Undo a git push on github

Question

Hi all,

I made a mistake .... and I don't know how to fix it.

I explain the issue.

I was working on my project, and I did a first commit. In this commit 2 big useless files had been added... I didn't wanted these files so I did a

git rm file

Then commited again. And I'm stupid, because I pulled over github hehehe :).

I think you've found out the problem...

How can I remove definitively these files from my local and github repositories (especially github...)

I found some help on the internet, but I don't want to break all my repository.

Thanks

Answer 1

If you wanted remove (not revert, remove) last commit with new files, I think you should do:

git reset --soft "HEAD^"

Anyway since you already pushed it to github, you can't remove it without re-creating git repo. This is how it work, you can revert each commit, for example commit where you deleted those 2 big files. Since it's new repo and you are talking about initial commit, re-creating repo looks for me as best idea.

Answer 2

If no one else has pulled, you should just get your local branch back to how you want it (probably by either resetting to a previous position, or by doing an interactive rebase to remove the unwanted commit), then push again to github with the -f (force) option:

git push -f <remote-name> <branch-name>

If other people have pulled, the usual advice applies: read the recovering from upstream rebase section of the git-rebase man page to see what you're doing to the others before you do your forced update.