Reverse a Commit with Git Extension

Mistakes happen, so it's good to know that we can reverse our commit in a safe way.

Reversing a commit is the preferred way to undo the changes associated with a commit because it does not delete the commit. Instead, it creates a new commit in which it reverses the changes that occurred in the commit,thus saving your commit history.

Difference between Git Reset and Git Revert

Git Revert

  • Safe process
  • Keeps commit history
  • Reverse the commit by creating a new commit
A--B--C
git revert (reverse C by committing D)
A--B--C--D

Git Reset

  • Destructive process
  • Costly mistakes
  • History is lost
A--B--C
git reset (delete C)
A--B

Example

To reverse a commit, do the following:

  1. Right-click the commit that you want to revert.
  2. Select Revert commit.

  3. Click Revert this commit.

    If you leave the Automatically create a new commit box unselected, the files associated with this commit will be staged but not committed. You will have to commit them manually. This might be useful if a commit contains many files, and you only want to revert some of the files.

For example, after reverting a commit but not automatically merging, I can see 6 files in the index.

ex

I only want to revert changes associated with the Engine API.

  1. Unstage the files that you don't want to revert.

    ex

  2. Add a commit message of add to the auto-generated message.

  3. Select Commit.

    The unstaged files are still modified in the working area.

    ex

  4. Highlight the unstaged files.

  5. Right-click the highlighted files.

  6. Select Reset file or directory changes.

Now your working area is back to normal and you have reverted the selected files from the commit.