl'sshasum or the GNU hash utilities, just like theones insha256sums.asc.

To begin using Git LFS within a Git repository that is not already configuredfor Git LFS, you can indicate which files you would like Git LFS to manage.This can be done by running the followingfrom within a Git repository:

$ git lfs track"*.psd"

(Where*.psd is the pattern of filenames that you wish to track. You can readmore about this pattern syntaxhere).

Note: the quotation marks surrounding the pattern are important toprevent the glob pattern from being expanded by the shell.

After any invocation ofgit-lfs-track(1) orgit-lfs-untrack(1), youmustcommit changes to your.gitattributes file. This can be done by running:

$ git add .gitattributes$ git commit -m"track *.psd files using Git LFS"

You can now interact with your Git repository as usual, and Git LFS will takecare of managing your large files. For example, changing a file namedmy.psd(tracked above via*.psd):

$ git add my.psd$ git commit -m"add psd"

Tip: if you have large files already in your repository's history,git lfs track willnot track them retroactively. To migrate existing large filesin your history to use Git LFS, usegit lfs migrate. For example:

$ git lfs migrate import --include="*.psd" --everything

Note that this will rewrite history and change all of the Git object IDs in yourrepository, just like the export version of this command.

For more information, readgit-lfs-migrate(1).

You can confirm that Git LFS is managing your PSD file:

$ git lfs ls-files3c2f7aedfb* my.psd

Once you've made your commits, push your files to the Git remote:

$ git push origin mainUploading LFS objects: 100% (1/1), 810 B, 1.2 KB/s# ...To https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs-test   67fcf6a..47b2002  main -> main

If you've decided that Git LFS isn't right for you, you can convert yourrepository back to a plain Git repository withgit lfs migrate as well. Forexample:

$git lfs migrateexport --include="*.psd" --everything

Note that this will rewrite history and change all of the Git object IDs in yourrepository, just like the import version of this command.

If there's some reason that things aren't working out for you, please let usknow in an issue, and we'll definitely try to help or get it fixed.

Git LFS maintains a list of currently known limitations, which you can find andedithere.

Current releases of Git LFS will work with Git versions as early asGit 2.0.0. However, for best performance, using a recent version of Gitis highly recommended.

Git LFS source code utilizes Go modules in its build system, and therefore thisproject contains ago.mod file with a defined Go module path. However, wedo not maintain a stable Go language API or ABI, as Git LFS is intended to beused solely as a compiled binary utility. Please do not import thegit-lfsmodule into other Go code and do not rely on it as a source code dependency.

You can get help on specific commands directly:

$ git lfshelp<subcommand>

Theofficial documentation has command references and specifications forthe tool. There's also aFAQshipped with Git LFS which answers some common questions.

If you have a question on how to use Git LFS, aren't sure about something, orare looking for input from others on tips about best practices or use cases,feel free tostart a discussion.

You can alwaysopen an issue, andone of the Core Team members will respond to you. Please be sure to include:

1. The output ofgit lfs env, which displays helpful information about yourGit repository useful in debugging.
2. Any failed commands re-run withGIT_TRACE=1 in the environment, whichdisplays additional information pertaining to why a command crashed.

SeeCONTRIBUTING.md for info on working on Git LFS andsending patches. Related projects are listed on theImplementations wikipage.

See alsoSECURITY.md for info on how to submit reportsof security vulnerabilities.

These are the humans that form the Git LFS core team, which runs the project.

In alphabetical order:

@chrisd8088	@larsxschneider
PGP 088335A9	PGP A5795889

These are the humans that have in the past formed the Git LFS core team, orhave otherwise contributed a significant amount to the project. Git LFS wouldnot be possible without them.

In alphabetical order:

@andyneff	@bk2204	@PastelMobileSuit	@rubyist	@sinbad	@technoweenie	@ttaylorr