That is a case where (as you note) you'd need to do some sort of destructive fix to eliminate the file from your local repo. Whether it's a rebase or something else, a person then needs to know "the advanced parts" that the blog post is advocating aren't really needed if "git is done correctly". Better to just not commit files/hunks accidentally in the first place - I know, it's not a perfect world, yada yada - just trying to provide the counter point to the counter point.