How can I remove the last commit from a remote Git repository such as I don't see it any more in the log?
If for example git log gives me the following commit history
A->B->C->D[HEAD, ORIGIN]
how can I go to
A->B->C[HEAD,ORIGIN]
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knittl
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user1059540
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If you have committed it to the repo then I don't think there is a way to remove it. – Gaurav Shah Nov 22 '11 at 10:15
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@Guarav: I think there is no _polite_ way to remove it. I mean, if all else fails, `rm -rf` on the repo can trash anything. But I think the question I linked to contains a much nicer solution -- that is still impolite if anyone else has pulled the rev. – sarnold Nov 22 '11 at 10:17
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2The last commit can always be removed from your history. Depending on many factor you may or may not wipe it from people memory completely. – Michael Krelin - hacker Nov 22 '11 at 10:18
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@sarnold, if it was pushed elsewhere you only trash your idea of repository, not the world :) – Michael Krelin - hacker Nov 22 '11 at 10:19
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@Michael: ha! excellent distinction. – sarnold Nov 22 '11 at 10:20
2 Answers
1164
Be aware that this will create an "alternate reality" for people who have already fetch/pulled/cloned from the remote repository. But in fact, it's quite simple:
git reset HEAD^ # remove commit locally
git push origin +HEAD # force-push the new HEAD commit
If you want to still have it in your local repository and only remove it from the remote, then you can use:
git push origin +HEAD^:$name_of_your_branch # e.g. +HEAD^:master
Some shells interpret the ^ character. For those shells, either quote/escape or use ~:
HEAD\^
'HEAD^'
HEAD~
knittl
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3what does +HEAD do? When I did `git log` it added `(HEAD -> approval, origin/approval)` on the latest commit. what does that mean? – ASN Oct 03 '17 at 02:22
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3@ASN: it force-pushes the currently checked out branch (which was/is `approval` in your case). – knittl Oct 03 '17 at 05:46
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To maintain the deleted commit changes locally add the `--soft ` flag, `git reset HEAD^ --soft` – Ikbel Dec 10 '20 at 10:50
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It is possible that the permission on your remote repo branch does not allow the "ForcePush". To get around that use the information here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46213673/how-do-i-grant-git-forcepush-permissions-for-pushing-bfg-repo-cleaner-results – Ryan Naccarato Nov 26 '21 at 21:41
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In my case, I wanted to remove a commit starting at a specific hash. Then I used `git push origin hash:branch -f` to do so. – testing_22 Dec 19 '21 at 05:12
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If nobody has pulled it, you can probably do something like
git push remote +branch^1:remotebranch
which will forcibly update the remote branch to the last but one commit of your branch.
Michael Krelin - hacker
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8Absolutely. Though you should only do it if you know what you're doing and what the consequences are. And if do you probably aren't reading this answer. – Michael Krelin - hacker Nov 19 '14 at 13:01