mbjones · May 1, 2025 07:04 · May 1, 2025 · May 1, 2025 · May 1, 2025
diff --git a/git-reset.md b/git-reset.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Note that my changes are now uncommitted in the README.md file:
 
 <img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/e9391fbc-0f66-4756-bcd2-a679f63a80e8" />
 
-So, now I can do what I shoud have done before (or the developer who merged `develop` into main should have done), 
+So, now I can do what I shoud have done before, 
 and merge main into develop to create a clean starting point for new changes.
 
 <img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/1c673810-242c-45cc-86ff-2e251e8092c2" />

diff --git a/git-reset.md b/git-reset.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ because the merge commit in main wasn't committed into develop. This makes for a
 
 <img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/4e3c21be-d298-4842-ac1d-993546a6ee06" />
 
-What if I want to go back and clean it up. First, I can do a soft reset to return to the state before I did my commit. 
+What if I want to go back and clean it up? First, I can do a soft reset to return to the state before I did my commit. 
 In this case, the `develop` branch returns to where it was, and my changes are left uncommitted in the README file. 
 I can run the command `git reset --soft ad29acc8` to bring the develop branch back to where it was.
 

diff --git a/git-reset.md b/git-reset.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# git reset
+
+I often mess up. Sometimes badly :exploding_head:. `git reset` is my friend.
+
+Here's the current state of the Metacat repo:
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/2e4509ae-bb20-4539-bed8-013352f65f1f" />
+
+Imagine I commit a file to develop. When I look at the log, I see its gotten pretty messy, 
+because the merge commit in main wasn't committed into develop. This makes for a messy tree.
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/4e3c21be-d298-4842-ac1d-993546a6ee06" />
+
+What if I want to go back and clean it up. First, I can do a soft reset to return to the state before I did my commit. 
+In this case, the `develop` branch returns to where it was, and my changes are left uncommitted in the README file. 
+I can run the command `git reset --soft ad29acc8` to bring the develop branch back to where it was.
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/2e4509ae-bb20-4539-bed8-013352f65f1f" />
+
+Note that my changes are now uncommitted in the README.md file:
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/e9391fbc-0f66-4756-bcd2-a679f63a80e8" />
+
+So, now I can do what I shoud have done before (or the developer who merged `develop` into main should have done), 
+and merge main into develop to create a clean starting point for new changes.
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/1c673810-242c-45cc-86ff-2e251e8092c2" />
+
+:tada: :tada: :tada: Now I have a clean tree. Note that both `develop` and `main` point at the same commit hash:
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/2fff2876-85f2-4405-8e89-c13c6201efc0" />
+
+And I can redo my commit (`git add README.md; git commit`), which results in a linear history with my changes to README:
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/cc8e1905-aa69-4dd5-956e-2652858a7f8e" />
+
+Now I have a clean, linear history, but I added some garbage into develop. What if I want to just go back? This is a job for 
+`git reset --hard`, which moves the branch back to the original commit and discards all of the changes. 
+
+Be careful, **you can lose stuff here with no way to get it back!**
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/3212478a-15cb-48ac-85f4-80f5cf9ad5c5" />
+
+Et voila! We're back where we started. :sunglasses: It's like we were never even here. (Not really, though, appearances can be deceiving.)
+
+<img width="1350" alt="image" src="https://gist.github.com/user-attachments/assets/d1446af6-4f76-4b2d-ad47-340b76f30a40" />
+
+One last warning. git reset rewrites history. So, this is super useful before you push. Once you've pushed, your history is 
+shared for everyone to see, you can't really use reset like this, and you'll need to be more strategic to cover your tracks. 
+Don't rewrite history in shared repositories, it messes with everyone's day.
+
+