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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-09T09:02:52+00:00

I’m trying to undo some changes that have already been pushed to a remote

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I’m trying to undo some changes that have already been pushed to a remote repository, and I’ve done so locally with 

git reset --hard COMMIT-HASH

But now it won’t let me push without pulling first, which of course defeats the purpose. I’ve tried:

git push -f

Which errors out with:

Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: error: denying non-fast-forward refs/heads/master (you should pull first)
To git@xxx.beanstalkapp.com:/yyy.git
 ! [remote rejected] master -> master (non-fast-forward)
error: failed to push some refs to 'git@xxx.beanstalkapp.com:/yyy.git'

So how do I get my new, correct version of the branch to the remote?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    From the git config man page:

    receive.denyNonFastForwards

    If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is not a fast-forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push, even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is set when initializing a shared repository.

    The server you are trying to push to has this setting enabled. So, short answer, is that in this case you will not be able to git push --force.

    To get the correct version of the branch to the remote, you will have to make a new commit to the tip of the branch that gets it to the correct state. If you are currently at the commit for the correct state, you can run the following:

    $ git reset --soft <remote>/<branch>    # point the ref back to the remote, but
                                        #   keep the index and working tree

$ git commit                            # make the 'correction' commit
$ git push
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