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I've been using Git (with GitHub) in Visual Studio, but have not used it particularly elegantly in terms of branches, etc. I've just been maintaining the master.

That was fine during early development, but now I have a stable version 1 I want to reset my Git repository. I want to remove all old commits so that I have just the first version there, which can label/tag as V1 and then use branches correctly going forward.

How do I go about resetting / removing all old commits?

I guess I could:

  • Delete repo in GitHub
  • Delete .git folder in solution
  • Delete .gitignore file in solution
  • Delete .gitattributes file in solution
  • Restart VS
  • Create a repo

But, is there a way to just reset without deleting and re-creating the repo?

Neil W
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    `I want to reset my Git repository. I want to remove all old commits so that I have just the first version there` but... _why_? what do you hope to gain? and: no, there isn't an easy way - because the whole _point_ of version control is to _have_ a complete version history. – Franz Gleichmann Apr 28 '22 at 13:09
  • Thanks, @Franz. Just a matter of house-keeping. Am not going to revisit any of my 100+ commits before the stable version 1, so having those in the Branch Manager list seemed 'messy'. I hear your comments, though. Maybe I should just leave it as is. – Neil W Apr 28 '22 at 13:13
  • You could: go to your local source folder, copy all source files (even .gitignore etc. if you like) to a new folder. Push the new folder to a new repo on GitHub. But I have to agree to @FranzGleichmann: don't do what I wrote! Git just shows you that you been "messy" before that point. Accurate branching and commit history is the point of version control after all. It is more import to stop being "messy" from now on. – tomwaitforitmy Apr 28 '22 at 13:20

1 Answers1

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As Franz Gleichmann is stating, there is no real point in getting rid of your history.

If you just want to clearly mark the V1 Commit you could simple make use of Git Tags

If your goal is to make the past a secret you could pull your master Squash all commits there and then push again. If your repo is public you can (and probably should) set up rules to prevent future pushes on the master

Laurenz Honauer
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