How can I pull down a commit from Github (Enterprise) that I don't have locally?

Question

I accidentally did a push --force on the wrong repo (too many termminals open), effectively resetting the master branch back to an earlier commit.

Looking at my build system I can see that the commit used to point to XYZ, however I don't have that commit locally as I hadn't done a pull or fetch recently. The repo is in Github, and I can navigate in Github to view the commit, so I know it is there.

How can I pull down the commit so I can reset master back to the right commit without having to bother the dev who pushed that change?

Answer 1

You can create a branch from an orphaned commit in the Github GUI by doing the following:

1. Browse to https://github.com/yourOrg/yourRepo/tree/commitHash
2. Click on the branch dropdown
3. Type in the new branch name and hit Enter

Now that you have a branch, you can use your Git client to check it out as normal.

Notes

This post was helpful as I researched this. It basically states that you are stuck unless you have a local repository containing the orphaned commits. My approach allows you to add a branch so the commit is no longer orphaned.