Git Revert

Git Revert

The term revert in Git is generally used to rollback changes. The operation involves getting the previously modified versions or simply applying the changes back to where they previously were. The revert command is not a traditional alternative to other commands which have similar properties. Instead, it is a command which doesn't affect the present data present in the current working directory. It will simply create a new change with the opposite effect and will serve similar to commit for general.

The revert command is enshrined with various debugging methods and is primarily used for bug bounty in your project. If you can recall the previous versions, the revert command is the best function. Therefore, bugs can be easily fixed. If you opt for getting history, the revert command isn't the right thing to opt for.

It is clear from the above statements that revert commands serve to record the new modifications and do exactly the opposite to previous commits generated. Therefore, to undo the changes, you need to run the following command:

$ git revert

Apart from these, the revert command also provides features of editing, cleaning up, no editing and much more. Let us now discover some of the options available in details.

$ git revert <commit>

It is used for revert committing. In this option, the bunch of commits can be passed but by default. There is no option for traversing the history. It acts like a no-walk option.

$ git revert -e or --e

This option enables you to revert to the last commit message before committing the revert. If you run the command through the terminal, this is only the default option to opt for.

$ git -m parent-number

Or

$ git --mainline parent-number

You cannot simply take the merges and revert them. The main reason is that the merge option is associated with the mainline or the master branch. Therefore to revert a merge, you need to specify using this using the above command whose parent number range starts from 1 in the mainline, and then it will allow you the revert the changes with a specified parent.

Since reverting guarantees that you may never be able to modify the changes in the tree during merging, it will later bring certain changes in the tree associated with only those commits that don't inherit or are no absolute ancestors of the previously reverted merge. This is solely intended to be your responsibility by observing your requirements.

$ git revert --no-edit

As the name suggests, this option will not allow you to edit the commits by closing the message editor.

$ git revert --cleanup=<mode>

This is a typical cleaning option that involves the main function of cleaning the commit messages before they are passed to the commit machinery. The term <mode> is used to specify and merge before passing it to the actual case of reverting the whole commit. For instance, if you pass pen in the <mode>, it will simply append the message associated with it whenever a conflict arises.

$ git revert -n

Or

$ git revert --no-commit

This option in revert automatically creates an option of committing log messages with the information of which commit was reverted. This option flags the applied changes so that whenever you revert to your working tree, you don't have to worry about the changes that may have been made in the commit history. Also, you don't need to match the HEAD commit. Since the revert is done against the beginning state of your index.

This is useful when reverting more than one commits' effect to your index in a row.

 -S[<keyid>]
 --gpg-sign[=<keyid>]
 --no-gpg-sign 

These options are used to identify the key and the identity of the committer. If it is not specified prior, you need to use some space with the command for countering the commits individually. The basic use of this option is to configure the present variable with the previously reverted commit.

--s

Or

--signoff

This option is primarily used to add a signed mode version at the end of the message committed. It is used to sign-off the commit messages.

 -
 --strategy = <strategy> 

Whenever you want to merge your branch modules or strategies, you use this option. This option uses the merge strategy provided by you all at once. It is ought to be used only once.

-X<option>

Or

--strategy-option=<option>

This option is used to pass the merge-specific strategy as discussed above through a channel or option available in the revert command.

 --rerere-autoupdate

Or

--no-rerere-autoupdate

This option uses the rerere mechanism which is primarily used to update the index. As a result, these updations automatically resolve the conflict that might be arising while indexing.