Git/LFS

Installation

Debian / Ubuntu

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install git-lfs
git lfs install

As of 2025.04.07:

$ git lfs --version
git-lfs/3.6.1 (GitHub; linux amd64; go 1.23.3)

ref: https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/wiki/Installation / https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/blob/main/INSTALLING.md

Commands

Status

Get LFS Status in repo:

git lfs status

Enviornment

Get LFS Environemnt details and settings:

git lfs env

List Tracked Files

git lfs ls-files

Track Files

Track all zip files:

git lfs track "*.zip"

Track all ISO files:

git lfs track "*.iso"

This will create:

.gitattributes
  *.zip filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
  *.iso filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text

Help

git-lfs/3.6.1 (GitHub; linux amd64; go 1.23.3)
git lfs <command> [<args>]

Git LFS is a system for managing and versioning large files in
association with a Git repository. Instead of storing the large files
within the Git repository as blobs, Git LFS stores special "pointer
files" in the repository, while storing the actual file contents on a
Git LFS server. The contents of the large file are downloaded
automatically when needed, for example when a Git branch containing the
large file is checked out.

Git LFS works by using a "smudge" filter to look up the large file
contents based on the pointer file, and a "clean" filter to create a new
version of the pointer file when the large file's contents change. It
also uses a pre-push hook to upload the large file contents to the Git
LFS server whenever a commit containing a new large file version is
about to be pushed to the corresponding Git server.

Commands
--------

Like Git, Git LFS commands are separated into high level ("porcelain")
commands and low level ("plumbing") commands.

High level porcelain commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

git lfs checkout:
  Populate working copy with real content from Git LFS files.
git lfs completion:
  Generate shell scripts for command-line tab-completion of Git LFS commands.
git lfs dedup:
  De-duplicate Git LFS files.
git lfs env:
  Display the Git LFS environment.
git lfs ext:
  Display Git LFS extension details.
git lfs fetch:
  Download Git LFS files from a remote.
git lfs fsck:
  Check Git LFS files for consistency.
git lfs install:
  Install Git LFS configuration.
git lfs lock:
  Set a file as "locked" on the Git LFS server.
git lfs locks:
  List currently "locked" files from the Git LFS server.
git lfs logs:
  Show errors from the Git LFS command.
git lfs ls-files:
  Show information about Git LFS files in the index
  and working tree.
git lfs migrate:
  Migrate history to or from Git LFS
git lfs prune:
  Delete old Git LFS files from local storage
git lfs pull:
  Fetch Git LFS changes from the remote & checkout any required working tree
  files.
git lfs push:
  Push queued large files to the Git LFS endpoint.
git lfs status:
  Show the status of Git LFS files in the working
  tree.
git lfs track:
  View or add Git LFS paths to Git attributes.
git lfs uninstall:
  Uninstall Git LFS by removing hooks and smudge/clean filter configuration.
git lfs unlock:
  Remove "locked" setting for a file on the Git LFS server.
git lfs untrack:
  Remove Git LFS paths from Git Attributes.
git lfs update:
  Update Git hooks for the current Git repository.
git lfs version:
  Report the version number.

Low level plumbing commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

git lfs clean:
  Git clean filter that converts large files to pointers.
git lfs filter-process:
  Git process filter that converts between large files and pointers.
git lfs merge-driver:
  Merge text-based LFS files
git lfs pointer:
  Build and compare pointers.
git lfs post-checkout:
  Git post-checkout hook implementation.
git lfs post-commit:
  Git post-commit hook implementation.
git lfs post-merge:
  Git post-merge hook implementation.
git lfs pre-push:
  Git pre-push hook implementation.
git lfs smudge:
  Git smudge filter that converts pointer in blobs to the actual content.
git lfs standalone-file:
  Git LFS standalone transfer adapter for file URLs (local paths).

Examples
--------

To get started with Git LFS, the following commands can be used.

. Setup Git LFS on your system. You only have to do this once per user
account:
+

git lfs install

. Choose the type of files you want to track, for examples all ISO
images, with git lfs track:
+

git lfs track "*.iso"

. The above stores this information in gitattributes(5) files, so that
file needs to be added to the repository:
+

git add .gitattributes

. Commit, push and work with the files normally:
+

git add file.iso
git commit -m "Add disk image"
git push