[PATCH] Give git-pull a --reset option

[PATCH] Give git-pull a --reset option

[Alex Henrie]

A common workflow is to make a commit on a local branch, push the branch
to the remote, check out the remote branch on a second computer, amend
the commit on the second computer, force-push back to the remote branch,
and finally submit a pull request. However, if the user switches back to
the first computer, they must then run the cumbersome command
`git fetch && git reset --hard origin`. (Actually, at this point Git
novices often try running `git pull --force`, but it doesn't do what
they expect.) This patch adds the shortcut `git pull --reset` to serve
as a complement to `git push --force`.

Signed-off-by: Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/git-pull.txt |  8 ++++++++
 builtin/pull.c             | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 36 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-pull.txt b/Documentation/git-pull.txt
index 118d9d86f7..bae8f07161 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pull.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-pull.txt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ More precisely, 'git pull' runs 'git fetch' with the given
 parameters and calls 'git merge' to merge the retrieved branch
 heads into the current branch.
 With `--rebase`, it runs 'git rebase' instead of 'git merge'.
+With `--reset`, it runs `git reset --hard` instead of 'git merge'.
 
 <repository> should be the name of a remote repository as
 passed to linkgit:git-fetch[1].  <refspec> can name an
@@ -141,6 +142,13 @@ unless you have read linkgit:git-rebase[1] carefully.
 +
 This option is only valid when "--rebase" is used.
 
+--reset::
+	Reset the local branch to match the remote commit, discarding any local
+	commits or other changes.
+
+--no-reset::
+	Override earlier --reset.
+
 Options related to fetching
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/builtin/pull.c b/builtin/pull.c
index 33db889955..97379447eb 100644
--- a/builtin/pull.c
+++ b/builtin/pull.c
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ static int recurse_submodules = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT;
 
 /* Options passed to git-merge or git-rebase */
 static enum rebase_type opt_rebase = -1;
+static char *opt_reset;
 static char *opt_diffstat;
 static char *opt_log;
 static char *opt_signoff;
@@ -144,6 +145,9 @@ static struct option pull_options[] = {
 	  "(false|true|merges|preserve|interactive)",
 	  N_("incorporate changes by rebasing rather than merging"),
 	  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, parse_opt_rebase },
+	OPT_PASSTHRU(0, "reset", &opt_reset, NULL,
+		N_("discard all local changes rather than merging"),
+		PARSE_OPT_NOARG | PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
 	OPT_PASSTHRU('n', NULL, &opt_diffstat, NULL,
 		N_("do not show a diffstat at the end of the merge"),
 		PARSE_OPT_NOARG | PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
@@ -860,6 +864,21 @@ static int run_rebase(const struct object_id *curr_head,
 	return ret;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Runs git-reset, returning its exit status.
+ */
+static int run_reset(void)
+{
+	int ret;
+	struct argv_array args = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
+	argv_array_pushl(&args, "reset", NULL);
+	argv_array_push(&args, "--hard");
+	argv_array_push(&args, "FETCH_HEAD");
+	ret = run_command_v_opt(args.argv, RUN_GIT_CMD);
+	argv_array_clear(&args);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 int cmd_pull(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	const char *repo, **refspecs;
@@ -892,6 +911,9 @@ int cmd_pull(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (get_oid("HEAD", &orig_head))
 		oidclr(&orig_head);
 
+	if (opt_rebase && opt_reset)
+		die(_("--rebase and --reset are mutually exclusive."));
+
 	if (!opt_rebase && opt_autostash != -1)
 		die(_("--[no-]autostash option is only valid with --rebase."));
 
@@ -986,6 +1008,12 @@ int cmd_pull(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			ret = rebase_submodules();
 
 		return ret;
+	} else if (opt_reset) {
+		int ret = run_reset();
+		if (!ret && (recurse_submodules == RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON ||
+			     recurse_submodules == RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON_DEMAND))
+			ret = update_submodules();
+		return ret;
 	} else {
 		int ret = run_merge();
 		if (!ret && (recurse_submodules == RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON ||
-- 
2.21.0

Re: [PATCH] Give git-pull a --reset option

[Eric Sunshine]

On Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 12:07 AM Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@gmail.com> wrote:
> A common workflow is to make a commit on a local branch, push the branch
> to the remote, check out the remote branch on a second computer, amend
> the commit on the second computer, force-push back to the remote branch,
> and finally submit a pull request. However, if the user switches back to
> the first computer, they must then run the cumbersome command
> `git fetch && git reset --hard origin`. (Actually, at this point Git
> novices often try running `git pull --force`, but it doesn't do what
> they expect.) This patch adds the shortcut `git pull --reset` to serve
> as a complement to `git push --force`.

I didn't know this was a particularly common workflow, although I
admit to working this way myself often enough.

> Signed-off-by: Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/git-pull.txt |  8 ++++++++
>  builtin/pull.c             | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Perhaps add a test or two to t/t5520-pull.sh covering this new feature.

> diff --git a/builtin/pull.c b/builtin/pull.c
> @@ -860,6 +864,21 @@ static int run_rebase(const struct object_id *curr_head,
> +/**
> + * Runs git-reset, returning its exit status.
> + */
> +static int run_reset(void)
> +{
> +       int ret;
> +       struct argv_array args = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;

In this codebase, it's typical to have a blank line following the declarations.

> +       argv_array_pushl(&args, "reset", NULL);
> +       argv_array_push(&args, "--hard");
> +       argv_array_push(&args, "FETCH_HEAD");

Not sure why you're using "pushl" for the first and then plain "push"
for the rest. With "pushl", the entire setup can be collapsed to:

    argv_array_pushl(&args, "reset", "--hard", "FETCH_HEAD", NULL);

But, given that this argument list isn't dynamic, you could simplify
further by just declaring:

    const char *argv[] = { "reset", "--hard", "FETCH_HEAD", NULL };

> +       ret = run_command_v_opt(args.argv, RUN_GIT_CMD);
> +       argv_array_clear(&args);

...and do away with the argv_array_clear() altogether.

> +       return ret;
> +}

In fact, taking these suggestions into account, the code collapses to
just two lines, which you could easily inline into the sole caller,
thus you don't need a separate function at all.

> @@ -892,6 +911,9 @@ int cmd_pull(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
> +       if (opt_rebase && opt_reset)
> +               die(_("--rebase and --reset are mutually exclusive."));

Modern practice on this project is to not end these messages with a
period, however, as most messages in this file currently end with a
period, this may be okay.

>         if (!opt_rebase && opt_autostash != -1)
>                 die(_("--[no-]autostash option is only valid with --rebase."));