Re: Can't get git rebase --onto to work

[Howard Miller <howard@e-learndesign.co.uk>]

On 2 June 2011 11:38, Tim Guirgies <lt.infiltrator@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 11:17:41AM +0100, Howard Miller wrote:
>> Trying to explain this as concisely as possible.
>>
>> I started with the following branches (names changed to protect the guilty)...
>>
>> * clientA
>> * clientB
>>
>> both have a common ancestry....
>>
>> I then checked out clientB created a new branch clientB_patch and did
>> a load of work and commits.
>>
>> However, I actually wanted all those commits to apply to clientA
>> branch instead so....
>>
>> git checkout clientA
>> git checkout -b clientA_patch     (to ensure I didn't wreck original branch)
>> git rebase --onto clientA_patch clientB clientB_patch
>>
>> It says "rewinding" head and then applies the commits I would have expected.
>>
>> However, I have now been switched to the 'clientB_patch' branch and it
>> says that it differs from its tracked remote branch by hundreds of
>> commits.
>>
>> clientA_patch is unchanged. It seems to have mangled clientB_patch and
>> done nothing to clientA_patch. Where did I go wrong?
>
> "--onto clientA_patch"
>
> Please read that out loud.  It's meaning in git is the same as in
> English.  What you did was rebase clientB_patch _onto_ clientA_patch.
> For more information, see "git help rebase".
>
> What you should have done instead:
>
> git checkout -b clientA_patch clientB_patch
> git rebase -i clientA
>
> What that does is create and then checkout a branch called clientA_patch
> at the same commit as clientB_patch, then rebase your currently checked
> out branch (clientA_patch) on top of clientA; the "-i" option allows you
> double check what's being rebased, as otherwise it would take a whole
> lot clientB history with it.  Simply delete the lines with the commits
> you don't want.
>
>
> To fix what you currently have, though, you must do the following.  Take
> heed, however, as I making assumptions that the situation is unchanged
> from what you described above.
>
> git checkout clientB_patch
> git reset --hard origin/clientB_patch
>
> I'm assuming your remote is called origin, and also that whatever you
> pushed last is the latest.  If not, you'll have to look at "git reflog"
> to see which commit to reset the branch to.
>
> Now do:
>
> git checkout clientA_patch
> git reset --hard clientB_patch
> git rebase -i clientA
>
> That should give you what you want.
>
> Good luck.
>
>

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the lengthy post :) As I said in my previous post, I
think/hope I have resolved it. I did read the manpage first (I'm not
so brave not to before posting here!!) and it did what it said it
would. I just misinterpreted it. A final merge was required. I
actually picked that up from the "Pro Git" book page which mentions
that extra step.