Re: Feature request: prevent push -f from pushing all branches at once

Dany [off-list ref] writes:

Again, I think the case where one intends to force push many branches
is certainly not as common as the case where one intends to force push
one branch, so why does git's default behavior leave the user in the
position of fscking himself over pretty badly?

I don't think the case of "force push" is very different from the
"non-force push". If you're surprised that "git push -f" pushes
everything, most likely you didn't want a plain "git push" to push
everything either.

There are already several measures against this. The first is mentionned
in Jonathan's message: Git 2.0 will only push one branch by default (-f
or not). You can already get this behavior by setting push.default (if
your Git version is too old, set it to "current" for example, read "git
config --help").

Another measure is a better documentation. We've just merged the change
below. In short: don't run "git push -f", but run e.g. "git push origin
+master".

commit 70495b556f5685afe0e41988e42d48b2331d77a0
Author: Matthieu Moy [off-list ref]
Date:   Mon Jun 17 19:52:41 2013 +0200

    Documentation/git-push.txt: explain better cases where --force is dangerous
    
    The behavior of "git push --force" is rather clear when it updates only
    one remote ref, but running it when pushing several branches can really
    be dangerous. Warn the users a bit more and give them the alternative to
    push only one branch.
    
    Signed-off-by: Matthieu Moy [off-list ref]
    Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano [off-list ref]

diff --git a/Documentation/git-push.txt b/Documentation/git-push.txt
index 8b637d3..28a17c3 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-push.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-push.txt

@@ -124,6 +124,15 @@ no `push.default` configuration variable is set.
        not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it.
        This flag disables the check.  This can cause the
        remote repository to lose commits; use it with care.
+       Note that `--force` applies to all the refs that are pushed,
+       hence using it with `push.default` set to `matching` or with
+       multiple push destinations configured with `remote.*.push`
+       may overwrite refs other than the current branch (including
+       local refs that are strictly behind their remote counterpart).
+       To force a push to only one branch, use a `+` in front of the
+       refspec to push (e.g `git push origin +master` to force a push
+       to the `master` branch). See the `<refspec>...` section above
+       for details.
 
 --repo=<repository>::
        This option is only relevant if no <repository> argument is

-- 
Matthieu Moy
http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/