Options for managing commits in GitHub Desktop

In GitHub Desktop, you have several options for managing commits, making it easy to interact with your repository and control your changes. Here are the key options for managing commits

Committing Changes

• Stage Changes: GitHub Desktop automatically detects changes in your repository. You can select the files you want to commit by checking the boxes next to the file names.

• Write a Commit Message: After staging your changes, provide a descriptive commit message in the "Summary" field. Optionally, you can add more details in the "Description" field.

• Commit to Branch: Once you've added your message and selected your changes, click on the "Commit to [branch]" button to save the changes to your local repository.

Undoing Changes

• Undo Commit: If you've committed changes but haven't pushed them yet, you can undo the commit by clicking on undo button. This will move the changes back to the upstaged area.

• Discard Changes: If you want to discard local changes completely, you can right-click on the modified file(s) and choose "Discard Changes". This will remove the changes and revert the files to their last committed state.

Switching Branches

• Checkout Branch: To switch between branches, click the branch name in the top bar, and a list of branches will appear. Select the branch you want to switch to, and GitHub Desktop will automatically update the files to match that branch.

• Create a New Branch: To start working on a new branch, click "Branch" in the menu and choose "New Branch". Enter the new branch name and choose the base branch you want to branch from.

Amending Commits

• Amend Last Commit: If you've made a mistake in your last commit (like forgetting to include a file or need to change the commit message), you can amend the commit. Click on the "History" and choose "Amend Last Commit". This will allow you to modify the commit message . When you amend a commit, you replace the previous commit with a new commit to your current branch. If possible, you should only amend a commit that you haven't pushed to the remote repository. To amend a commit that has been pushed to the remote repository, you will need to use a force push to overwrite the commit history in the remote repository. Overwriting commit history may cause confusion for other collaborators working with the repository, because they may have already based work on the commit you have amended.

Viewing Commit History

• View History: To see a list of all previous commits, click on the "History" tab in the GitHub Desktop window. This will show you a list of all commits made to the repository along with the commit message, author, and the date of the commit.

• Inspect Commit Details: Click on any commit in the history to view more details, including the exact changes made to files in that commit.

Pushing and Pulling Changes

• Push Changes: After committing your changes locally, you need to push them to the remote repository. Click on the "Push origin" button to upload your commits to GitHub.

• Pull Changes: To fetch the latest updates from the remote repository, click the "Pull origin" button. This will synchronize your local repository with the latest changes from GitHub.

Creating a Pull Request

After pushing your changes to a branch, you can create a pull request by clicking the "Create Pull Request" button. This will open GitHub in your web browser, where you can provide more details and submit the pull request for review.

Reverting a Commit

• If you need to undo a commit that's already been pushed, GitHub Desktop doesn't directly support "reverting" a commit, but you can use the "Revert" option on GitHub via the website or use the GitHub Desktop's "Undo" feature for commits not pushed yet.