Git troubleshooting#

Git is in itself a very complex and powerful system that sometimes causes difficulties. In combination with external Git servers it can sometimes come to some mistakes, which are listed here.

General recommendations#

  • Keep your Git repository on an internal drive. Avoid mapped/ network drives or RAID management software that creates custom volumes.

  • Don’t put your Git repository in a Dropbox, Google Drive, Cloud Drive, NAS or similar

  • If you run out of storage, clear the Git cache by going to “Project Settings” / “Git” and clicking on “Clear Cache”.

  • Make sure that you have enough Git LFS storage on your Git hosting provider (GitHub, Azure, GitLab, etc).

Errors on Commit/ Staging#

These are problems that happen right after you press the “Commit” or “Push” button. During that process you see a huge progress indicator overlaying the application.

This problem often occurs if you are using a mapped/network or custom mounted drive with RAID management software. Git will not be stable here. It’s recommended that you work on an internal hard drive. If you have created your project on a mapped drive, simply cut and paste the project folder (including the _.approj file) to your internal drive. Then open Anchorpoint by double clicking on the _.approj file.

Errors on Push#

These are problems that happen after the commit, so when Anchorpoint is uploading the files in the background.

Cannot push to Azure or GitHub due to wrong username/ password#

Normally the credentials manager (a white popup dialog) should open. If it does not, go to “Project Settings” / “Git” and select “Update Credentials”.

If you have logged into Azure with a different account, logged into any Microsoft product (e.g. Office) with a different account, or have a Microsoft account with a different email, Anchorpoint may be using the wrong credentials. You can change this in the Windows Credential Manager. You can access it by pressing the WIN key and typing “Credential Manager”.

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Entries like this confuse Anchorpoint. You may have other Microsoft related entries. Removing them does not cause harm. It’s just removing credentials from a cache. If an application needs them, it will ask you to enter them again.

A team member cannot join the Git repository#

This may be because the team member was added on the Git server. Besides Anchorpoint, you also need to invite him to your repository on GitHub, Azure DevOps, Gitea, etc. so that he has access to the data. If a member does not have access, Anchorpoint will display the name of the Git server where you need to add your team member in a message.

GitHub#

Upload your team member to a repository. To do this, do the following:

  • Open your repository on GitHub.com.

  • Click on Settings at the top

  • Click on Collaborators on the left.

  • Click on the Add people button. It is important that you use the same email that was used in Anchorpoint.

The Timeline is empty#

You reformatted your computer#

In this case Git thinks you are no longer the original owner of the project because your user ID has changed. To fix this:

  • Click on Git Commands in the Anchorpoint project

  • Choose Open Git Console / Terminal

  • In the terminal type in: git status and press enter

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  • If you get a similar output, retype what you see in the console. In this case git config --global --add safe.directory H:/myProject and press enter

  • Then, type in: git status again and press enter.

It should rebuild the index. You may will be asked to enter your Git login data for your Git hosting provider again. Once you have done this, restart Anchorpoint and open the timeline.

You are running out of disk space#

Git needs at least twice the disk space of your production files in the Git repo. If Git does not get enough memory, it has to recalculate the index. This process takes time.

What you can do is to move your project in the file explorer to another disk. Important, copy the whole project folder and not only the content. Then when you open Anchorpoint by clicking on the *.approj file, Anchorpoint will open your project in the new location.

Not a Git repository#

The toast shows “This folder is not a git repository”.

In this case the hidden .git folder is not available. The best way to get it back is to download the repository from the cloud again. Follow these steps:

  1. Close Anchorpoint and rename the project folder in Windows Explorer/ macOS Finder

  2. Open Anchorpoint again (it won’t be able to find the project)

  3. Create a new folder and download the Git repo there

Missing File#

A file is not pushed to the Git repository on the server and Git cannot find the file when pulling changes. This error usually happens when someone pushed files to the Git repository with an ill-formed Git configuration. This can happen if you push with another Git client that is not configured correctly.

To fix this, tell the person that has pushed the commits to the server to do to the following:

  1. Click on “Project Settings / Git”

  2. Press the “Open Git Console / Terminal” command

  3. type git lfs push origin YOUR_BRANCH_NAME –all, e.g. git lfs push origin main –all

After this command is finished, your should be able to pull or push the changes again.

Cleaning cache spinns in an endless state#

This issue can happen when Git cannot clean up all caches due to issues in a repository. You can disable this setting under “Workspace Settings” / “Git” -> “Clear Git File Cache automatically”. The reason can be corrupt .gitattribute files. The best way to resolve this issue is to create a new repository.

Other issues#

We are constantly collecting issues to either improve Anchorpoint or to provide help. To make our life easier report us your issue by doing the following:

  • Close Anchorpoint

  • Go to C:/Users/USERNAME/AppData/Local/Anchorpoint/app-1.XX.X/scripts/win and open debug_mode.bat

  • If you are on macOS go to /Applications/Anchorpoint.app/Contents/MacOS/Anchorpoint and launch it with the “–debug” command at the end

  • Try to do what went wrong (e.g. committing files, pulling, opening the timeline, reverting etc.)

  • When the error shows up again send us a message by clicking on the “…” button in the top right corner

Describe your problem in the message. We will get a log file containing the error. This should give us all the information we need to fix it. Otherwise, you can also contact us at our Discord server

Troubleshooting Git servers