Git commands I love to forget

Here are the most useful GIT commands that I *always* forget.

To push a local branch to your remote repository:

git push remote_repository_name branch_name

Eg: git push origin my_new_branch


Also:

Remove branch from repo.

git push {repo} :heads/{branch}

Ex: git push origin :somebranch
removes somebranch

This works for removing a tag as well git push origin :sometag

You might also want to check out git-publish-branch‘s ’-d’ option.

• Copy a remote branch
• Rename a remote branch

Thank you, GitHub, for these handy pages. But for me, these are the handiest of the handy.

Fixing an accidental merge (discarding local commits)

Let's say that you merged branch my_branch into master, when, in fact, you wanted to merge master into my_branch. Check git log:

commit 2a4b206e42360b812d6110c5ae9eeced96d99f0e
Merge: 4147391... dd525b5...
Author: baitisj
Date: Thu Jul 23 13:13:11 2009 -0700
Merge branch 'my_branch' of git@blablobbbla:somewhere/repository


commit 4147391a181a05f9754ddf8eecc6c4398dbb1d17
Author: baitisj
Date: Thu Jul 23 13:12:28 2009 -0700

latest

...

When you type git status, even though you did a single merge, git will say:

# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 20 commits.

Not to worry. Simply do:

git reset --hard 4147391a181a05f9754ddf8eecc6c4398dbb1d17

Poof! Your local repository has reverted to that version, and your merge has disappeared.

I no longer trust Yahoo! mail

This morning, I signed into Yahoo! mail. On a whim, I checked the contents of my "Important" folder.

I found no messages inside.

This is not the first time that I have caught mail messages disappearing from my Yahoo! account. Furthermore, this is the second time that the same message has disappeared.

Last time it happened, I asked my roommate to re-forward the message from his GMail account. On a whim, I created a separate folder, "Important," intended to contain that particular message.

And indeed, the message has disappeared -- again. This cannot be coincidence, I think to myself. Time for me to download all my messages through the POP service and figure out where to go from here.

What scares me, in particular, is that the message contains information that I would never send through plaintext email. In other words, the email message could have value to an unscrupulous third party.

I pay Yahoo $20 per year for their service. As it is a paid service, I have higher expectations for security and privacy; however, I have lost all confidence that my information is private, secure, and won't be lost. I think it's time for me to be a lot more careful about my own personal data.

Database errors? Hackers? Sleepwalking baitisj browsing email and clicking the 'delete' button? Or simply paranoia?


Goodbye, Yahoo. You were convenient; I should have left you as soon as you turned over someone's personal information to the Chinese government.