Edit the initial commits

The main directory contains the commits that will already be present in the repository when a learner starts the quest. All quests must have at least one commit in defined in main. The generated quest contains a single commit, labeled initialize-project. We will both the README.md file in this commit.

If we edited the README.md file directly, we would also have to edit it in every later commit in every chapter. Instead, we will use the repo-quest tool to create a linear-history repository representation of the quest and use standard git operations to edit the history as a whole.

Run repo-quest hist in the root of the quest definition repository to create the linear-history representation. The linear-history representation will be created in a directory named hist in the root of the repository. The hist directory is already included in the default .gitignore file.

The crated hist directory is a git repository with a branch defined for every commit. The main branch is not associated with a specific chapter or commit and instead is for your use in moving between commits to edit the repository.

git log --pretty=oneline --graph --decorate --abbrev-commit --all

* dbe6499 (HEAD -> main, quest/chapter/first-chapter/solution/implement-add) Implement a reference add function
* 2d5d518 (quest/chapter/first-chapter/scaffold/add-test) Add a test that needs to be implemented
* f9dc574 (quest/main/initialize-project) Initial commit

To edit the README.md and have it propagate through the later commits, use an interactive git rebase and choose to edit the commit.

git rebase -i --update-refs --root

edit f9dc574 # Initial commit
update-ref refs/heads/quest/main/initialize-project

pick 2d5d518 # Add a test that needs to be implemented
update-ref refs/heads/quest/chapter/first-chapter/scaffold/add-test

pick dbe6499 # Implement a reference add function
update-ref refs/heads/quest/chapter/first-chapter/solution/implement-add

Change the content of README.md.

# My Quest

This is an awesome quest where you will do cool things!

Amend the most recent commit with the changes.

git add -u .
git commit --amend --no-edit

Finish the rebase.

git rebase --continue

Commit the changes

The changes to README.md have been propagated through all of the commits in the linear history representation in hist. Now we just need to apply the changes to the original quest directory so that we can commit them.

The command repo-quest dirs will apply the changes from the linear-history representation to the quest definition and update quest.toml. Because the command makes significant edits to the quest, it will only make the updates if there are no uncommitted changes to quest.toml, main, or chapters.

[!NOTE] The overwriting of quest.toml will also normalize the structure, so there may be some unexpected changes to the file.

Stage and commit the changes.

git add .
git commit -m "abc"