Welcome to the next pikoTutorial!

The error we’re handling today is a Git command line error:

error: Unable to index file

What does it mean?

When you see the error message “Unable to index file” in Git, it typically indicates that Git has encountered an issue while trying to add a file to its index. The index, also known as the staging area, is where changes are stored before they are committed to the repository. This error usually prevents you from successfully staging and committing your changes.

How to fix it?

File system limits

Some file systems have limits on the length of file names, the total path length or the size of the files. Git might struggle to index files that exceed these limits.

File permissions

If Git doesn’t have the necessary permissions to read a file or directory, it will be unable to index the file.

Corrupted Git index

The index itself might be corrupted, causing issues when Git tries to add new files to it. This may happen e.g., when someone mistakenly edits or deletes files within the .git directory, including the index file.

Special characters in file names

Unusual or special characters in file names can sometimes cause issues, particularly if you’re working in a cross-platform environment where different operating systems handle these characters differently.