Git - Make local HEAD the new master

Question

I decided to go back a few commits because the path I followed was wrong. So I checked out Added cordova to .gitignore commit, and made some modifications. Like illustrated below :

Now when I push the new modifications, an error message shows up :
error: src refspec (detached from aad6423) does not match any.

How can I tell git to discard the previous commits (in purple) and continue with my local HEAD as master ?

Answer 1

Make HEAD your new local master:

$ git checkout -B master

Force-push your changes:

$ git push -f

Answer 2

Even though you don't want that old branch anymore, git really doesn't like rewriting history or discarding changes. Just revert and merge.

git branch new_master              # name current detached HEAD
git checkout master                # switch back to master
git revert --no-edit HEAD~4..HEAD  # create commits reverting back to where the history split
git merge new_master               # merge
git branch -d new_master           # don't need it anymore