Re: Git History Rewriting in a public repository - capability to remove one or more commits from a public repository

From: Ilya Terentyev <bacondropped@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 23, 2016, 22:15 UTC
Message-ID: <56CCD9EA.3010404@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <D2F20E85.A04DB%sarvi@cisco.com>

Hi Saravanan,

Changes that rewrite history, including (but not limited to) deleted commits, can be pushed with the --force or --force-with-lease options, like this:

     $ git push --force remote branch

--force pushes your changes unconditionally, which may overwrite changes that someone else pushed between the moment you cloned the repo and pushed your own. --force-with-lease will check for others' pushes, so you can use it in a dry run (without actually changing anything in the remote repository) like this:

     $ git push -n --force-with-lease remote branch

If someone else (like another developer with access to "testing-stage") pushes anything before your attempt to push, you will receive a message like:

     $ git push -n --force-with-lease remote branch
     ! [rejected]        branch -> branch (stale info)
     error: failed to push some refs to remote

Generally speaking, your idea is, probably, better implemented with patches or pull requests:

  1) Your developers rewrite their local history as they wish
  2) They generate patches from their commits (with git format-patch,
     for instance)
  3) Send those patches to "testing-stage"
  4) Apply them to staging area (without committing)
  5) Run required checks
  6) If checks don't pass, discard those changes
  7) If checks pass, commit those patches
  8) Push committed changes to "mainline"

But in any case, you should better consider using feature branches for that.

Best regards, Ilya T.

On 02/24/2016 12:30 AM, Saravanan Shanmugham (sarvi) wrote:

Show 53 quoted lines

> Hi Git Leads,
>        I am looking for git capability/way to be able to remove commits
> from a public repository.
>
> Background:
> We are looking for a multi-stage commit process where commits get pushed
> into a public ³testing-stage² repository.
> Where we do testing of commits before they are pushed to another public
> ³mainline² repository.
>
> When there are failures seen in the public ³testing-stage² repository.
> We would like to implement some process to go identify the bad patch and
> completely eject it from that public ³testing-stage² repository, as if it
> was not connected.
>
> The plan is to use the Git History Rewriting capability described here
> https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Rewriting-History
> So I can pull a pull workspace from the public ³testing-stage² repository
> use the above mechanism to eject one or more commits from it.
>
> Now I would like to be able push it back to public ³testing-stage²
> repository.
> And allow other people to be able to sync their workspaces to this public
> ³testing-stage² repository, correctly.
>
> This as I understand is not supported?/recommended? in GIT.
>
> Mercurial addresses this with the capability to mark commits with a phase
> such as ³Draft² or ³Experimental² and having a workflow around them.
> Described here
> https://www.mercurial-scm.org/wiki/Phases
>
> http://www.gerg.ca/evolve/user-guide.html#evolve-user-guide
>
>
>
> Question:
> What are the issues?
> What needs to be done in terms of development, to support this
> functionality and make it work properly in GIT?
> Is there additional development that needs to be done to git core to allow
> this development process?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Sarvi
> -----
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