Git cleaning commit history in GitHub
Pre-requisites
Clone the repo from GitHub to any local computer or server
1. Backup the hidden .git folder
From the local copy of the repo, create a backup of the hidden .git file in the top folder and move it to any different folder outisde the local repo. I suggest to move it to a different folder hierarchy, otherwise it may still be detected. At least, in my case VSCode was detecting it.
2. Delete the .git folder
After having backed up the .git folder, delete the one in the local repo. We should see no repositoriy initialized once the .git folder is removed
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git status
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
3. Initialize a new repository in the cloned/local repo
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git init -b main
The -b flag is to name the initial branch, otherwise by default it is named master.
Note that the output of the command git branch will not show the branch name until the first commit is done later on
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git init -b main
Initialized empty Git repository in C:/Users/gusta/Documents/workspace_blog/gustavos86.github.io/.git/
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git branch
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git status
On branch main
No commits yet
Untracked files:
...
4. Stage all the files and create a new initial commit
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git add *
git commit -am 'initial commit'
example
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git add *
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git status
On branch main
No commits yet
Changes to be committed:
(use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
new file: .editorconfig
new file: .gitattributes
...
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git commit -am "clean commit"
[main (root-commit) de99e95] clean commit
240 files changed, 25157 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 .editorconfig
...
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git branch
* main
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
5. Add the GitHub URL as Origin
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git remote add origin <GITHUB_REPO_URL>
git remote -v
example
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git remote add origin https://github.com/gustavos86/gustavos86.github.io.git
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git remote -v
origin https://github.com/gustavos86/gustavos86.github.io.git (fetch)
origin https://github.com/gustavos86/gustavos86.github.io.git (push)
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
6. Force pushing the update to GitHub
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git push -f origin main
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git push -f origin main
Enumerating objects: 277, done.
Counting objects: 100% (277/277), done.
Delta compression using up to 8 threads
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
If not forced, the output of the command will tell you the remote repo has work not contained locally.
output
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git push
fatal: The current branch main has no upstream branch.
To push the current branch and set the remote as upstream, use
git push --set-upstream origin main
To have this happen automatically for branches without a tracking
To push the current branch and set the remote as upstream, use
git push --set-upstream origin main
To have this happen automatically for branches without a tracking
git push --set-upstream origin main
To have this happen automatically for branches without a tracking
To have this happen automatically for branches without a tracking
upstream, see 'push.autoSetupRemote' in 'git help config'.
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
7. See the results in GitHub
In the GitHub repo we should nosw see a clean commit history
NOTE
Use this command to set the remote brach as the default upstream
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git push --set-upstream origin main
example
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PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git push
fatal: The current branch main has no upstream branch.
To push the current branch and set the remote as upstream, use
git push --set-upstream origin main
To have this happen automatically for branches without a tracking
upstream, see 'push.autoSetupRemote' in 'git help config'.
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io> git push --set-upstream origin main
Enumerating objects: 12, done.
Counting objects: 100% (12/12), done.
Delta compression using up to 8 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (8/8), done.
Writing objects: 100% (8/8), 15.58 KiB | 15.58 MiB/s, done.
Total 8 (delta 3), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (3/3), completed with 3 local objects.
To https://github.com/gustavos86/gustavos86.github.io.git
de99e95..1cc5f3f main -> main
branch 'main' set up to track 'origin/main'.
PS C:\Users\gusta\Documents\workspace_blog\gustavos86.github.io>
References
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.