The list of steps i performed was missing the "add"-command. The original error occurs when I type: cd \Users\myuser\Videos bzr init bzr ignore desktop.ini // after the first try I just left the existing .bzrignore in place bzr add . bzr commit The "add"-command adds the large files and probably causes the crash. To answer your question, I just deleted the ".bzr"-directory and started all over again, this time adding only a small file (.bzrignore) but leaving the large files in the directory. this works: "scenario 2": C:\Users\carsten\Videos>dir Volume in Laufwerk C: hat keine Bezeichnung. Volumeseriennummer: AED8-C42B Verzeichnis von C:\Users\carsten\Videos 06.01.2011 18:28 . 06.01.2011 18:28 .. 05.01.2011 18:34 13 .bzrignore 05.01.2011 18:26 1987-04-26 - Kinderkommunion Carsten 05.01.2011 18:25 1991-09-25 - Kim 05.01.2011 18:27 1998-11-13 - Goldene Hochzeit 05.01.2011 18:26 19xy - Meran RTL und ARD 05.01.2011 18:25 2001-09 - Cala Ratjada 1 Datei(en), 13 Bytes 7 Verzeichnis(se), 208.388.423.680 Bytes frei C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr init Created a standalone tree (format: 2a) C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr status unknown: .bzrignore 1987-04-26 - Kinderkommunion Carsten/ 1991-09-25 - Kim/ 1998-11-13 - Goldene Hochzeit/ 19xy - Meran RTL und ARD/ 2001-09 - Cala Ratjada/ C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr add .bzrignore adding .bzrignore C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr commit -m "..." bzr: warning: The commit message is a file name: "...". (use --file "..." to take commit message from that file) Committing to: C:/Users/carsten/Videos/ added .bzrignore Committed revision 1. So, nothing bad happens when I leave the large files unadded. "scenario 2": To discover what happens with other operations with the large files added, I did this (after first deleting the ".bzr"-directory): C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr init Created a standalone tree (format: 2a) C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr add "19xy - Meran RTL und ARD" adding "19xy - Meran RTL und ARD" adding "19xy - Meran RTL und ARD/Meran.MPG" adding "19xy - Meran RTL und ARD/Meran.divx" C:\Users\carsten\Videos>bzr status bzr: ERROR: exceptions.OverflowError: long int too large to convert Traceback (most recent call last): File "bzrlib\commands.pyo", line 917, in exception_to_return_code File "bzrlib\commands.pyo", line 1117, in run_bzr File "C:/Program Files (x86)/Bazaar/plugins\loom\commands.py", line 203, in ru n_argv_aliases File "bzrlib\commands.pyo", line 691, in run_argv_aliases File "bzrlib\commands.pyo", line 710, in run File "bzrlib\cleanup.pyo", line 135, in run_simple File "bzrlib\cleanup.pyo", line 165, in _do_with_cleanups File "bzrlib\commands.pyo", line 1132, in ignore_pipe File "bzrlib\builtins.pyo", line 301, in run File "bzrlib\status.pyo", line 168, in show_tree_status File "bzrlib\status.pyo", line 72, in report_changes File "bzrlib\tree.pyo", line 94, in changes_from File "bzrlib\decorators.pyo", line 140, in read_locked File "bzrlib\tree.pyo", line 1002, in compare File "bzrlib\delta.pyo", line 127, in _compare_trees File "_dirstate_helpers_pyx.pyx", line 1439, in bzrlib._dirstate_helpers_pyx.P rocessEntryC.__next__ (bzrlib\_dirstate_helpers_pyx.c:12084) File "_dirstate_helpers_pyx.pyx", line 1712, in bzrlib._dirstate_helpers_pyx.P rocessEntryC._iter_next (bzrlib\_dirstate_helpers_pyx.c:14846) File "_dirstate_helpers_pyx.pyx", line 1811, in bzrlib._dirstate_helpers_pyx.P rocessEntryC._loop_one_block (bzrlib\_dirstate_helpers_pyx.c:15715) File "_dirstate_helpers_pyx.pyx", line 1136, in bzrlib._dirstate_helpers_pyx.P rocessEntryC._process_entry (bzrlib\_dirstate_helpers_pyx.c:8198) File "_dirstate_helpers_pyx.pyx", line 872, in bzrlib._dirstate_helpers_pyx._u pdate_entry (bzrlib\_dirstate_helpers_pyx.c:5834) File "_dirstate_helpers_pyx.pyx", line 824, in bzrlib._dirstate_helpers_pyx._p ack_stat (bzrlib\_dirstate_helpers_pyx.c:5492) OverflowError: long int too large to convert bzr 2.3b3 on python 2.6.6 (Windows-7-6.1.7600) arguments: ['bzr', 'status'] encoding: 'cp1252', fsenc: 'mbcs', lang: None plugins: bzrtools C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\bzrtools [2.3.0] colo C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\colo [0.2.1dev] explorer C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\explorer [1.1.2dev] fastimport C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\fastimport [0.10.0d ev] launchpad C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\launchpad [2.3b3] loom C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\loom [2.2.1dev] netrc_credential_store C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\netrc_credential_ store [2.3b3] news_merge C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\news_merge [2.3b3] pipeline C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\pipeline [unknown] qbzr C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\qbzr [0.20.0dev1] rewrite C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\rewrite [0.6.2dev] svn C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\svn [1.0.5dev] upload C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\upload [1.0.0dev] xmloutput C:\Program Files (x86)\Bazaar\plugins\xmloutput [0.8.7.de v] As you can see, it does not need a commit to break things, the "add"-operation was sufficient. I hope this helps.