Re: VC mode and git

[Paul Eggert]

On 03/25/2015 07:43 AM, Richard Stallman wrote:
> something is wrong in my repository with
> lisp/ChangeLog.  I have changes I want to check in, and I don't know
> what to do.  Brief hints are not enough to enable me to fix this.
> How should I get my changes installed?
>
> Would you please help me?

Here's a method that should work.  It's slow and painstaking but each 
step should be easy to follow, which is the main thing.

* Decide the changes that you want and record them, e.g., by putting 
them into a file 'wanted.diff':

  git diff >wanted.diff

* Apparently your copy of the master branch is busted, so rename it to 
something else so that it's out of the way:

  git branch -m master master-busted

* Create a new branch 'master' that tracks the origin:

  git branch --track master origin/master

* Check it out, discarding all your local changes (be careful here! the 
local changes should all be in 'wanted.diff'):

  git checkout -f master

* Make sure the master is up-to-date:

  git pull

* Apply the changes that you want to your working files, e.g.:

  patch -p1 <wanted.diff
  [Fix any problems by hand.]

* Use 'git diff' to make sure the patch is what you want.  If not, fix 
problems by hand and run 'git diff again.

* Commit the result:

  git commit -a -m'Fix lisp/ChangeLog'

* Double-check that the commit (including its log message) is really 
what you want, by inspecting the output of:

  git format-patch --stdout -1

* Push the patch, so that others can see it:

  git push