@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ You can undo changes at any point in this workflow:
-[When you're working locally](#undo-local-changes) and haven't yet pushed to a remote repository.
- When you have already pushed to a remote repository and you want to:
-[Keep the history intact](#undo-remote-changes-without-changing-history)(preferred).
-[Change the history](#undo-remote-changes-with-modifying-history)(requires
-[Change the history](#undo-remote-changes-while-changing-history)(requires
coordination with team and force pushes).
## Undo local changes
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@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ If you want to change to another branch, you can use [`git stash`](https://www.g
## Undo committed local changes
When you commit to your local repository (`git commit`), the version control system records
When you commit to your local repository (`git commit`), Git records
your changes. Because you did not push to a remote repository yet, your changes are
not public (or shared with other developers). At this point, you can undo your changes.
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@@ -218,64 +218,53 @@ which clashes with what other developers have locally.
### Undo staged local changes with history modification
You can rewrite history in Git, but you should avoid it, because it can cause problems
when multiple developers are contributing to the same codebase.
The following tasks rewrite Git history.
There is one command for history modification and that is `git rebase`. Command
provides interactive mode (`-i` flag) which enables you to:
#### Delete a specific commit
-**reword** commit messages (there is also `git commit --amend` for editing
last commit message).
-**edit** the commit content (changes introduced by commit) and message.
-**squash** multiple commits into a single one, and have a custom or aggregated
commit message.
-**drop** commits - delete them.
- and few more options.
You can delete a specific commit. For example, if you have
commits `A-B-C-D` and you want to delete commit `B`.
Let us check few examples. Again there are commits `A-B-C-D` where you want to
delete commit `B`.
- Rebase the range from current commit D to A:
1. Rebase the range from current commit `D` to `B`:
```shell
git rebase -i A
```
- Command opens your favorite editor where you write `drop` in front of commit
`B`, but you leave default `pick` with all other commits. Save and exit the
editor to perform a rebase. Remember: if you want to cancel delete whole
file content before saving and exiting the editor
A list of commits is displayed in your editor.
1. In front of commit `B`, replace `pick` with `drop`.
1. Leave the default, `pick`, for all other commits.
1. Save and exit the editor.
#### Modify a specific commit
In case you want to modify something introduced in commit `B`.
You can modify a specific commit. For example, if you have
commits `A-B-C-D` and you want to modify something introduced in commit `B`.
- Rebase the range from current commit D to A:
1. Rebase the range from current commit `D` to `B`:
```shell
git rebase -i A
```
- Command opens your favorite text editor where you write `edit` in front of commit
`B`, but leave default `pick` with all other commits. Save and exit the editor to
perform a rebase.
A list of commits is displayed in your editor.
- Now do your edits and commit changes:
1. In front of commit `B`, replace `pick` with `edit`.
1. Leave the default, `pick`, for all other commits.
1. Save and exit the editor.
1. Open the file in your editor, make your edits, and commit the changes:
```shell
git commit -a
```
You can find some more examples in the section explaining
[how to modify history](#how-modifying-history-is-done).
### Redoing the undo
Sometimes you realize that the changes you undid were useful and you want them
back. Well because of first paragraph you are in luck. Command `git reflog`
enables you to *recall* detached local commits by referencing or applying them
via commit ID. Although, do not expect to see really old commits in reflog, because
Git regularly [cleans the commits which are *unreachable* by branches or tags](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Maintenance-and-Data-Recovery).
You can recall previous local commits. However, not all previous commits are available, because
Git regularly [cleans the commits that are unreachable by branches or tags](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Maintenance-and-Data-Recovery).
To view repository history and to track older commits you can use below command:
To view repository history and track prior commits, run `git reflog show`. For example:
```shell
$ git reflog show
...
...
@@ -293,63 +282,46 @@ eb37e74 HEAD@{6}: rebase -i (pick): Commit C
6e43d59 HEAD@{16}: commit: Commit B
```
Output of command shows repository history. In first column there is commit ID,
in following column, number next to `HEAD` indicates how many commits ago something
was made, after that indicator of action that was made (commit, rebase, merge, ...)
and then on end description of that action.
This output shows the repository history, including:
## Undo remote changes without changing history
- The commit SHA.
- How many `HEAD`-changing actions ago the commit was made (`HEAD@{12}` was 12 `HEAD`-changing actions ago).
- The action that was taken, for example: commit, rebase, merge.
- A description of the action that changed `HEAD`.
This topic is roughly same as modifying committed local changes without modifying
history. **It should be the preferred way of undoing changes on any remote repository
or public branch.** Keep in mind that branching is the best solution when you want
to retain the history of faulty development, yet start anew from certain point.
## Undo remote changes without changing history
Branching
enables you to include the existing changes in new development (by merging) and
it also provides a clear timeline and development structure.
To undo changes in the remote repository, you can create a new commit with the changes you
want to undo. You should follow this process, which preserves the history and
provides a clear timeline and development structure. However, you only
need to follow this procedure if your work was merged into a branch that
other developers are using as the base for their work (for example, `main`).
If you want to revert changes introduced in certain `commit-id`, you can
revert that `commit-id` (swap additions and deletions) in newly created commit:
You can do this with
To revert changes introduced in a specific commit `B`:
```shell
git revert commit-id
git revert B
```
or creating a new branch:
## Undo remote changes while changing history
```shell
git checkout commit-id
git checkout -b new-path-of-feature
```
You can undo remote changes and change history.
## Undo remote changes with modifying history
This is useful when you want to *hide* certain things - like secret keys,
passwords, and SSH keys. It is and should not be used to hide mistakes, as
it makes it harder to debug in case there are some other bugs. The main
reason for this is that you loose the real development progress. Keep in
mind that, even with modified history, commits are just detached and can still be
accessed through commit ID - at least until all repositories perform
the automated cleanup of detached commits.
Even with an updated history, old commits can still be
accessed by commit SHA, at least until all the automated cleanup
of detached commits is performed, or a cleanup is run manually. Even the cleanup might not remove old commits if there are still refs pointing to them.
### Where modifying history is generally acceptable
### When changing history is acceptable
Modified history breaks the development chain of other developers, as changed
history does not have matching commit IDs. For that reason it should not be
used on any public branch or on branch that might be used by other developers.
When contributing to big open source repositories (for example, [GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#contribution-acceptance-criteria)
itself), it is acceptable to squash commits into a single one, to present a
nicer history of your contribution.
You should not change the history when you're working in a public branch
or a branch that might be used by other developers.
Keep in mind that this also removes the comments attached to certain commits
in merge requests, so if you need to retain traceability in GitLab, then
modifying history is not acceptable.
When you contribute to large open source repositories, like [GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab),
you can squash your commits into a single one.
A feature branch of a merge request is a public branch and might be used by
other developers, but project process and rules might allow or require
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@@ -362,20 +334,12 @@ at merge).
NOTE:
Never modify the commit history of your [default branch](../../../user/project/repository/branches/default.md) or shared branch.
### How modifying history is done
### How to change history
After you know what you want to modify (how far in history or how which range of
old commits), use `git rebase -i commit-id`. This command displays all the commits from
current version to chosen commit ID and allow modification, squashing, deletion
of that commits.
You can modify history by using `git rebase -i`. This command allows modification, squashing, deletion
of commits.
```shell
$ git rebase -i commit1-id..commit3-id
pick <commit1-id> <commit1-commit-message>
pick <commit2-id> <commit2-commit-message>
pick <commit3-id> <commit3-commit-message>
# Rebase commit1-id..commit3-id onto <commit4-id> (3 command(s))
