bzr: Restoring a deleted file after some commits with bazaar

Question

I'd like to know if it is possible to restore a removed file from an older revision (a clean way to do it)

I've renamed a file for some tests, than I commited all my work (and I forgot to rename the file) and did a lot of other commits... When I realised, it was too late...

Regards, Ayman

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 02 '09 at 08:37

13

The easiest way is to simply use bzr revert with a revision number before the file was deleted:

bzr revert -rX path/to/file
bzr commit -m 'Bringing path/to/file back'

You don't need to merge anything.

answered Nov 02 '09 at 08:37

Lukáš Lalinský

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bialix · Answer 2 · 2009-10-27T10:08:11.040

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If you know revision number when you removed that file (you can inspect history with bzr log -v) then you can resurrect that file with merge command. So for file foo and revision number N you need to run command:

bzr merge foo -r N..N-1

E.g. for revision 287:

bzr merge foo -r 287..286

This command will restore your file as in revision 287. You need to commit this change and you done.

edited Oct 27 '09 at 10:08

answered Oct 27 '09 at 05:56

bialix

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Careful! This will undo the *whole* of rev 287. I don't think you can merge just one specific file from a changeset. – Brent.Longborough Oct 27 '09 at 16:03
Yes, bzr can merge only one file from changeset. You can test it yourself. – bialix Oct 27 '09 at 18:02
Yes, you're absolutely right. +1. I withdraw my comment and my answer. The only thing I would still maintain is that, depending on the complexity of your work, it might be sensible to revert in another branch. – Brent.Longborough Oct 28 '09 at 08:11
I tried this, but bzr told me it was a non versioned file... I found another solution: the undelete plugin ! – Ayman Khamouma Oct 28 '09 at 11:11
That may have been because you recreated the same file name before doing the merge, thereby causing a conflict? – Brent.Longborough Oct 28 '09 at 20:00
Or you may have misspelt the filename? (Sorry...) – Brent.Longborough Oct 28 '09 at 20:07

Brent.Longborough · Answer 3 · 2009-10-28T08:13:43.667

This isn't the best answer. See bialix' answer which is a lot simpler. I'll leave this here just for reference.

Here's what I think is the cleanest method:

Create a branch:

bzr branch mytree repair-path
cd into the repair branch
Revert just the missing file at its last revision (eg 287 in this example):

bzr revert -r 287 lost.file
Commit the change

bzr commit -m "Unshoot my foot"
cd back into the main branch
merge in the repair

bzr merge repair-path
When ready, commit the merge and delete the repair branch.

You could do this just by reverting in the original working branch, but it's probably good practice not to. You also need to worry (just a little) about any uncommitted changes.

bzr: Restoring a deleted file after some commits with bazaar

3 Answers3