Git Checkout warning: unable to unlink files, permission denied

Question

I am aware that there are similar issues about git relating to the \'unable to unlink\' warning, but I have not been able to use them.

The main difference is that th

Answer 1

I think it's about your file permission:

sudo chmod 777 -R <your-git-folder>

Answer 2

I had the same issue , I tried few alternatives as others suggested.

But finally giving correct permission to .git folder solve the issues.

sudo chown -R "${USER:-$(id -un)}" .git

Answer 3

This can also occur when:

1. You ran a process inside a Docker container, and:

2. Some files were generated by that process, and:

3. The destination of the files is mounted as a volume on the Docker host, and:

4. You are running git on the Docker host.

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If this is the case, stage the files you wish to commit and run:

git diff --name-only --cached | xargs ls -l 

Files which meet the above criteria will be prefixed with:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root ...

They are owned by root and not writable, which is not good. To fix that run:

 git diff --name-only --cached | xargs -i sh -c 'sudo chown $USER:$USER {}; chmod +w {}'

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A cleaner solution would probably be to use the --user option, see this for Docker and this for Docker compose.

Answer 4

You can change the write permissions to get it done.

sudo chmod -R ug+w . 

This command will give 'w' permissions to all the folders in the current directory.

Answer 5

Make sure that any associated processes or threads are not running and perform end task or force quit as necessary.

Make sure you change the ownership permission.

Answer 6

I was having the issue with a default-settings.php file in drupal 7. In this case I wasn't able to delete it or revert it just like @rtconner said. I didn't have an application or anything using this file, and it ended up being a permissions error.

I added chmod 777 * to the folder and then I was able to revert it no problem.