Documentation/git-history.adoc

git-history(1)
==============

NAME
----
git-history - EXPERIMENTAL: Rewrite history

SYNOPSIS
--------
[synopsis]
git history reword <commit> [--dry-run] [--update-refs=(branches|head)]
git history split <commit> [--dry-run] [--update-refs=(branches|head)] [--] [<pathspec>...]

DESCRIPTION
-----------

Rewrite history by rearranging or modifying specific commits in the
history.

THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. THE BEHAVIOR MAY CHANGE.

This command is related to linkgit:git-rebase[1] in that both commands can be
used to rewrite history. There are a couple of major differences though:

* linkgit:git-history[1] can work in a bare repository as it does not need to
  touch either the index or the worktree.
* linkgit:git-history[1] does not execute any linkgit:githooks[5] at the
  current point in time. This may change in the future.
* linkgit:git-history[1] by default updates all branches that are descendants
  of the original commit to point to the rewritten commit.

Overall, linkgit:git-history[1] aims to provide a more opinionated way to modify
your commit history that is simpler to use compared to linkgit:git-rebase[1] in
general.

Use linkgit:git-rebase[1] if you want to reapply a range of commits onto a
different base, or interactive rebases if you want to edit a range of commits
at once.

LIMITATIONS
-----------

This command does not (yet) work with histories that contain merges. You
should use linkgit:git-rebase[1] with the `--rebase-merges` flag instead.

Furthermore, the command does not support operations that can result in merge
conflicts. This limitation is by design as history rewrites are not intended to
be stateful operations. The limitation can be lifted once (if) Git learns about
first-class conflicts.

COMMANDS
--------

The following commands are available to rewrite history in different ways:

`reword <commit>`::
	Rewrite the commit message of the specified commit. All the other
	details of this commit remain unchanged. This command will spawn an
	editor with the current message of that commit.

`split <commit> [--] [<pathspec>...]`::
	Interactively split up <commit> into two commits by choosing
	hunks introduced by it that will be moved into the new split-out
	commit. These hunks will then be written into a new commit that
	becomes the parent of the previous commit. The original commit
	stays intact, except that its parent will be the newly split-out
	commit.
+
The commit messages of the split-up commits will be asked for by launching
the configured editor. Authorship of the commit will be the same as for the
original commit.
+
If passed, _<pathspec>_ can be used to limit which changes shall be split out
of the original commit. Files not matching any of the pathspecs will remain
part of the original commit. For more details, see the 'pathspec' entry in
linkgit:gitglossary[7].
+
It is invalid to select either all or no hunks, as that would lead to
one of the commits becoming empty.

OPTIONS
-------

`--dry-run`::
	Do not update any references, but instead print any ref updates in a
	format that can be consumed by linkgit:git-update-ref[1]. Necessary new
	objects will be written into the repository, so applying these printed
	ref updates is generally safe.

`--update-refs=(branches|head)`::
	Control which references will be updated by the command, if any. With
	`branches`, all local branches that point to commits which are
	descendants of the original commit will be rewritten. With `head`, only
	the current `HEAD` reference will be rewritten. Defaults to `branches`.

EXAMPLES
--------

Split a commit
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----------
$ git log --stat --oneline
3f81232 (HEAD -> main) original
 bar | 1 +
 foo | 1 +
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+)

$ git history split HEAD
diff --git a/bar b/bar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5716ca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bar
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+bar
(1/1) Stage addition [y,n,q,a,d,p,?]? y

diff --git a/foo b/foo
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..257cc56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/foo
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+foo
(1/1) Stage addition [y,n,q,a,d,p,?]? n

$ git log --stat --oneline
7cebe64 (HEAD -> main) original
 foo | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
d1582f3 split-out commit
 bar | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
----------

GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite