Git Reset Lifeline

Posted: January 4, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Development | Comments Off on Git Reset Lifeline

Whoops! I got myself into a Git pickle yesterday. I was trying to pull some updates from upstream into my feature branch, a normal part of my workflow. But before I knew it, things spiralled out of control. Merges going every which way, commits piling up, extra branches multiplying like rabbits. After 7 or 8 hours of working time, I somehow ended up with 5 extraneous branches! 😅

Anyway, I decided to take a beat, have some chamomile tea, and turn this Git debacle into a teaching moment. Because if it happened to me, it can happen to you! So here’s the scoop on how to hit the reset button on a branch when things go awry.

Hitting the Git Reset Button: A Chill Tutorial

Say you want to revert a branch back to a previous state. The easiest way is to do a hard reset. Just make sure you know what commit you want to revert to first! Here’s how:

  1. Check out the troubled branch:
git checkout branch-backup
  1. Reset it to the desired commit to erase all changes after that point. Sayonara, buggy code!
git checkout main
git reset --hard branch-backup
  1. If you already pushed the branch, you’ve got to force push the changes:
git push origin main --force

And you’re done! Branch restored to commit bliss.

Just be cautious with that last step—it rewrites history, so use sparingly. And you may need to give your teammates a heads up.

Now I’m off to relax after my Git escapade with some more calming tea and a peanut butter toast.