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Technology · October 11, 2022

5 Common Git Errors & How You Can Fix Them

Making mistakes is common, even if you are a professional or a newbie. This is especially true and normal for Git, as it is complex and challenging. You could add a wrong file, spell a word wrong, or the file may be “refusing to merge unrelated histories“; there is no limit to errors. However, before you lose hope and give up, understand that Git mistakes are common and come with fixes. And below, you can find a few errors highlighted with their solutions:

1.     The Last Message Committed Is Spelled Wrong

With a few considerable hours spent on coding, you can spell a word wrong in your committed message. Luckily, you have a simple solution at your hand.

“Git commit—amend.”

It will open the editor and permit you to change your previous commit message. As such, no one will know that you spelled “Good” with three “o” instead of two. So, no need to get worked up after spelling something wrong; just follow the command, and your mistake will keep to you.

2.     Undo Local Commits

Coding is a rollercoaster ride filled with many ups and downs. You may have perfectly developed code in mind that you are working on. However, midway you might realize you are on the wrong path. So, what do you do in case of such errors? It is possible that your coding has already led to one or more changes too.

Don’t worry; there is a solution, and that is Git reset. Though be careful while working with the “hard” option because it resets your working tree and index, so all your modifications are lost.

3.     You Forgot to Attach the File to the Last Commit

Haste always leads to bad decisions or troubles down the road.

Another Git mistake is caused by committing too soon. As such, you might miss a file or have to make some changes to the last message committed to delivering a result. In such a scenario,” –amend” is the answer again.

All you have to do is – Insert the missing file and run your trusty command.

4.     Merging Two Unrelated Projects Into a Single Branch

Another standard error in Git is “refusing to merge unrelated histories,” which occurs when you combine two unrelated projects into a single branch. Since the two projects are entirely different, so will the tags and commit history of each one, leading to conflicting history.

The best way to take care of this mistake is to use the option “allow unrelated histories option.” It permits repositories with unrelated histories to come together.

5.     Added an Incorrect File in the Repository

What will you do if you accidentally added an incorrect file in the repo that you didn’t want there in the first place? But perhaps because of lack of sleep, you have added your childhood picture, which you made the mistake of saving in the incorrect folder. But don’t worry! You have just had to take a deep breath and follow a few steps to fix the mess:

“git reset –soft HEAD~1

git reset /assets/img/misty-and-pepper.jpg

rm /assets/img/misty-and-pepper.jpg

git commit”

It will undo your committed message, eliminate the wrong image, and allow you to make a new one instead.

The post was an overview of some common Git mistakes and errors with their solutions. Not to worry you, many problems are floating in the coding world. Luckily, every problem comes with a solution that is pretty easy to follow and implement. And this post had a few to make your work easier and improve your efficiency in the future. You can also find answers to more problems on search engines without trouble.