Git Editor: Git History Rewriting Tool

Git Editor is a powerful Rust-based command-line utility designed to safely rewrite Git commit metadata within a specified date range. Perfect for fixing commit dates, adding consistency to repositories, or reconstructing development timelines.

Features

• Rewrite commit timestamps within a specified date range
• Pick and edit specific commits interactively
• Show commit history with detailed statistics
• Preserve commit order and relationships
• Maintain author and committer information
• Compatible with any Git repository
• Docker support for containerized execution

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.72+ (Install Rust)
• Git (Install Git)
• OpenSSL development libraries

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rohansen856/git-editor.git
cd git-editor

# Build the project
cargo build --release

# The binary will be available at target/release/git-editor

Usage

Git Editor supports four main modes of operation:

1. Full History Rewrite (Default)

git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" --email "user@example.com" --name "Author Name" --begin "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" --end "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS"

2. Show History Only

git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" --show-history
# or
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" -s

3. Pick Specific Commits

git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" --pick-specific-commits
# or
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" -p

4. Range Editing

git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" --range
# or
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" -x

Arguments

Examples

# Full rewrite: Rewrite commits to occur between January 1 and January 7, 2023
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" --email "john.doe@example.com" --name "John Doe" --begin "2023-01-01 00:00:00" --end "2023-01-07 23:59:59"

# Show history: Display commit history with detailed statistics
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" -s

# Pick specific commits: Interactively select and edit individual commits
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" -p

# Range editing: Interactively select and edit a range of commits
git-editor --repo-path "/path/to/repo" -x

# Using the Makefile (after editing the parameters)
make run

How It Works

Git Editor operates by:

1. Validating the provided repository path and Git environment
2. Generating a list of timestamps between the start and end dates
3. Creating a mapping between original commits and new commit timestamps
4. Rewriting the Git history while preserving parent-child relationships
5. Updating branch references to point to the new commit history

The tool ensures that commit order is maintained and distributes commits evenly across the specified time range.

Warning

This tool rewrites Git history. Always work on a separate branch or backup your repository before running Git Editor on important code bases.

Development

Project Structure

git-editor/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs           # Entry point
│   ├── args.rs           # Command line argument handling
│   ├── rewrite/          # Git history rewriting logic
│   │   ├── mod.rs        # Module definition
│   │   ├── rewrite_all.rs    # Full repository history rewriting
│   │   ├── rewrite_specific.rs # Interactive commit selection
│   │   └── rewrite_range.rs    # Interactive range selection
│   ├── utils/            # Utility modules
│   │   ├── mod.rs        # Module definition
│   │   ├── types.rs      # Type definitions and custom Result
│   │   ├── validator.rs  # Input validation
│   │   ├── datetime.rs   # Date and time functions
│   │   ├── commit_history.rs # Git commit operations
│   │   └── prompt.rs     # Interactive user prompts
│   └── lib.rs            # Library interface
├── tests/
│   └── integration_tests.rs # Integration tests
├── Cargo.toml            # Project dependencies
├── Dockerfile            # Docker configuration
├── Makefile              # Build automation
└── CLAUDE.md             # Development guidance

Testing

The project includes comprehensive test coverage with both unit and integration tests:

# Run all tests (53 tests total: 45 unit + 8 integration)
cargo test

# Run only unit tests
cargo test --lib

# Run only integration tests
cargo test --test integration_tests

# Run specific integration test with output
cargo test --test integration_tests test_show_history_mode_integration -- --nocapture

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.