Please provide help with how to fix

Please provide help with how to fix

[Randy Kroeger]

I am having a bit of an issue trying to figure out the best route in fixing the following.  What happened is on my second machine, in which was out dated (source code), I upgraded to VS 2026 (from 2022), then tried to do  a pull.  What happened was that I received a bunch of modifications, which was confusing. All I want is to pull all changes since I did last on this machine.  I then had a bit of a problem with the gitignore file, so I decided to just commit it (my train of thought is it is a file being committed to source control - that is it).  However, what happened is this file took on a life and decided to make itself the head and bypass all changes to the head in which it knew about last.  Please see image below where the history shows a line from this commit to the parent below.  This by passes a bunch of chances.

Question: How can I fix this issue?  I would like to restore all my changes again and remove this bypass.   I have been reviewing your documentation, but am very hesitant as my understanding, once again, may not match how GIT actually functions.

I greatly appreciate the help!

In this example, Commit 3 was done on July 12 and since it was on a machine that had done its last pull on 6/09/2026, the commit created a new parent below Commit 5.  Now when I pull, the changes for Commit4, Commit5 are not included in the pull.    I am assuming I need to do a rebase, but am not 100% confident and in reading the documentation, I am still not confident.

--Commit6 7/14/2026
--Commit5  7/13/2026
|<-Commit4  7/12/2026  -child
|  --Commit2  6/11/2026
|  --Commit1  6/10/2026
|>-Commit4   7/12/2026  -parent

Randy

Re: Please provide help with how to fix

[D. Ben Knoble]

On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 4:52 PM Randy Kroeger <kroegerr@cseasy.com> wrote:
>
>
> I am having a bit of an issue trying to figure out the best route in fixing the following.

The advice I give my colleagues:

1. Don't panic
2. Figure out where you are
3. Figure out where you want to go
4. Decide how to get there

> What happened is on my second machine, in which was out dated (source code), I upgraded to VS 2026 (from 2022), then tried to do  a pull.  What happened was that I received a bunch of modifications, which was confusing. All I want is to pull all changes since I did last on this machine.  I then had a bit of a problem with the gitignore file, so I decided to just commit it (my train of thought is it is a file being committed to source control - that is it).  However, what happened is this file took on a life and decided to make itself the head and bypass all changes to the head in which it knew about last.  Please see image below where the history shows a line from this commit to the parent below.  This by passes a bunch of chances.

A suite of helpful "where am I" commands:

- git status: is the repo clean? before we go further, let's not lose work
- git log --graph [--oneline]: what's the shape of commits? (this
would be useful to copy/paste, optionally with annotations, in place
of your diagram below)
- git reflog HEAD: what operations brought me here, and what are some
interesting recent checkouts?

Then (repeating a line from a previous quote):

>  All I want is to pull all changes since I did last on this machine.

Once we know where you are, we can talk about where you want to go.
When you say "pull all changes," do you mean a "fetch" (update my
local repository's notions of where remote branches are) or a "pull"
(merge or rebase local branches with/on their upstreams)?

> Question: How can I fix this issue?  I would like to restore all my changes again and remove this bypass.   I have been reviewing your documentation, but am very hesitant as my understanding, once again, may not match how GIT actually functions.

Only when you know where you are and where you want to go can you find
appropriate fixes ;)

> I greatly appreciate the help!
>
> In this example, Commit 3 was done on July 12 and since it was on a machine that had done its last pull on 6/09/2026, the commit created a new parent below Commit 5.  Now when I pull, the changes for Commit4, Commit5 are not included in the pull.    I am assuming I need to do a rebase, but am not 100% confident and in reading the documentation, I am still not confident.
>
> --Commit6 7/14/2026
> --Commit5  7/13/2026
> |<-Commit4  7/12/2026  -child
> |  --Commit2  6/11/2026
> |  --Commit1  6/10/2026
> |>-Commit4   7/12/2026  -parent
>
> Randy

I'm not sure how to interpret this diagram; perhaps you could use "git
log --graph --oneline" to show your current and desired states?

-- 
D. Ben Knoble

Re: Please provide help with how to fix

[Randy Kroeger]

HI Ben,

I have been a software developer for 30 years and in the last seven, have been an independent contractor.  Trust me.  You read too much into my intro in giving advice.   However, I can offer advice when it comes to emails in the old fashioned text format, please avoid interleaving your responses.   Depending on the device today, it is as confusing as what you mentioned my diagram being... haha...  

If I may, let me explain the issue this way: 

You have two sets of parents.   Set one (A1 B2) and set two (A2 B2).   Each set of parents live on one street.  Between the two homes, there are many homes (i.e. neighbors).  Parents A1 and A2 only want to talk to each other causing both homes to ignore all the neighbors between them.  Hence, if I pull, I no longer see the changes between these two commits.   My goal:  I want to higher a hit man to get rid of A1 and A2 (lol) so that B1 and B2 can talk to the neighbors between them, hence, when I can do a pull, I see all my changes.  

I am understanding you would like logs, but the size is not small.   If my explanation this time is not clear enough, can you tell me if you are ok with a shared link from OneDrive?   I can paste a screen shot for you to show you what is going on and even make copies of what you might need easier.  

I do appreciate the help.

Thank you.
Randy Kroeger

________________________________________
From: D. Ben Knoble <ben.knoble@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2026 5:08 PM
To: Randy Kroeger
Cc: git@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Please provide help with how to fix

On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 4:52 PM Randy Kroeger <kroegerr@cseasy.com> wrote:
>
>
> I am having a bit of an issue trying to figure out the best route in fixing the following.

The advice I give my colleagues:

1. Don't panic
2. Figure out where you are
3. Figure out where you want to go
4. Decide how to get there

> What happened is on my second machine, in which was out dated (source code), I upgraded to VS 2026 (from 2022), then tried to do  a pull.  What happened was that I received a bunch of modifications, which was confusing. All I want is to pull all changes since I did last on this machine.  I then had a bit of a problem with the gitignore file, so I decided to just commit it (my train of thought is it is a file being committed to source control - that is it).  However, what happened is this file took on a life and decided to make itself the head and bypass all changes to the head in which it knew about last.  Please see image below where the history shows a line from this commit to the parent below.  This by passes a bunch of chances.

A suite of helpful "where am I" commands:

- git status: is the repo clean? before we go further, let's not lose work
- git log --graph [--oneline]: what's the shape of commits? (this
would be useful to copy/paste, optionally with annotations, in place
of your diagram below)
- git reflog HEAD: what operations brought me here, and what are some
interesting recent checkouts?

Then (repeating a line from a previous quote):

>  All I want is to pull all changes since I did last on this machine.

Once we know where you are, we can talk about where you want to go.
When you say "pull all changes," do you mean a "fetch" (update my
local repository's notions of where remote branches are) or a "pull"
(merge or rebase local branches with/on their upstreams)?

> Question: How can I fix this issue?  I would like to restore all my changes again and remove this bypass.   I have been reviewing your documentation, but am very hesitant as my understanding, once again, may not match how GIT actually functions.

Only when you know where you are and where you want to go can you find
appropriate fixes ;)

> I greatly appreciate the help!
>
> In this example, Commit 3 was done on July 12 and since it was on a machine that had done its last pull on 6/09/2026, the commit created a new parent below Commit 5.  Now when I pull, the changes for Commit4, Commit5 are not included in the pull.    I am assuming I need to do a rebase, but am not 100% confident and in reading the documentation, I am still not confident.
>
> --Commit6 7/14/2026
> --Commit5  7/13/2026
> |<-Commit4  7/12/2026  -child
> |  --Commit2  6/11/2026
> |  --Commit1  6/10/2026
> |>-Commit4   7/12/2026  -parent
>
> Randy

I'm not sure how to interpret this diagram; perhaps you could use "git
log --graph --oneline" to show your current and desired states?

--
D. Ben Knoble

Re: Please provide help with how to fix

[Weijie Yuan]

On Fri, Jul 17, 2026 at 03:40:56PM +0000, Randy Kroeger wrote:
> HI Ben,
> 
> I have been a software developer for 30 years and in the last seven,
> have been an independent contractor.  Trust me.  You read too much
> into my intro in giving advice.   However, I can offer advice when it
> comes to emails in the old fashioned text format, please avoid
> interleaving your responses.   Depending on the device today, it is as
> confusing as what you mentioned my diagram being... haha...  

Hi Randy,

I highly respect your experience. But interleaving is how Git operates,
and it surely includes the Linux kernel as well.

There are many online resources explaining this. Here's one, please take
a look ;-)

  https://useplaintext.email/#etiquette

And by the way, you didn't wrap your text. This is another established
rule that has become conventional over time.

Thanks.