git add error : "fatal : malloc, out of memory"

Question

When i attempt to do a git add i get the error "fatal : malloc, out of memory". i imagine the system has ran out of memory obviously but is there a way to get around this.

Also i am running windows server 2003 and using msysGit.

EDIT: After more searching around i think its a problem with the packing of git, apparently their compression method is great for small files but on big files it chokes hard.

Answer 1

It would help to know the general structure of your Git repository, since it is know to happen for large repo or large number of commits

Also, what version of msysgit are you using ?
The latest version of msysgit (Git-1.6.2-preview20090308.exe) seems to be more robust on those fronts.

Answer 2

After much research i found its a simple problem of the packer running out of memory, this is due to the fact that git uses compression methods that are more suitable to large amounts of small files.

If any was interested i am getting around this problem by splitting the files before add them in so it can still track the changes but it will need to be put together when getting it back.

Answer 3

I increased the memory on my server and it solved the problem.