GIT: How to edit/reword a commit message, while keeping the fastforward history of branches

Asked Nov 28 '19 at 14:27

Active Nov 28 '19 at 14:46

Viewed 170 times

I have a fast-forwarded repo history with branches, representing server upgrade states.

branch2
|
commit4
|
commit3
|
branch1
|
commit2
|
commit1
|
initial commit

If I rebase from commit1 to reword the commit2 message, then after rebase I will have the following history:

branch2
|
commit4
|
commit3
|
|              branch1
|              |
|              commit2_reworded
|              |
|              commit1
|             /
|           /
|         /
|       /
|     / 
initial commit

How to reword a commit message, which is several fast-forwarded branches earlier, while keeping the straight history line?

Can not reconnect back branch1 to commit3 as it was originally?

edited Nov 28 '19 at 14:46

asked Nov 28 '19 at 14:27

klor

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4

Long story short : you can't. Commits embed the ref to their parent. If the parent changes, it changes. No other way around this. – Romain Valeri Nov 28 '19 at 14:37
Can not reconnect branch1 to commit3 as it was originally? – klor Nov 28 '19 at 14:39
1

There is a workaround using ```filter-branch```. You can check my Q&A [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/58327105/10155936) (But note that commit ids will change) – Saurabh P Bhandari Nov 28 '19 at 14:48
2

You can reconnect them, but `commit3` and `commit4` will change in that process. – Felix Kling Nov 28 '19 at 14:49

GIT: How to edit/reword a commit message, while keeping the fastforward history of branches

0 Answers0