Revert commit on Website

[BtucoGit]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

Hello there!
I'm beginner on GitHub, and can't resolve one problem - on desktop version i can "Revert changes in commit" in history without problems. But i can't find any way to revert commits on Website. I need to use the website and not the git console. A search on the web yielded no results - everywhere is used console. It is possible to use only website?

[GhostOf0days]

Hey. If you don't want to revert a commit using the console, the easiest way is to go to Github Desktop (which is UI-based rather than terminal), set current repo to the specific repo, click on history, and right click on a commit. You will now see a button that says "Revert changes in commit."

Click it then click push origin at the top.

[GhostOf0days]

Regardless, please do not avoid git for terminal. It is extremely useful to you as a dev. Avoiding it will only hurt you. It's easy to setup: https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/set-up-git. To revert a commit you can git reset --hard<commit-hash> then git push origin <branch-name>, where would likely be main for you as I assume you don't know much about branching yet.
Commit hash is the string that appears to the right of a commit when you click the following:
.

You can also do git reset --hard HEAD~number, where number is how many commits you want to reset to (so HEAD~1 would revert to your last commit). After that, do push again as specified before. You can also do soft instead of hard. Soft keeps changes after that commit you reset to, so you can make modifications, but you are now at the commit you reset to. Hard resets the staging area (where you see to the commit (basically where you see the commits below) and starts you off at a clean slate as if you made no changes since the commit you reset to.

You can also force push by adding --force after the word "push" in git push origin <branch-name> (again, for you, branch name is likely main). This forces the remote repo (on Github website) to have the changes you made with the force push even if you didn't pull (bring in changes that you had on the remote repo but nor locally). So if you have 3 commits (changes) that you didn't pull to the local version on your computer, they would be overwritten with a force push.

[BtucoGit]

Yes, my dear ones, I know about the possibilities and benefits of the console, as well as about the possibility of revert commit from the application to PC. I'm interested in revert commit through the Website, because there is not always access not only to the console, but also to the computer as a whole. It is possible?

[GhostOf0days]

Not as of this moment. Github doesn't have a web API call to do it, so it's not possible. See their API documentation to check what's possible.

[GhostOf0days]

If the API call was available, you would be able to do it.

[GhostOf0days]

There is an exception, however, in that you can revert commits for merged pull requests on the website, so if you make your commits as pull requests, I guess that's a bypass to reverting commits on the website.

[BtucoGit]

Many thanks! That one of reasons to learn console more tighter interaction

[Turbulentarius]

I just accidentally deleted/renamed the README.md file in a GitHub repository, and for some retarded reason it copied a fragment from the original file into a "renamed" version. I am not even sure how that is possible, but I suspect drag/drop that was poorly implemented, and I did not notice I was "dragging" a piece of text perhaps.

github(.)com just infuriates me with their poor UI...

If this is a drag and drop issue, then I have literally never been in a situration where I needed to drag & drop a piece of text. This is so dumb. I wonder why the issue was closed.

[dhust]

We actually can't undo a commit on the website? That's crazy! How is an "undo" operation not possible?

I ask because I accidently made an additional commit using Github Desktop. To go back I right-clicked and chose Revert changes in commit but it gave me an error. I'm like "Ok, I'll just go to the website and do it there." Nope. :( Once year I go back to trying Github and it ticks me off within a day. How is this the norm? This is probably the only service/website I hate using. Rant over.

[aly-fly]

Thanks for the tips.
TLDR - here are the steps to revert:

• open the repo on website, click the icon with the clock and <nn> Commits
• copy the full hash of the time you want revert to (upper position is later in time)
• use command: git reset --hard <long hash number copied>
• review that source files are with contents as you want them
• use command git push origin main --force to copy current state on the computer to the server
• refresh the website and latest unwanted commit(s) will disappear.
• make a happy face :)

[Siegfriedk]

This is not how you revert a git commit and not a good suggestion. This is how you reset the github repository to a previous version. If anyone did something while you are 'resetting' the changes from the other person will disappear.

There is a real and proper way to do so:

You use git revert https://git-scm.com/docs/git-revert

[aly-fly]

This is exactly what I wanted to do - delete all changes without a trace - if you accidentally push a password or other sensitive data, you want to completely wipe it, so that it is not accessible in the history. Without deleting and re-creating the whole repository.

[Sicaine]

Its just not stated in your comment and the implications of git conflicts (when working with others) was also not mentioned. Nonetheless, secrets/passwords are compromised as soon as you commited them. This only makes sense for sensitive data

[MadeleineMason]

GitHub’s website lacks a revert button, so you’ll need to manually restore files, had to do the same on Pearl Lemon Web’s repo once.