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@heiswayi
Created February 5, 2017 01:32
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GitHub - Delete commits history with git commands

First Method

Deleting the .git folder may cause problems in our git repository. If we want to delete all of our commits history, but keep the code in its current state, try this:

# Check out to a temporary branch:
git checkout --orphan TEMP_BRANCH

# Add all the files:
git add -A

# Commit the changes:
git commit -am "Initial commit"

# Delete the old branch:
git branch -D master

# Rename the temporary branch to master:
git branch -m master

# Finally, force update to our repository:
git push -f origin master

This will not keep our old commits history around. But if this doesn't work, try the next method below.

Second Method

# Clone the project, e.g. `myproject` is my project repository:
git clone https://github/heiswayi/myproject.git

# Since all of the commits history are in the `.git` folder, we have to remove it:
cd myproject

# And delete the `.git` folder:
git rm -rf .git

# Now, re-initialize the repository:
git init
git remote add origin https://github.com/heiswayi/myproject.git
git remote -v

# Add all the files and commit the changes:
git add --all
git commit -am "Initial commit"

# Force push update to the master branch of our project repository:
git push -f origin master

NOTE: You might need to provide the credentials for your GitHub account.

@morethanbooks
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Awesome! Thanks!

@calag4n
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calag4n commented Mar 11, 2021

Thanks :)

@hassandraga
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First method worked, Thank you for sharing this!

@trinib
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trinib commented Mar 29, 2021

THANK YoU VERY very MUCH ......could not understand on stackflow 😢

@react-hunter
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Hi I have a problem related with commit histories.
I worked on branch - br1. and created pull request.
before merging it, I created new branch - br2 from master.
after that, the PR related br1 has been merged.
by the way, now, the PR related br2 includes all commit histories from the PR related br1.
can I remove only these commit histories? current pr has new commit histories related br2.
I don't want to delete new commit histories.

can you help me?

@trinib
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trinib commented Apr 1, 2021

Hi I have a problem related with commit histories.
I worked on branch - br1. and created pull request.
before merging it, I created new branch - br2 from master.
after that, the PR related br1 has been merged.
by the way, now, the PR related br2 includes all commit histories from the PR related br1.
can I remove only these commit histories? current pr has new commit histories related br2.
I don't want to delete new commit histories.

can you help me?

i dont know if is this your looking for https://gist.github.com/cutiko/0b1615c63504a940877541362cc51211

@Karthikkadivela
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thanks alot worked with the first one

@jainijhawan
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Thanks A lot

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ghost commented May 3, 2021

Awesome! 😄

@amanarora9848
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Worked very well, thank you!

@GaborVxxx
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Thank you. Helped me a lot.

@flcoder
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flcoder commented Jul 31, 2021

Thank you!

@aquawicket
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Thank you. I had a hard time with rebasing 8000+ commits. This worked perfectly

@dassoumyamoy00
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Thank you...the first one worked perfectly

@dpirrott
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Thank you! The first method worked perfectly, would never have thought of that on my own.

@toreylittlefield
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Thank you! Method 1 worked great and saved my butt!

@khokonm
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khokonm commented Jan 14, 2022

Hy man, thanks.

@mkgeeky
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mkgeeky commented Jan 24, 2022

Method 1 works fine 👍

@Galaxy83
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thanks

@chauhanh
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First method, worked perfectly! Thank you very much.

@ikhwanperwira
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How about delete specific commit history without delete its content by commit id?

@Anandanumasankar
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i dont know where to run these comments could you please help me

@mkgeeky
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mkgeeky commented Aug 9, 2022

i dont know where to run these comments could you please help me

You can run the commands via ssh

@trinib
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trinib commented Aug 9, 2022

i dont know where to run these comments could you please help me

Can use git as well https://git-scm.com/downloads

@hrithikram15
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### Really Helpful... Thanks a lot

If someone is trying second method & are unable to delete the ".git" folder using command git rm -rf .git (as specified),
I suggest you to just use the command rm -rf .git

It works...

@droodman
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Just what I needed!

@haiueom
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haiueom commented Feb 6, 2023

Thanks 👍

@colossus06
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works like a charm ☺

@skewll
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skewll commented May 2, 2023

Thanks, 1st worked perfectly.

@jameszenartist
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Thank you so much for this! The first solution worked great.

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