Undo without losing work · Lesson 11 of 15

Revert or reset?

Revert adds a safe correction; reset rewrites the branch line.

10 minutes2 games

git revert X does not erase X; it creates a new commit with the inverse change. That is safe after pushing because everyone can pull the new history. reset moves a branch name backward, potentially hiding published commits from its visible line.

A—B—C (bug)

revert adds D inverse to C

history preserved

Git

git init -q -b main
echo "safe" > app.txt
git add app.txt
git commit -q -m "Safe"
echo "bug" > app.txt
git commit -q -am "Bad change"
git revert HEAD
cat app.txt

A simple choice: published or shared commit? Revert it. Private local commit that nobody relies on and history needs reshaping? Reset may fit. If a revert conflicts, resolve it like any other conflict.

Quick question

A bug reached main and others pulled it. Best choice?

Exercise

After a safe commit and a bug commit, reverse the latest commit and print the file.

Expected output: safe

Git

git init -q -b main
echo "safe" > app.txt
git add app.txt
git commit -q -m "Safe"
echo "bug" > app.txt
git commit -q -am "Bug"
cat app.txt

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