Git clone error filename too long

asked Mar 22, 2014 at 9:14

Git has a limit of 4096 characters for a filename, except on Windows when Git is compiled with msys. It uses an older version of the Windows API and there’s a limit of 260 characters for a filename.

So as far as I understand this, it’s a limitation of msys and not of Git. You can read the details here:
https://github.com/msysgit/git/pull/110

You can circumvent this by using another Git client on Windows or set core.longpaths to true as explained in other answers.

git config --system core.longpaths true

Git is build as a combination of scripts and compiled code. With the above change some of the scripts might fail. That’s the reason for core.longpaths not to be enabled by default.

The windows documentation at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=cmd#enable-long-paths-in-windows-10-version-1607-and-later has some more information:

Starting in Windows 10, version 1607, MAX_PATH limitations have been
removed from common Win32 file and directory functions. However, you
must opt-in to the new behavior.

A registry key allows you to enable or disable the new long path
behavior. To enable long path behavior set the registry key at
HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlFileSystemLongPathsEnabled
(Type: REG_DWORD)

You should be able to run the command

git config --system core.longpaths true

or add it to one of your Git configuration files manually to turn this functionality on, once you are on a supported version of Git. It looks like maybe 1.9.0 and after.

This might help:

git config core.longpaths true

Basic explanation: This answer suggests not to have such setting applied to the global system (to all projects so avoiding --system or --global tag) configurations. This command only solves the problem by being specific to the current project.

EDIT:

This is an important answer related to the «permission denied» issue for those whom does not granted to change git settings globally.

Steps to follow (Windows):

1. Run Git Bash as administrator (right-clicking the app shortcut will show the option to Run as Administrator )
2. Run the following command:

git config --system core.longpaths true

Note: if step 2 does not work or gives any error, you can also try running this command:

git config --global core.longpaths true

Read more about git config here.

answered Mar 3, 2018 at 4:50

Create .gitconfig and add

[core]
longpaths = true

You can create the file in a project location (not sure) and also in the global location. In my case the location is C:Users{name}.

To be entirely sure that it takes effect immediately after the repository is initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any files checked out, it is safer to use it this way:

git clone -c core.longpaths=true <repo-url>

-c key=value

Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository; this takes effect immediately after the repository is initialized, but
before the remote history is fetched or any files checked out. The key
is in the same format as expected by git-config1 (e.g.,
core.eol=true). If multiple values are given for the same key, each
value will be written to the config file. This makes it safe, for
example, to add additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.

More info

answered Dec 1, 2016 at 11:26

The better solution is enable the longpath parameter from Git.

git config --system core.longpaths true

But a workaround that works is remove the node_modules folder from Git:

$ git rm -r --cached node_modules
$ vi .gitignore

Add node_modules in a new row inside the .gitignore file. After doing this, push your modifications:

$ git add .gitignore
$ git commit -m "node_modules removed"
$ git push

Executing git config --system core.longpaths true thrown an error to me:

«error: could not lock config file C:Program Files
(x86)Gitmingw32/etc/gitconfig: Permission denied»

Fixed with executing the command at the global level:

git config --global core.longpaths true

answered Dec 20, 2018 at 9:04

git config --global core.longpaths true

The above command worked for me. Using ‘—system’ gave me config file not locked error

answered Nov 26, 2019 at 14:18

You could also try to enable long file paths.

If you run Windows 10 Home Edition you could change your Registry to enable long paths.

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlFileSystem in regedit and then set LongPathsEnabled to 1.

If you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise you could also use Local Group Policies.

Go to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Filesystem in gpedit.msc, open Enable Win32 long paths and set it to Enabled.

RichardRichard

1,82220 silver badges27 bronze badges

Move repository to root of your drive (temporary fix)

You can try to temporarily move the local repository (the entire folder) to the root of your drive or as close to the root as possible.

Since the path is smaller at the root of the drive, it sometimes fixes the issues.

On Windows, I’d move this to C: or another drive’s root.

answered Nov 2, 2015 at 12:25