bzr should have a command to back-out changes made in a previous commit

[Nicholas Allen]

It would be nice if bzr had a command to back-out changes made in a previous commit. This can be somewhat done using the merge command but it is not very intuitive and cannot be done for individual files but only the whole branch.

The command would make uncommitted changes that would back out a given committed changeset or list/range of changesets. It could be added to the existing revert command or a new command (say "back-out") could be added.

[Nicholas Allen (nick-allen)]

I would like to use it like this:

bzr back-out 15,17 file -- back out changes made in revisions 15 and 17 for file

bzr back-out 15..20 file -- back out changes made in revisions 15 to 20 inclusive

bzr back-out revid:XXXXXXXX file -- back out changes made in given revid

If file name not provided then applies to whole branch.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

I agree. Another reasonable name might be 'reverse'

[Aaron Bentley (abentley)]

Actually, merge can be used to remove changes for single files, contrary to the description.