Use stash, tags, bisect, blame and worktrees

$ run as a normal user# run as root (or with sudo)

Put work aside with stash

git stash saves uncommitted changes and gives you a clean working tree — for example to fix something urgent on another branch.

$git stash push -m "half-done NSG rules"
$git stash list
stash@{0}: On feature/web: half-done NSG rules
$git switch main
$git switch feature/web
$git stash pop
$git stash push -u
$git stash drop stash@{0}

-u also stashes untracked files.

7.2

Mark versions with tags

A tag is a fixed name for a commit, usually a version. Annotated tags have a message, an author and a date.

$git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "First production release"
$git tag
$git show v1.0.0
$git push origin v1.0.0
$git tag -d v0.9.0-test
$git push origin --delete v0.9.0-test

Remember

Modules and pipelines often use tags as versions (?ref=v1.0.0). Never move a tag that others use — make a new one.

7.3

Find the bad commit with bisect

git bisect does a binary search through history: you say "good" or "bad" for each commit Git picks, and it finds the first bad one fast.

$git bisect start
$git bisect bad
$git bisect good v1.2.0
$git bisect good
$git bisect bad
$git bisect run ./test.sh
$git bisect reset

With git bisect run SCRIPT, Git tests every step itself (exit code 0 = good).

7.4

See who changed a line

git blame shows the last commit for every line — to find why something was changed, not who to blame.

$git blame -L 20,40 modules/network/main.tf
$git log -S "0.0.0.0/0" --oneline
$git log -L 20,30:modules/network/main.tf

git log -S TEXT finds the commits that added or removed a text — great for "when did this rule appear?".

7.5

Work on two branches at once

A worktree is a second working folder for the same repository — no need to stash or clone again.

$git worktree add ../infra-hotfix hotfix/dns
$cd ../infra-hotfix
$git worktree list
$git worktree remove ../infra-hotfix

7.6

Search and clean the repository

Find text in tracked files fast, and keep the repository small.

$git grep -n "allow_blob_public_access"
$git count-objects -vH
$git gc
$git ls-files | wc -l

All commands in this chapter