Overwrite the master branch with a orphan branch in git

Question

I've created a new orphan branch with git checkout --orphan orphan-branch and made a lot of commits on that branch.

Now I want to replace the master branch with the newly created orphan-branch, all the files and the history of the master branch should be replaced by the files and the history of the orphan branch. What is the best way to do this?

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 03 '16 at 09:11

9

To replace the history and old file of the master branch you need to do a forced update on it.

git push origin +your_orphan_branch_name:master

Attention: This deletes the whole history on the remote repository for your branch master. But that what you intended to do...

answered Jun 03 '16 at 09:11

murraybo

895
8
13

Don't forget to change your local repo's master branch as well – sciffany Feb 02 '20 at 05:08

Awesim · Answer 2 · 2016-06-03T09:16:41.723

4

git branch -m master old-master // rename master to old-master locally

git branch -m orphan_branch master // rename orphan_branch to master locally

git push -f origin master // force-update master on remote

edited Jun 03 '16 at 09:16

answered Jun 03 '16 at 09:07

Awesim

99
9

please add a explanation for this. – MCSell Jun 03 '16 at 09:13

Overwrite the master branch with a orphan branch in git

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