How to push a branch to github after amending a commit?

Question

I have amended a commit in a branch(not the master branch) in my local repo using this code git commit --amend --no-edit but how to push this to github? I had already pushed the branch before amending the commit. Now i just want the change to commit in my local repo(done using git commit --amend --no-edit ) to be reflected in github also. How can i achieve this?

Answer 1

You need to force push the branch:

git push --force origin some_branch

The reason why an ordinary push will fail is that in the process of amending the top most commit, you actually have rewritten that commit entirely.

Here is a diagram showing what some_branch would look like after amending the head commit:

remote: ... A -- B
              \
local:          B'     (the prime indicates a new commit)

In other words, from Git's point of view it is as if your local and remote branches have actually diverged from each other. Now, the A commit is the most recent ancestor. You probably want to keep your local version, and if so then you need to force push.