Git: How do you replace your current working directory with a previous commit without branching or git revert?

Question

Is there an easy way to the following with git?

Basically I want to create a new commit at the top of my commit history that is equivalent to a previous com

Answer 1

To create a new commit, restoring the content of an old commit, you can:

• First, mark the current HEAD of your branch (assuming master here): we will need to move that HEAD without modifying master, so let's create a new temporary branch called 'tmp' where master is.

  git checkout master
  git checkout -b tmp
  

(yes, that is against the "without branching" of the question, but you will delete that tmp branch soon)

• Then we go back to an older commit with the right content.

  git reset --hard 
  

That resets the index (and working tree) to the right content, but that also moves HEAD. However, that moves tmp HEAD, not master HEAD.

• move back tmp HEAD to where master is, but without modifying the index or the working tree (which are representing what we need for a new commit)

  git reset --soft master
  

• make a new commit, on top of master/tmp HEAD, which represents the right content (the old commit).

  git commit -m "new commit, image of an old one"
  

• Finally, force master to be where tmp is: one new commit later.

  git branch -M tmp master
  git checkout master
  git branch -d tmp
  

Now a regular git push is enough, any collaborator can simply pull as usual, and still get the old reset content.

git push