Detailed message: An error was raised by libgit2. Category = Index (Error)

Question

I have been using git extensions with Visual Studio 2013 for months. Yesterday my Visual Studio froze. I had to restart in order to shut it down. Now, I can get in and things appear to work, except git extensions.

I have this error message on the Git Settings tab:

An error occurred. Detailed message: An error was raised by libgit2. Category = Index (Error). Invalid data in index - incorrect header signature

I have:

1. uninstalled and re-installed git
2. restarted my machine
3. spent hours searching online
4. tried re-cloning the repository

None of this has had any effect. I don't know what caused it and I don't know how to fix it.

Has anyone encountered this before? How do I get it to work again? I have changes that I need to commit.

Answer 1

It sounds like you are describing two issues.

First, your GitExtensions may be corrupted (delete the contents of /Users/{User}/AppData/Roaming/GitExtensions)

Second, VS may be connecting to a repository with issues. If you clone a new repository and connect to it, do you still get that error?

Answer 2

Check your .gitignore file

examples are here: https://github.com/github/gitignore

Not every file need to be commited, because some of them are local for your compiler