builtin: add new "history" command
When rewriting history via git-rebase(1) there are a few very common use cases: - The ordering of two commits should be reversed. - A commit should be split up into two commits. - A commit should be dropped from the history completely. - Multiple commits should be squashed into one. - Editing an existing commit that is not the tip of the current branch. While these operations are all doable, it often feels needlessly kludgey to do so by doing an interactive rebase, using the editor to say what one wants, and then perform the actions. Also, some operations like splitting up a commit into two are way more involved than that and require a whole series of commands. Rebases also do not update dependent branches. The use of stacked branches has grown quite common with competing version control systems like Jujutsu though, so it clearly is a need that users have. While rebases _can_ serve this use case if one always works on the latest stacked branch, it is somewhat awkward and very easy to get wrong. Add a new "history" command to plug these gaps. This command will have several different subcommands to imperatively rewrite history for common use cases like the above. Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Patrick Steinhardt committed
Jan 13, 2026 at 10:54 UTC
a675183d483cb106c076395936cd9e602ae94404
11 files changed
+104
.gitignore
+1
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@
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/git-grep
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/git-hash-object
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/git-help
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+/git-history
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/git-hook
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/git-http-backend
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/git-http-fetch
Documentation/git-history.adoc
new
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@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
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+git-history(1)
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+==============
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+
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+NAME
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+----
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+git-history - EXPERIMENTAL: Rewrite history
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+
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+SYNOPSIS
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+--------
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+[synopsis]
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+git history [<options>]
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+
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+DESCRIPTION
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+-----------
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+
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+Rewrite history by rearranging or modifying specific commits in the
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+history.
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+
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+THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. THE BEHAVIOR MAY CHANGE.
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+
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+This command is related to linkgit:git-rebase[1] in that both commands can be
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+used to rewrite history. There are a couple of major differences though:
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+
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+* linkgit:git-history[1] can work in a bare repository as it does not need to
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+ touch either the index or the worktree.
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+* linkgit:git-history[1] does not execute any linkgit:githooks[5] at the
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+ current point in time. This may change in the future.
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+* linkgit:git-history[1] by default updates all branches that are descendants
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+ of the original commit to point to the rewritten commit.
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+
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+Overall, linkgit:git-history[1] aims to provide a more opinionated way to modify
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+your commit history that is simpler to use compared to linkgit:git-rebase[1] in
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+general.
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+
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+Use linkgit:git-rebase[1] if you want to reapply a range of commits onto a
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+different base, or interactive rebases if you want to edit a range of commits
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+at once.
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+
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+LIMITATIONS
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+-----------
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+
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+This command does not (yet) work with histories that contain merges. You
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+should use linkgit:git-rebase[1] with the `--rebase-merges` flag instead.
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+
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+Furthermore, the command does not support operations that can result in merge
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+conflicts. This limitation is by design as history rewrites are not intended to
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+be stateful operations. The limitation can be lifted once (if) Git learns about
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+first-class conflicts.
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+
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+COMMANDS
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+--------
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+
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+No commands are supported yet.
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+
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+GIT
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+---
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+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
Documentation/meson.build
+1
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ manpages = {
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'git-gui.adoc' : 1,
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'git-hash-object.adoc' : 1,
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'git-help.adoc' : 1,
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+ 'git-history.adoc' : 1,
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'git-hook.adoc' : 1,
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'git-http-backend.adoc' : 1,
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'git-http-fetch.adoc' : 1,
Makefile
+1
@@ -1418,6 +1418,7 @@ BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/get-tar-commit-id.o
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BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/grep.o
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BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/hash-object.o
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BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/help.o
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+BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/history.o
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BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/hook.o
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BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/index-pack.o
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BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/init-db.o
builtin.h
+1
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ int cmd_get_tar_commit_id(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struc
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int cmd_grep(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
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int cmd_hash_object(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
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int cmd_help(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
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+int cmd_history(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
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int cmd_hook(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
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int cmd_index_pack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
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int cmd_init_db(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct repository *repo);
builtin/history.c
new
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@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
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+#include "builtin.h"
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+#include "gettext.h"
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+#include "parse-options.h"
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+
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+int cmd_history(int argc,
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+ const char **argv,
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+ const char *prefix,
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+ struct repository *repo UNUSED)
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+{
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+ const char * const usage[] = {
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+ N_("git history [<options>]"),
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+ NULL,
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+ };
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+ struct option options[] = {
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+ OPT_END(),
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+ };
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+
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+ argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, usage, 0);
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+ if (argc)
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+ usagef("unrecognized argument: %s", argv[0]);
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+ return 0;
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+}
command-list.txt
+1
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ git-grep mainporcelain info
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git-gui mainporcelain
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git-hash-object plumbingmanipulators
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git-help ancillaryinterrogators complete
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+git-history mainporcelain history
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git-hook purehelpers
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git-http-backend synchingrepositories
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git-http-fetch synchelpers
git.c
+1
@@ -586,6 +586,7 @@ static struct cmd_struct commands[] = {
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{ "grep", cmd_grep, RUN_SETUP_GENTLY },
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{ "hash-object", cmd_hash_object },
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{ "help", cmd_help },
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+ { "history", cmd_history, RUN_SETUP },
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{ "hook", cmd_hook, RUN_SETUP },
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{ "index-pack", cmd_index_pack, RUN_SETUP_GENTLY | NO_PARSEOPT },
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{ "init", cmd_init_db },
meson.build
+1
@@ -610,6 +610,7 @@ builtin_sources = [
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'builtin/grep.c',
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'builtin/hash-object.c',
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'builtin/help.c',
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+ 'builtin/history.c',
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'builtin/hook.c',
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'builtin/index-pack.c',
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'builtin/init-db.c',
t/meson.build
+1
@@ -387,6 +387,7 @@ integration_tests = [
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't3436-rebase-more-options.sh',
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't3437-rebase-fixup-options.sh',
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't3438-rebase-broken-files.sh',
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+ 't3450-history.sh',
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't3500-cherry.sh',
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't3501-revert-cherry-pick.sh',
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't3502-cherry-pick-merge.sh',
t/t3450-history.sh
new
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@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
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+#!/bin/sh
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+
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+test_description='tests for git-history command'
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+
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+. ./test-lib.sh
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+
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+test_expect_success 'does nothing without any arguments' '
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+ git history >out 2>&1 &&
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+ test_must_be_empty out
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+'
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+
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+test_expect_success 'raises an error with unknown argument' '
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+ test_must_fail git history garbage 2>err &&
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+ test_grep "unrecognized argument: garbage" err
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+'
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+
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+test_done