[SOLVED] Reset branch to HEAD via JGit

Reset branch to HEAD via JGit

I need to run the command git reset --hard origin <branch-name> via JGit to reset corrupt local commits done by users, and I'm using following code:

git.reset().setRef(<branch-name>).setMode(ResetCommand.ResetType.HARD).call()

but it doesn't overwrites local commits and pointing to current remote HEAD. I have tried with git.fetch() and git.pull() previous to git.reset() but it doesn't work, is there another method I need to use?

Also, how to print result why it's failing, I see that .call() returns Ref but the Ref object doesn't have messages, only ObjectId.

Solution

Note, that git reset --hard origin <branch-name> is not a valid Git command. To reset the current HEAD to a remote branch, you need to specify the branch as origin/<branch-name>. This is a short form of refs/remotes/origin/<branch-name>. Is it this what you mean?

If you are specifying refs/heads/<branch-name>, then you are referring to a local branch. See also What are the differences between local branch, local tracking branch, remote branch and remote tracking branch?

The equivalent JGit command is

git.reset()
    .setRef("refs/remotes/origin/<branch-name>")
    .setMode(ResetType.HARD)
    .call()

Call fetch or pull only if you want to include updates that took place in the remote repository. Note, that pull is just a composite command of fetch, followed by rebase or merge (depending on the configuration). It tries to rebase or merge the remote branch into the local branch (i.e. refs/remotes/origin/<branch-name> into refs/heads/<branch-name>) and will fail with a dirty working directory. This is likely not what you want.