I forgot to add a file in the initial commit. How do I go back and add it?

Question

I forgot to add a settings file that is needed in order for my project to run. I have made 14 commits already. How do I go back and add that settings file to the initial commit so that all of my commits have this file?

Answer 1

Its simple to do using git rebase which is available from git 1.7

Here are the steps to do it,

1. Use git rebase -i HEAD~14 (takes you 14 commits back)

2. Mark the commit for edit. (this lets you edit the commit)

3. Save the rebase file, and git will come back to the shell and wait for you to fix that commit

4. Add your settings file with git add (this will add the file you forgot to add before to the old commit)

5. Amend the commit with git commit --amend (this amends or changes the old commit for you with the newly added file)

6. Do a git rebase --continue which will rewrite the rest of your commits to match the new one

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

You can make the commit now and then use rebase to re-order the commits.

However, this will re-write the history of your repository so it's only really useful if your repo hasn't been distributed to others.

For example:

1. git add <missing-file>
2. git commit -m "Added missing file."
3. git rebase -i HEAD~14
4. Re-order the commits so your missing file commit is just after you added your untracked files earlier.

Before you start, please consult the documentation for rebase as it's a powerful command but it can also cause problems if used incorrectly. Documentation: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rebase

I hope this helps.