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Git advanced notes

Archived

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Branches​

Rename a branch​

  1. Rename the local branch

    git branch -m oldname newname

  2. Push the renamed branch

    git push origin newname

  3. Delete the remote branch

    git push origin --delete oldname

Create a new, empty branch​

git checkout --orphan BRANCHNAME
git rm -rf .

Rewriting history​

Delete pushed commits​

Never do this if other people are using the repo!

If you wish to delete all commits after a certain one:

  1. Get the hash of the last commit you want to keep:

    git log -p

  2. Do a hard reset to that commit

    git reset --hard 2221651

  3. Do a force push to delete the remote commits Always specify the branch if you have more than one branch!

    git push --force

Delete a file completely from git history​

https://help.github.com/articles/remove-sensitive-data/#using-filter-branch

cd /path/to/repo
git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch PATH-TO-YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA' \
--prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
git push origin --force --all
git push origin --force --tags

Merging​

Merge specific files from one branch to another, without history​

http://stackoverflow.com/a/1355990/399105

Workflows​

Sample feature branch workflow​

These instructions are based on a feature branch workflow: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/feature-branch-workflow

Rebasing instead of merging is used on the feature branch for cleaner project history: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/merging-vs-rebasing

  1. Pull the latest updates to the repo

    cd /path/to/repo
    git pull

  2. Create a new branch named after the feature

    git checkout -b FEATURE-NAME

    Ex:

    git checkout -b feature-add-logout

  3. Do work in the new branch, committing as needed

    git add /path/to/file
    git commit

  4. Push work periodically to the repo

    git push -u origin FEATURE-NAME

    Ex:

    git push -u origin feature-add-logout

    (The first push will start tracking the feature branch. After than, you can just use git push)

  5. Discuss changes with other users of the repository

  6. Prepare feature branch for merging

    git checkout master
    git pull
    git checkout FEATURE-NAME
    git pull
    git rebase master

  7. Merge feature branch

    • To merge your branch and keep all commits:

      git checkout master
      git merge FEATURE-NAME
      git push

    • To add work to the main branch as one commit (losing all of the individual commit logs):

      git checkout master
      git merge --squash FEATURE-NAME
      git commit -m "Commit message for your feature"
      git push

  8. If you're finished with the feature branch, you can delete it

    1. Delete the branch locally

      git branch -d FEATURE-NAME

    2. Delete the branch remotely

      git push origin --delete FEATURE-NAME

Ignoring​

Ignore local changes to a file in the repo​

https://stackoverflow.com/a/20241145/399105