Git Hacks and Tricks

From OPeNDAP Documentation
⧼opendap2-jumptonavigation⧽

Git resources

Setup a username and access token for GitHub

git config --global github.user <name>
git config --global github.token <token>
where the token is made using the instructions at https://help.github.com/articles/creating-an-access-token-for-command-line-use

When using an old version of git on Linux

[jimg@wasabi hyrax-git]$ git pull
error: Couldn't resolve host 'github.com' while accessing https://github.com/opendap/hyrax.git/info/refs

Cheat sheet items

These are simple things that are not really obvious from the git book or other sources

How to see a list of 'conflicted' files after a merge
git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U
How to see the difference between to commits
git diff <commit-hash-1> <commit-hash-2>, e.g., git diff 0da94be 59ff30c
...for a specific file: git diff <commit-hash-1> <commit-hash-2> -- <file>
...and don't forget the shorthand for the hashes: git diff HEAD^^..HEAD -- main.c where HEAD^ is the parent of HEAD. HEAD{n} is the Nth parent.
How to see the different remote branches
git remote show origin
Fetch all the branches on origin
git fetch origin
How do I list the remote branches (that have been fetched)?
git branch -a
How do I switch to a branch from a remote origin?
git checkout -b test origin/test
or, with newer versions of git: git checkout test
How do I see what would be pushed to a remote repo?
git push --dry-run
git diff origin/master # Assumes you have run git fetch, I think
git diff --stat origin/master # --stat just shows the file names stats, not the diffs
To get a specific file from a specific branch
git show dap4:./gdal_dds.cc > gdal_dds.dap4.cc You can use checkout instead of show and that will overwrite the file.
the general syntax is object (that's the 'dap4:./gdal_dds.cc' part) and it can use the ^ and ~n syntax to specify various commits on the given branch. A SHA can also be used.
How to change the 'origin' for a remote repo
git remote set-url origin git://new.url.here (https URLs work too...)
How to push a local branch to a remote repo
git push -u origin feature_branch_name
How to make and track a new (local) branch
git checkout -b <branch name>
How to track a remote branch
git checkout --track origin/serverfix or git checkout -b sf origin/serverfix
How do I make an existing local branch track an existing remote branch?
git branch --set-upstream-to=upstream/foo foo where upstream is probably actually origin.
Commited my code, then made a bunch of changes that just seem like a bad idea in retrospect. How do I go back to my previous commit for everything in a directory? I don't care if I loose all my changes since the last commit.
git reset HEAD --hard (Note that this is one of the very few git commands where you really cannot undo what you have done).
How to undo a commit (that has not been pushed)
git reset --soft HEAD~1. This leaves the files in their changed state in your working dir so that you can edit them and recommit. You can also change to a different branch and commit there, then change back.
In the above case, To reuse the old commit message
git commit -c ORIG_HEAD <-- This works because 'reset' copied the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD. If you don't need to edit the old message, use -C instead of -c.
How to delete a remote brnach
git push origin --delete serverfix The data are kept for a little bit - before git runs garbage collection - so it may be possible to undo this.
How to delete a local branch
git branch -d the_local_branch and delete the remote branch you were tracking with the same name git push origin :the_remote_branch
How to I set up a git cloned repo on a remote machine so I don't have to type my password all the time?
This page shows how to make a PKI key-pair with a secure password, configure the machine to remember the password using ssh-agent and upload the public key to your github account so it'll use the key for authentication. https://help.github.com/articles/generating-ssh-keys/
How can I know which branches are already merged into the master branch?
git branch --merged master lists branches merged into master
git branch --merged lists branches merged into HEAD (i.e. tip of current branch)
git branch --no-merged lists branches that have not been merged
By default this applies to only the local branches. The -a flag will show both local and remote branches, and the -r flag shows only the remote branches.
Switching remote URLs from HTTPS to SSH
git remote -v
# origin https://github.com/USERNAME/REPOSITORY.git (fetch)
# origin https://github.com/USERNAME/REPOSITORY.git (push)
git remote set-url origin git@github.com:USERNAME/OTHERREPOSITORY.git
git remote -v
# Verify new remote URL
# origin git@github.com:USERNAME/OTHERREPOSITORY.git (fetch)
# origin git@github.com:USERNAME/OTHERREPOSITORY.git (push)
Amending the commit message
git commit --amend
git commit --amend -m "New commit message"
How do I revert a commit after if it has been pushed?
Given:
e512d38 Adding taunts to management.
bd89039 Adding kill switch in case I'm fired.
da8af4d Adding performance optimizations to master loop.
db0c012 Fixing bug in the doohickey
If you just want to revert the commits without modifying the history, you can do the following:
git revert e512d38
git revert bd89039
Alternatively, if you don’t want others to see that you added the kill switch and then removed it, you can roll back the repository using the following (however, this will cause problems for others who have already pulled your changes from the remote):
git reset --hard da8af4d
git push origin -f localBranch:remoteBranch