git stash `No local changes` but git status `ahead of origin/master by 3 commits`

Question

I did a git commit -am followed immediately by git stash and got the message
No local changes to save

When I run git status I get
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 3 commits.

Is this right?

I was working on some stuff and made some commits but haven't pushed the changes. Now I want to 'stash' them and go back to a clean version (my latest pushed changes - don't know how to refer to this)

How do I stash my work that I haven't pushed yet and revert to the latest pushed master branch?

Answer 1

If I understand if right, you need:

1) Save your local changes.

git add -A
git stash

2) Backup your commits

git branch my_master_backup

3) Reset your HEAD back to origin/master

git reset --hard origin/master

4) Do some work that you want to to with the "clean version"

5) Restore changes that you have made with your commits. Fix conflicts if any.

git merge my_master_backup

6) Drop the backup branch. If you can't delete it means that you haven't fully merged your backup branch and the master.

git branch -d my_master_backup

6) Restore your local changes from the step 1:

git stash pop

PS: you can avoid creating a backup branch and use reflog. When you want to restore your commits you need to execute git merge HEAD@{X} where X is the number of the desired commit from reflog.

Answer 2

Thanks for the help everyone. What I did was
git reset --soft origin/master git stash save 'stashing my unfinished changes'

This undid all my commits but left all my changed files. I was then able to stash the changes since they weren't committed yet. It automatically reset my local files to origin/master after I stashed.