How to Delete Git Commit History Using git revert and git reset

The author, a senior architect, discovered an accidental commit that needed immediate removal from the remote repository to avoid exposing sensitive changes.

Why Delete Commit History

Accidental commits are visible to everyone in the remote repository; deleting them quickly prevents others from seeing the mistake.

Using git revert to Undo Commits

Purpose: git revert creates a new commit that reverses the changes of a previous commit while preserving history.

Syntax

Undo a single commit: git revert <commit-hash> Undo multiple commits:

git revert <commit-hash1> <commit-hash2> ...

Undo the latest commit: git revert HEAD Undo a range of commits:

git revert <commit-hash1>^..<commit-hash2>

After running git revert, Git opens the default editor (e.g., Vim) to edit the revert commit message; the user saves and exits, then pushes the new commit.

Using git reset to Remove Commits

Purpose: git reset moves the HEAD pointer and can modify the index and working tree, allowing you to discard commits entirely.

Syntax

Undo the last commit but keep changes staged: git reset --soft HEAD~1 Undo the last commit and unstage changes: git reset HEAD~1 Undo the last commit and discard all changes: git reset --hard HEAD~1 Move HEAD to a specific commit (discard later history): git reset --hard <commit-hash> In the example, the author resets the local branch two commits back with git reset HEAD~2, restoring the code to the state before the erroneous commits.

Force‑Pushing to Remote

Since the remote still contains the unwanted commits, the author overwrites the remote history with the cleaned local state using: git push --force or the explicit form: git push origin <branch-name> --force Important Tip: Using --force rewrites remote history and can be dangerous; ensure the local and remote codebases are compatible before proceeding.

Summary

git reset

moves the branch pointer and can modify history without creating a new commit, while git revert creates a new commit that undoes previous changes, preserving history. Combining git reset with git push --force allows complete removal of unwanted commits from both local and remote repositories.