From: J. Bruce Fields <bfields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> "Modifying" an old commit by checking it out, --amend'ing it, then rebasing on top of it, is a slightly cumbersome technique, but I've found it useful frequently enough to make it seem worth documenting. Signed-off-by: "J. Bruce Fields" <bfields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/user-manual.txt | 46 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt index 33f8a72..907f122 100644 --- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt +++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt @@ -1333,6 +1333,7 @@ with the changes to be reverted, then you will be asked to fix conflicts manually, just as in the case of <<resolving-a-merge, resolving a merge>>. +[[fixing-a-mistake-by-editing-history]] Fixing a mistake by editing history ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @@ -1935,6 +1936,51 @@ return mywork to the state it had before you started the rebase: $ git rebase --abort ------------------------------------------------- +Modifying a single commit +------------------------- + +We saw in <<fixing-a-mistake-by-editing-history>> that you can replace the +most recent commit using + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git commit --amend +------------------------------------------------- + +which will replace the old commit by a new commit incorporating your +changes, giving you a chance to edit the old commit message first. + +You can also use a combination of this and gitlink:git-rebase[1] to edit +commits further back in your history. First, tag the problematic commit with + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git tag bad mywork~5 +------------------------------------------------- + +(Either gitk or git-log may be useful for finding the commit.) + +Then check out a new branch at that commit, edit it, and rebase the rest of +the series on top of it: + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git checkout -b TMP bad +$ # make changes here and update the index +$ git commit --amend +$ git rebase --onto TMP bad mywork +------------------------------------------------- + +When you're done, you'll be left with mywork checked out, with the top patches +on mywork reapplied on top of the modified commit you created in TMP. You can +then clean up with + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git branch -d TMP +$ git tag -d bad +------------------------------------------------- + +Note that the immutable nature of git history means that you haven't really +"modified" existing commits; instead, you have replaced the old commits with +new commits having new object names. + Reordering or selecting from a patch series ------------------------------------------- -- 1.5.0.gb75812-dirty - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html