[git] Git - Undo pushed commits

What I do in these cases is:

  • In the server, move the cursor back to the last known good commit:

    git push -f origin <last_known_good_commit>:<branch_name>
    
  • Locally, do the same:

    git reset --hard <last_known_good_commit>
    #         ^^^^^^
    #         optional
    



See a full example on a branch my_new_branch that I created for this purpose:

$ git branch
my_new_branch

This is the recent history after adding some stuff to myfile.py:

$ git log
commit 80143bcaaca77963a47c211a9cbe664d5448d546
Author: me
Date:   Wed Mar 23 12:48:03 2016 +0100

    Adding new stuff in myfile.py

commit b4zad078237fa48746a4feb6517fa409f6bf238e
Author: me
Date:   Tue Mar 18 12:46:59 2016 +0100

    Initial commit

I want to get rid of the last commit, which was already pushed, so I run:

$ git push -f origin b4zad078237fa48746a4feb6517fa409f6bf238e:my_new_branch
Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To [email protected]:me/myrepo.git
 + 80143bc...b4zad07 b4zad078237fa48746a4feb6517fa409f6bf238e -> my_new_branch (forced update)

Nice! Now I see the file that was changed on that commit (myfile.py) shows in "not staged for commit":

$ git status
On branch my_new_branch
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/my_new_branch'.

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

    modified:   myfile.py

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

Since I don't want these changes, I just move the cursor back locally as well:

$ git reset --hard b4zad078237fa48746a4feb6517fa409f6bf238e
HEAD is now at b4zad07 Initial commit

So now HEAD is in the previous commit, both in local and remote:

$ git log
commit b4zad078237fa48746a4feb6517fa409f6bf238e
Author: me
Date:   Tue Mar 18 12:46:59 2016 +0100

    Initial commit