How to "force" push?

[jeremiedesautels]

When I click the "Push" button in the SourceTree window I get a window asking me to select the desired branch and at the bottom of this window there is an option to "Force Push" (which is necessary after a rebase). Unfortunately, this option is grayed-out and I am not able to select it. Why is this option not selectable?

I'm using Sourcetree 2.4.7.0 on Windows 10

[Mike Corsaro · Accepted solution]

Hello! A force push is a potentially dangerous operation as it rewrites history, therefore the ability to do so is locked behind a setting in the Options menu:

[jeremiedesautels]

Thank you Mike. I found the option you mention and indeed "Force Push" is now selectable. Thanks.

By the way, when did this change? I have been using Sourcetree for a long time and I don't remember ever having to enable "Force push".

[Mike Corsaro]

This change happened quite a long time ago -- around version 1.9 which was released in Dec of 2016

[jeremiedesautels]

That's surprising because I have been rebasing and force pushing in 2017. It's only in the last few weeks (maybe few months, I can't remember exactly when I noticed this issue) that the option became grayed out and prevented me from force pushing.

Anyway... it's working now so I'm happy.

[jeremiedesautels]

One more comment: in order for me to force push I have to check the "Force Push" checkbox in the "Push" window, and then I get another window telling me that "one or more branch is selected to force push. This may result in a destructive operation" and asking me to confirm that I really want to force push. Is a "Enable Force Push" global setting really necessary? I understand force pushing is potentially dangerous but I must already take two actions to demonstrate that I really want to perform this action. Is a third failsafe really necessary?

If Atlassian feels that this global setting is necessary, I suggest a tooltip that would show up when I hover my mouse over the grayed out "Force Push" and would say something like: "in order to enable this option you must enable the global option and thus demonstrate that you understand the potentially dangerous nature of force pushing".

[Jim Bergman]

Sourcetree for the Mac has Allow force push under the Advanced tab in Preferences.