What is Rebase?

Git rebase is a command that allows you to move or combine a sequence of commits to a new base commit. Instead of merging branches and creating a merge commit, rebase rewrites the commit history by applying your changes on top of another branch, resulting in a cleaner, linear commit history.

Purpose

• Cleaner History: Creates a linear, more readable project history by eliminating unnecessary merge commits.
• Conflict Resolution: Allows for conflicts to be resolved at each commit rather than in a single merge commit.

Steps for Rebasing

1. Checkout the Branch to Rebase:
   • Command: git checkout feature-branch
2. Start the Rebase Process:
   • Command: git rebase main
3. Resolve Conflicts (if any):
   • Manually fix the conflicts in each file.
   • Stage the resolved changes.
   • Command: git add <file>
   • Continue rebasing.
   • Command: git rebase --continue
4. Force Push (if rebasing a public branch):
   • Command: git push --force

Example

• Rebasing feature-branch onto main.

  • Commands:

    #code
    git checkout feature-branch
    git rebase main
    
    

Benefits

• Linear History: Makes the project history easier to understand.
• Easier to Bisect: Helps in finding bugs by making git bisect more effective.

Considerations

• Rewrite History: Rebasing changes the commit history, so it’s advisable not to rebase shared branches.