In this article, we’ll continue the Linux how-to series and guide you on how to remove a Git remote repository. We’ll cover the difference between local and remote repositories and two possible workflows for Git remote repository. Take a look at our infographics to learn everything in less than one minute!

What is Git

Git is a free and open-source distributed version control system. Linus Torvalds designed it in 2005, and now Git is one of the most popular code version control systems in the world. Git helps you to maintain the history of changes that you made during your software development process.

Local Git Repository

Git is a decentralized distributed version control system. That means that you can store your software code changes on your local PC or remote server. Software changes that you keep locally forming the local repository.

To create (or initiate) a local repository, you’re using the following command:

$ git init

To add and commit your changes to your local Git repository, use:

$ git add

$ git commit

Remote Git Repository

To simplify a software development process for distributed teams, people started to use a dedicated server as a central place for code exchange. Git repository at such server is called a remote repository. Nowadays, we have several Git hosting services, such as Bitbucket, Github, or GitLab.

Here’s the most straightforward workflow with one remote repository:

We can add information about the remote Git repository to our local repository using the following command:

$ git remote add origin git-remote-url

Where:

• origin – is the logical name or remote repository; the origin is the default name for the remote repositor.
• git-remote-url – is the URL of the remote repository; usually, you’re getting it at your repository page at GitHub.

Cloning a Git repository from a remote server creates the origin automatically at your local repository.

For the case of a distributed team using the same remote repository, here’s another diagram:

In the open-source world, team workflow is a bit different. A distributed team is not pushing code changes directly to a single repository, but they send pull-requests. Using pull-requests instead of committing directly to a single repository is a more efficient way to control changes coming to it.

To not overcomplicate the diagram, we’ll show only one developer workflow, working with his remote origin and sending pull requests to the upstream repository.

Removing a Git Remote URL

Before deleting any records of remote Git repositories, it makes sense to list them first:

$ git remote -v

To remove one of the listed remote repositories, use the following command:

$ git remote rm origin

This command will remove an origin from the remote list:

The git remote rm command removes the specific remote from the .git/config file located in your project folder.

Another way to remove the remote repository is to edit the .git/config file, but this method is not the most widely-used.

If you’re trying to remove a remote repository that does not exist, Git throws an error.

$ git remote rm origin

The output is fatal: No such remote: 'origin':

Usually, the above error can also be caused by mistyping the remote repository name.

The git remote rm command has an alias git remote remove, which works in the same way:

$ git remote remove git-repository-logical-name

Summary

In this article, you’ve learned how to remove information about the remote Git repository from our local repository.

If you have any questions, please, feel free to reach out in the comments section below.

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