github - git push fails: RPC failed; result=22, HTTP code = 411

Question

I have only one branch. For a few months I have been using

git push origin master

to commit to my local repository. Last night after I made some minor changes to my local repository and tried to push using the same command, I got this error:

error: RPC failed; result=22, HTTP code = 411
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly
Everything up-to-date

I googled and found questions such as this one and this one, but none of the answers to these questions solves my problem.

Most of the answers suggest the problem of detached head. Yet I don't think my head is detached. Nor do I think I am on the wrong branch (as I only have one branch...)

I did a few experiments to figure out what's wrong, and here are the results I got:

(1) First comes my git status output

# On branch master
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
# egal.aux
# egal.blg
# egal.out
# egal.pdf
# egalcar.aux
# egalcar.blg
# egalcar.pdf
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

(2) When I type git reflog, I can see all my local commits, but the remote repository just won't get updated.

(3) When I type git branch -a, I get

* master
  remotes/origin/master

(4) When I type git remote show origin, I get

* remote origin
  Fetch URL: http://github.com/CherryQu921/egaldoc_en
  Push  URL: http://github.com/CherryQu921/egaldoc_en
  HEAD branch: master
  Remote branch:
    master tracked
  Local ref configured for 'git push':
    master pushes to master (fast-forwardable)

I think the last line of output (the "fast-forwardable") is weird, but I am not sure what is wrong...

Answer 1

If you attempt to push a large set of changes to a Git repository with HTTP or HTTPS, you may get an error message such as error: RPC failed; result=22, HTTP code = 411. This is caused by a Git configuration default which limits certain HTTP operations to 1 megabyte.

To change this limit run within your local repository

git config http.postBuffer *bytes*

where bytes is the maximum number of bytes permitted. For example:

git config http.postBuffer 524288000

For 500MB (thanks @Hengjie)