Undo a git push on the remote branch without changing local repository?

Question

A developer in my team committed his changes to the wrong remote repository. I want to remove what he pushed to this repository on the remote repository. I don't want to change anything locally.

Therefore how can I:

1. List the commits on the remote repository branch so that I can see which commits that have been pushed need to be removed.

2. Remove each of these commits on the remote repository branch so that I can go back to the commit before he pushed his changes.

I am not sure if "removing" is the correct process or if it is meant to be "revert" but in the end I need the remote repository branch to be back to where it was before he pushed his changes.

Answer 1

Mark where that branch was last by

git tag original-master origin/master

inspect what you get from the server:

git fetch

git log --all --graph

or

gitk --all

if your tag still makes sense that that's where the remote branch should be, force push that up:

git push -f origin original-master:master

if it's another commit, push that commit as the master:

git push -f origin <some SHA1>:master

clean up:

git tag -d original-master

update your tracking branches since the fix:

git fetch

This assumes "master" is the branch in question. Replace "master" with the proper branch name if it's another one.