Reverting Extra Changes without Squashing Commits

When working with Git, it's not uncommon to make mistakes or introduce unnecessary changes. If you've committed changes that you later regret, you might want to revert them without losing the commit history. One common approach is to use git reset --hard or git rebase -i to squash or rewrite the commit history. However, this can be problematic, especially if others have already cloned or forked your repository.

In this scenario, you want to create a new commit that reverts the extra changes, effectively "reseting" the state of your repository to a previous point. This approach keeps the entire commit history intact, making it safe to share with others.

To accomplish this, you can use a combination of Git commands. First, reset the working directory and index to the desired point using git reset --hard <commit_hash>. Next, merge the latest commit into the current state using git merge --no-commit --strategy=ours <latest_commit_hash>. Finally, create a new commit that incorporates the reversion of the extra changes using git commit -m "Revert extra changes".

This approach creates a new commit that reverts the unnecessary changes, while keeping the entire commit history intact. This is particularly useful when working with others, as it allows you to track changes and maintain a clear commit history.

Here's an example of the commands you can use:

git reset --hard <commit_hash>
git merge --no-commit --strategy=ours <latest_commit_hash>
git commit -m "Revert extra changes"

By following this approach, you can create a new commit that reverts extra changes without sacrificing the commit history. This is a safe and effective way to manage changes in your Git repository.