Is there a "git touch" so I can push the same file with a new timestamp?

Question

I have an automated build tool that uses the modification date of the file in the output. Is there a way to "git touch" the file and save that to Git without having to actually modify the file?

Answer 1

I think what you need is touch command if you are on unix operating system.

Git can however allow you to do a empty commit if you use --allow-empty option.

Eg. $ git commit --allow-empty -m "Trigger notification" would cause an empty commit which you can then push and do another deploy.

Answer 2

Git works on content hashes so it won't see your change and I doubt it has that functionality. I'd recommend that you echo the current date into that file rather than relying on modified date.

As a sideonote, relying on modification date is going to cause you many more problems as local time can be different between machines.