Missing/corrupt object file errors when using Git repository in Windows 8.1 Skydrive

Question

I like to keep my local Git repos in my Skydrive folder so they sync nicely between machines and I always have an online copy. However, I've recently run into problems after upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

Specifically, I started getting errors that [hash] object was missing or corrupt. After debugging the issue, it turned out that Git was having difficulty with 8.1's new Skydrive integration into the file system. Specifically, 8.1 likes to list files as if they're stored locally, but keep them online until they're accessed. It turned out that right clicking my repo folder and clicking 'make available offline' solved the git errors.

Is there some convenient git or windows setting that I can change to make this unnecessary? It's not a big deal to make files available offline (in fact, I'll probably do that anyway), but I'd like to know if there's a neater solution.

Answer 1

You don't keep a git repo in a synchronized folder (Dropbox, SkyDrive, ...): too many files, too many corruption possibilities.

What you keep is a bundle:

• one file
• which can be incrementally updated,
• and which represents your git repo
• and from which you can clone a local repo

See:

• "Git with Dropbox"
• "Using Dropbox to synchronize files and having them backed up in version control"
• "Git with Dropbox Issues"

---

Or, you can push those repos to a private repo hosting service like BitBucket, as commented by ta.speot.is.