Git Rebase Reword

Transcript

# Hello and welcome to the Alchemists Screencasts!
# Today, we'll learn about Git Rebase Reword.
# Let's start by looking at the Git log of our current project:

gl

# By the way, I'm using my `gl` alias to reduce typing.
# (short for *git log*)
# Here's the source code:

cype gl
cype _git_log_line_format

# The `gl` alias allows for an information rich and pretty Git log.
# Let's study the Git history one more time:

gl

# Notice we have three commits total.
# All commits read well except for the middle commit.
# The first commit makes sense because it added the calculator script.
# The second commit is documentation related but very vague.
# The last commit added the project license.
# Let's see if we can learn more:

ghow

# The commit has no body so we don't know *why* the commit was added.
# We can see it added a `README.adoc` file, though.
# Let's reword this commit since it's confusing to understand.
# Luckily, Git Interactive Rebase can help in this regard:

git rebase --interactive

# You might be wondering why I changed "p" to "r" and added "b".
# The "b" is short for "break" because I wanted to halt the rebase before rewording.
# By *breaking* here, I can explain the details before continuing the rebase. 😉
# The "r" is short for "reword" so we can reword the commit.
# OK, with that explained, let's continue so we can reword the commit. 🎉

git rebase --continue

gl

# Notice the middle commit has been reworded as desired now:

ghow

# The above commit message is *much more* understandable now.
# We now understand *what* the commit is (i.e. the subject).
# We also know *why* the commit was made (i.e. the body).
# The body (*why*) must always support the subject (*what*).
# This information is critical for historical and debugging purposes.
# Both your future self and your team will thank you!

# Enjoy!
# https://alchemists.io
# ☿ 🜔 🜍 🜂 🜃 🜁 🜄