Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?

Didyman

Pi Model or other hardware: Raspberry Pi 3B+
RetroPie Version Used: 4.8.9
Built From: Raspberry Pi OS Lite Image from the official RetroPie website
Guide used: Official RetroPie setup guide
File: \\RetroPie\configs\all\retroarch\assets\.git\objects\pack\pack-5002d36db7a68a4a67a5772b28cff18d670f5874.pack

Issue

While running WinDirStat against the \\RetroPie\configs folder to analyze space usage, I noticed a large file (406.8 MB) located in:
\\RetroPie\configs\all\retroarch\assets\.git\objects\pack\pack-5002d36db7a68a4a67a5772b28cff18d670f5874.pack.

Question

As a relatively new user to RetroPie, I am unsure if this file is essential for RetroPie functionality or if it can be safely deleted to free up space. Could you provide guidance on the purpose of this file and whether it can be removed without impacting RetroPie or RetroArch performance?

How to replicate the situation

Use WinDirStat (or a similar tool) to analyze the \\RetroPie\configs directory.
Locate the .git folder inside the retroarch/assets directory and observe the large .pack file.

Additional context

I’m seeking advice to clean up unnecessary files without causing unintended issues.

Thank you for your assistance!

mitu

The file is not strictly needed, but I'm also not sure how it got there, since RetroPie doesn't include it. Did you ran an update from RetroArch's menu ? Which image - exactly - did you use to install RetroPie ?

Didyman

@mitu Hi :)

I used this image retropie-buster-4.8-rpi2_3_zero2w.img.gz, did the Basic setup, and yes I did the Update after that.

Is there a command I can use to clean any file that has been used for Update?

Or maybe I can try renaming it, restart the Pi and see if something bad happens

mitu

@Didyman said in Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?:

I used this image retropie-buster-4.8-rpi2_3_zero2w.img.gz, did the Basic setup,

I'm a bit confused - the image already has RetroPie installed, why did run the setup again ?

yes I did the Update after that.

Did you update RetroArch or RetroPie - I was asking if you used the RetroArch menus to update its assets/shaders/profiles/etc. .

Is there a command I can use to clean any file that has been used for Update?

No, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Or maybe I can try renaming it, restart the Pi and see if something bad happens

You can delete that file, as I said is not necessary.

Didyman

@mitu said in Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?:

@Didyman said in Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?:

I used this image retropie-buster-4.8-rpi2_3_zero2w.img.gz, did the Basic setup,

I'm a bit confused - the image already has RetroPie installed, why did run the setup again ?

Honestly, I don't know why I did Basic install... probably because the function was there, and because not all my roms from my backup was showing up, so I thought it might help (I originally got the Pi as a gift from my brother 4 years ago, but got an issue during a recent update, so I did a flash/install from scratch)

yes I did the Update after that.

Did you update RetroArch or RetroPie - I was asking if you used the RetroArch menus to update its assets/shaders/profiles/etc. .

I did Update all packages from the RetroPie script, but after I indeed updated assets and shaders in RetroArch, but as far as I am concerned, those are .zip files that are then extracted. At some point I also did sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade in order to have everything up-to-date

Is there a command I can use to clean any file that has been used for Update?

No, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Ok thanks for the info.

Or maybe I can try renaming it, restart the Pi and see if something bad happens

You can delete that file, as I said is not necessary.

Perfect thank you very much. This answers my question :)

mitu

@Didyman said in Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?:

... but after I indeed updated assets and shaders in RetroArch, but as far as I am concerned, those are .zip files that are then extracted.

Shaders and assets for RetroArch are also handled by RetroPie and they don't need to be updated from RetroArch's menu.

Did you copy the config folder from another installation ? I think a long time ago (not sure how far) the assets folder was cloned from https://github.com/libretro/retroarch-assets.git, but that's been changed and only a minimal set of assets for RetroArch are downloaded and installed by RetroPie.

Didyman

@mitu said in Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?:

@Didyman said in Large File in .git Folder on RetroPie. Is it safe to delete?:

... but after I indeed updated assets and shaders in RetroArch, but as far as I am concerned, those are .zip files that are then extracted.

Shaders and assets for RetroArch are also handled by RetroPie and they don't need to be updated from RetroArch's menu.

Did you copy the config folder from another installation ? I think a long time ago (not sure how far) the assets folder was cloned from https://github.com/libretro/retroarch-assets.git, but that's been changed and only a minimal set of assets for RetroArch are downloaded and installed by RetroPie.

I did a backup of the configs folder, but I didn't copy it back. I keep it as a reference point. I didn't want to "corrupt" the configs as they were coming from an old build (Stretch). I did copy the the bios and roms folders from my backup tho.