How can I remove a commit on GitHub?

Question

I "accidentally" pushed a commit to GitHub.

Is it possible to remove this commit?

I want to revert my GitHub repository as it was before this commit.

Answer 1

For an easy revert if it's just a mistake (perhaps you forked a repo, then ended up pushing to the original instead of to a new one) here's another possibility:

git reset --hard 71c27777543ccfcb0376dcdd8f6777df055ef479

Obviously swap in that number for the number of the commit you want to return to.

Everything since then will be deleted once you push again. To do that, the next step would be:

git push --force

Answer 2

If you are doing this because you have sensitive data in a commit, using the other answers here is not safe (excepting subutux's, which I'll expand on).

The github guide on this recommends using a external tool, but I prefer using the built-in one.

Firstly, make a backup of your repository. Then:

git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch PATH-TO-YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA' \
--prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

After this, make sure the repository is in the state you want. You might want to diff against the backup.

If you're sure it's correct, then:

#get rid of old unreferenced commits (including the data you want to remove)
git gc --prune=now
git push origin --force --all

You might want to keep the local backup for a while, just in case.

Answer 3

if you want to remove do interactive rebase,

git rebase -i HEAD~4

4 represents total number of commits to display count your commit andchange it accordingly

and delete commit you want from list...

save changes by Ctrl+X(ubuntu) or :wq(centos)

2nd method, do revert,

git revert 29f4a2 #your commit ID

this will revert specific commit