Re: Editing a typo in the message given to "git commit"

From: Pranit Bauva <pranit.bauva@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 21, 2016, 15:32 UTC
Message-ID: <CAFZEwPP=d6fN4MC09JGm4neY5MuXv1JBzx87HC+8=XjEp=DS_w@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <201608211519.u7LFJiMR090069@shell1.rawbw.com>

Hey Norman,

On Sun, Aug 21, 2016 at 8:49 PM,  <norm@dad.org> wrote:

Show 10 quoted lines

> I am learning how to use git. I would like to know:
>
> How can I correct a typo in the message I gave to an old "git commit"? I see
> that the typo occurs in exactly two files in .git:
>
> .git/logs/refs/heads/master
> .git/logs/HEAD
>
> /usr/bin/file says that they are both ASCII English text. So I could just
> hand edit them. But that seems somehow sacrilegious and might break git.

Messages to commits aren't just stored in these two files. Hand editing them will definitely break git and its highly advisable not to do that. In fact, for beginners its highly recommended to never visit the ".git" folder. What you need in this case is `git-rebase -i`. Using that you can go to the commit where you want to edit the message and mark it as "reword". Also if you want to make some modifications in the code, then you can mark it as "edit". Try `man git-rebase` for more info on the command.

Also on a side note: This is a developer's mailing list. Please try to use the user's mailing list[1] for doubts. But if you have a doubt as to why this commands functions in a particular way (in which you think it should not) or you find a possible bug then feel free to discuss it on this mailing list. Also to save other people's time, first search for the doubt in the archives or google about it.

[1]: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/git-users

Regards, Pranit Bauva