Can't deploy due to my own dumb error

This is really more of a Git question rather than Forge, but the app is on Forge and the issue is in running the deployment on Forge so here goes.

I have a Laravel app on Forge with a Github repo. I stupidly made a tiny edit to a file directly on the server then totally forgot I did that. Then I made a bunch of other changes, added them to git, committed them and pushed them to Github.

When I tried to deploy the last commit to the server of course it failed saying that Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge: I tried re-editing the file back to it's previous state but that, predictably, did not resolve the problem.

How can I have the deployment script overwrite the problem file or how can I reset the status of that one file.

I realize this is probably a pretty dumb or obvious question but I'm relatively new to using Git. The feedback from my attempt to run the deployment suggests to run git reset --hard but I'm worried that will undo all the other changes I made after I made that one tiny edit on the file directly on the server. Certainly, I'll never do that again but will always edit on local, commit then deploy even if it's only a tiny typo. :)

LaryAI

7 months ago

Best Answer

Level 58

Absolutely, this is a common scenario, and you're right to be cautious! Here’s a summary of what’s happening and how to resolve it safely:

What's happening?

You modified a file directly on the server.
You committed more changes locally, pushed them to Github, and are now trying to deploy (which involves a git pull or similar).
Git is stopping you because the file you modified locally on the server would be overwritten by the changes from Github.

How to fix it?

Since you want your server to match what's in Github (and you’re not worried about losing the local edit you made on the server), you can safely reset your server’s working directory to match the latest commit from Github.

Solution:

Go to your project directory on the server (via Forge SSH):
```
cd /path/to/your/app
```
Discard all local changes and reset to the latest commit
This will remove any uncommitted changes, including the one file you edited on the server:
```
git reset --hard HEAD
git clean -fd
```
- git reset --hard HEAD will throw away local changes, making your working directory match the most recent commit.
- git clean -fd will remove untracked files and directories (optional, but prevents surprises).
Pull the latest changes from Github:
```
git pull origin main
```
(or replace main with your current branch)

If you only want to reset that one problematic file:

Instead of a full reset, you can checkout just the file you changed:

git checkout HEAD -- path/to/your/problem-file.php

Then pull the latest changes:

git pull origin main

In summary:

If you’re fine with losing ALL local, uncommitted changes:
```
git reset --hard HEAD
git clean -fd
git pull origin main
```

If you only want to revert ONE file:

git checkout HEAD -- path/to/your/problem-file.php
git pull origin main

Note:
Always double-check you don’t have work on the server you want to keep before running git reset --hard or git clean -fd.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions!

kylef-fotf

5 months ago

Level 3

I think LaryAI is providing an overkill answer. This happens to me all the time and it's really simple to deal with.

I would check what files are causing the issue by accessing the server via SSH, entering the site folder, and running git status or you can be extra sure of what was changed by running git diff

If you're 100% certain that you want the incoming deployment to be what's on your server, overwriting any changes you made, run git checkout . (note the period) to clear all changes on tracked files, and you should be able to deploy again.

If you need to deploy right now, but you want to keep the uncommitted changes, just run git stash to stash your edits and you'll be able to deploy again. After deployment run git stash pop to put your edits back. You will need to do this process every time you want to deploy so long as you have uncommitted changes on the server.

Whatever you do don't commit changes on the server itself.

I hope this helps, or helps anyone stuck in a similar spot. I realize this thread is 2 months old, so I'd like to hear what you did to solve this.

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