git author rename not working

Question

I've got a git repository where I'm the only committer, so far, and that has already been published on github. I found that a few commits, being done from a different computer, has the wrong author information. My idea was to remove the repository from github, rewrite history and republish it as new. For such purpose I've created a simple script:

git filter-branch --commit-filter '
            GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="Author Name";
            GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Author Name";
            GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="email";
            GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="email";
            git commit-tree "$@";

    ' HEAD

which should rename all commits. The problem is that git replies with

Cannot rewrite branch(es) with a dirty working directory.

but a git status provides me

# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

Any idea about what am I missing? Any suggestion on how to rename all commits without loosing the history will be appreciated.

What version of Git are you using? See http://stackoverflow.com/a/9246622/6309 — VonC, Feb 22 '12 at 07:12
try to issue a `git reset --hard` to clean the Working tree. — Eduardo, Feb 22 '12 at 07:14
Seems that a reset fixed the problem. I was already running an updated git version (1.7.2.5). — fluca1978, Feb 22 '12 at 09:21
You don't need to remove and re-add repository at GitHub. Just `git push --force` — Vi., Feb 27 '12 at 22:21

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 09 '12 at 06:38

0

Try deleting untracked files in your working directory by running git clean -dxf.

Also, you'll need to export those variables in your commit-filter. If you don't, Git won't see them so they won't alter Git's default behavior.

answered Mar 09 '12 at 06:38

Richard Hansen

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git author rename not working

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