Git - only push up the most recent commit to github

Question

On my local git repo I've got many commits, which include 'secret' connection strings :-)

I don't want this history on github when I push it there.

Essentially I want to push everything I have, but want to get rid of a whole lot of history.

Perhaps I would be better running in a branch for all my dev, then just merging back to master before committing... then the history for master will just be the commit I want.

I've tried running rebase:

git rebase –i HEAD~3

That went back 3 commits, and then I could delete a commit.

However ran into auto cherry-pick failed, and it got quite complex.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated... no big deal to can the history and start again if this gets too hard :-)

Answer 1

You can branch your current work, rewind the master, then cherry-pick the latest commit back to the master:

git branch secret git reset --hard HEAD~3 git cherry-pick secret 

In pictures,

     A--B--C--D--E (master) 

after git branch secret:

     A--B--C--D--E (master, secret) 

after git reset --hard HEAD~3:

     A--B (master)         \          C--D--E (secret) 

after git cherry-pick secret:

     A--B--E' (master)         \          C--D--E (secret) 

Finally, if you git checkout secret; git rebase master, you can get:

     A--B--E' (master)            \             C--D (secret) 

Answer 2

Scenario

You cloned a project and made a ridiculous amount of commits for a new feature, and the time has come to open source it or share it for review. And you don't want anyone to see your commit mess!

The original branch was cloned_branch, your messy commits were on dev branch, and you want to publish your clean work on the public_branch branch.

Assume the following commits:

On branch cloned_branch:

SHA0: Implemented X, and Y. (author:authorA)
SHA1: Implemented Z. (author:authorA)
SHA2: Implemented W. (author:authorA)

You created dev branch and pushed some commits:

SHA3: trying to implement Q feature to work..
SHA4: shit, I doesn't work
SHA5: messed up even more! :(
SHA6: GOT IT WORKING!!!!
SHA7: cleanup!

Put all these changes in a single commit in public_branch:

git checkout SHA2 -b public_branch      # new branch at `authorA`'s last commit git merge --squash SHA7        # squash commits up to your last one git commit -m "Implemented Q (author:me)" 

Result:

Branches cloned_branch and dev remain as before, whilepublic_branch branch contains:

SHA0: Implemented X, and Y. (author:authorA)
SHA1: Implemented Z. (author:authorA)
SHA2: Implemented W. (author:authorA)
SHA8: Implemented Q. (author:me)