Git/General/FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Git in general (so not GNOME-specific).

Note that there are already many other resources elsewhere to learn Git. So it's better to keep this page short, and maybe even move it to the Attic/Git.

How do I convert between a read-only clone and a read-write clone?

Usually, you can clone with HTTPS (read-only) or SSH (read-write, with your account credentials).

git remote get-url origin # Prints the current URL used
git remote set-url origin <URL> # Sets another URL for the origin remote

How do I remove a remote branch/tag?

If a branch is integrated on the main/master branch, it is no longer needed and can be removed.

Or if you accidentally pushed a branch or tag that you want to remove.

You can simply do:

git push origin :branchname

Or:

git push origin :tagname

Other people can execute from time to time:

git fetch --prune

Trying to delete a branch or tag I get "error: refname 'something' is ambiguous"

This means you are trying to delete a branch (or a tag) when there is both a branch and a tag with that name.

You probably tried to delete the branch or tag with:

git push origin :something

To disambiguate the tag or branch, you needs to pass in the full ref. For branches:

git push origin :heads/something

and for tags:

git push origin :tags/something

Less useful FAQ entries

FAQ entries that we think are less useful, see their Update messages.

How do I throw away local changes (like svn revert)?

Update: an alternative is to have a branch workflow: commit everything to a branch, come back to the main or master branch, then if you're sure you can delete the branch.

First, you have to unstage changes (ie, undoing git add <file>):

git reset HEAD <file>

You can alias this to git unstage if you like:

git config --global alias.unstage 'reset HEAD'

Then, completely throw away the unstaged changes:

git checkout -- <file>

This can also be done in a single step:

git checkout HEAD <file>

To throw away all changes in the tree, from the top-level directory (eg, equivalent to svn revert -R .):

git reset --hard HEAD

Beware though! "git reset --hard" is a VERY sharp tool. It's impossible to undo its damage, if it causes any.

How do I undo an "unpushed" commit (like if it had never happened)?

Update: an alternative is to have a branch workflow: commit everything to a branch, come back to the main or master branch, then if you're sure you can delete the branch.

For the last n commits, do:

git reset HEAD~n

So if you only want to revert the last commit, do:

git reset HEAD~1