[Savannah-cvs] [Git] (edit)

[bobproulx]

++added:
Renaming a branch
---------

This needs some rationale and justification because during normal operation we 
never want to rewind a branch.  It causes problems for anyone who has pulled 
from the branch.  Normally branches only move forward.  But sometimes renaming 
a branch is the best solution to a problem.

Sometimes a user has munged a commit, has pushed the desired branch onto a 
temporary branch (call it new-master), and wishes to have the new temporary 
branch become the master branch as the correction.

Verify the current and future state of the repository::

 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git branch
 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git log
 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git log new-master

Save the current branch for a for backup::

 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git branch -m master master-broken

Move the new branch into place as master::

 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git branch -m new-master master

At this time the "current" branch will be shown to be master-broken::

 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git branch
   master
 * master-broken

(There is likely a less heavy-handed command to do this.  This is the only way 
I know how at this moment.)
Since this is a raw repository update the HEAD file directly::

 echo ref: refs/heads/master > /srv/git/exampleproject.git/HEAD

Verify the current status us as desired::

 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git branch
 * master
   master-broken

Verify that the change is correct.  Better to leave the broken branch around 
for a while than to remove it too soon and lose something that should not have 
been lost.  Then clean up and discard the broken branch::

 GIT_DIR=/srv/git/exampleproject.git git branch -D master-broken


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