Why is old name of git remote sill in .git/refs/remotes?

Question

I recently moved my 'main' remote git repository from code.google to github. Then, I renamed old origin repo to code-google and previously created remote github to origin. So far so good.

But...

There are still references in .git/refs/remotes:

code-google  github  origin

I tried this, but it does not seem to be working:

$ git remote prune github --dry-run
fatal: 'github' does not appear to be a git repository
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

Why is github still there since it was renamed? Why am I not able to dispose of it? And how can I clean up my repo?

Answer 1

This thread mentions that renaming the remote isn't enough:

If you want to be really complete, you should also delete your 'origin' refs :

rm -R .git/refs/remotes/origin

A safer way would be to clone your new remote repo (now on GitHub), and add another remote.