Windows OS: Unable to clone repository due to invalid path with colons in filename

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Assessment

Difficulty
1/5
Estimated time
Under an hour
Newbie friendliness
65/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
git

Research direction

Start with the affected file, example-data/Retrieval Augmented Generation :: Spring AI Reference.pdf, and review the suggested Windows-compatible replacement names. Rename the file, then run the reported Git clone on Windows and confirm checkout completes without the invalid-path error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Description

The repository cannot be cloned on Windows systems due to a file with colons in its name, which are not allowed in Windows file paths.

Error

error: invalid path 'example-data/Retrieval Augmented Generation :: Spring AI Reference.pdf' fatal: unable to checkout working tree

Affected File

example-data/Retrieval Augmented Generation :: Spring AI Reference.pdf

Reproduction

  1. Clone the repository on Windows: git clone https://github.com/marcushellberg/practical-ai-in-java.git
  2. Checkout fails with the error above

Suggested Fix

Rename the file to replace :: with a Windows-compatible character:

  • Retrieval Augmented Generation - Spring AI Reference.pdf
  • Retrieval Augmented Generation _ Spring AI Reference.pdf

Environment

  • OS: Windows 10/11
  • Git: 2.x

This would make the repository accessible to Windows developers without requiring WSL or workarounds.

Dominant language
Java
Stars
93
Forks
19
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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