Cancel Button vs. Timeout Setting: Which preserves repository integrity after aborting a Git operation in Sourcetree?

Question

Goal
The objective is to determine which abort mechanism in Sourcetree—pressing the UI Cancel button or relying on a configured timeout—results in a cleaner repository state after a long‑running Git operation such as fetch, pull, or merge.
Current Uncertainty
When a user clicks Cancel, Sourcetree sends an interrupt signal to the underlying Git process. This often leaves temporary index or lock files that a manual cleanup may need to remove. Conversely, a timeout configured in Preferences → Git triggers a Git‑level abort that typically relies on Git’s own cleanup logic, but it can prematurely terminate legitimate operations if set too low. Additionally, when both a user cancel and a timeout fire simultaneously, Sourcetree displays a generic “Operation failed” dialog without indicating the cause, complicating troubleshooting.
Specific Questions

After invoking the UI Cancel during a fetch, does the repository retain any lock or temporary files that require manual removal?
When a timeout aborts a merge, does Git automatically release all locks, leaving the repository in a consistent state?
In a scenario where a user clicks Cancel shortly after a timeout is about to trigger, how does Sourcetree distinguish the failure reason in the final status message?

Tasadduq Burney · Answer

Answer
In Sourcetree, clicking the UI Cancel button and letting a configured Git timeout expire have essentially the same effect on repository integrity: both send an interrupt signal to the underlying Git process, and Git’s cleanup handlers may or may not finish before the process terminates. Consequently, neither method is guaranteed to leave the repository free of stale lock or temporary files.
Why this happens
Both abort paths rely on the operating system sending SIGINT (Cancel) or SIGTERM (timeout) to Git. Git attempts to remove .git/index.lock, .git/MERGE_HEAD, etc., but if the signal arrives while Git is writing those files, the cleanup can be interrupted, leaving locks such as .git/index.lock or .git/FETCH_HEAD.lock. The same risk applies to LFS temporary files or partial pack files.

After the abort, run git status to see if Git reports any problematic state (e.g., “You have not concluded your merge”).
List possible lock files: ls -la .git/*.lock (or dir .git\*.lock on Windows).
If any lock files appear, remove them with rm -f .git/*.lock (Windows: del .git\*.lock).
Verify repository integrity with git fsck --full; address any reported errors before continuing work.

These steps ensure any leftover locks are cleared and the repository is safe to reuse.

Cancel Button vs. Timeout Setting: Which preserves repository integrity after aborting a Git operation in Sourcetree?

Goal

Current Uncertainty

Specific Questions

1 answer

Answer

Why this happens

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