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Git Rebase Explained: Concepts and Best Practices

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Dailya Roy
Git Rebase Explained: Concepts and Best Practices

One of two Git tools used for merging changes from one branch into another is called "rebase." Rebasing is when a series of commits are merged into one or moved to a new base commit. When using Git, rebasing is a sequential form of merging.


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Can You Explain What Rebasing in Git Does?

Through the use of a rebase, a developer can make it appear as though their branch was forked from a different commit. To update the chosen base, Git produces a new commit internally. It's critical that everyone involved recognize that the branch's outward appearance belies the fact that it contains completely fresh contributions. Rebasing in Git is the same as rewriting history.


In order to grasp the mechanics at play here, familiarity with certain fundamental Git ideas is required.

A branch is a group of commits that together tell the tale of one line of development in any model.

A commit is a save point in your code history that includes a message detailing the changes made in that commit.


When a new branch is established, it has the same commit history with its parent (often the "master") branch.

Git produces a new commit that includes all of the changes from both branches when you merge them together. Rebasing a Git repository: Use of Git Rebase


Why Do Git Users Resort to Rebasing?


The most important one is preserving a time-ordered record of past project activities. Consider the case where you've been working on a feature branch separate from the main branch, but the main branch has made progress. However, you need to incorporate the most recent changes from the master branch into your feature branch without leaving any traces of your work in the master branch's history.


If you keep your feature branch tidy, you can easily merge it back into the main branch in the future. Having a clean history is particularly important when using Git operations since it makes it easier to track down and evaluate a suspected issue.

 

Merge vs. Rebase in Git

Changes from one branch may be merged into another using either Git merge or rebase. When two branches' modifications need to be combined, Git merge may create a new commit that does just that. Both the master and the development branches contributed to the new commit. Use git rebase to apply changes from one branch to another, and then inspect the result as if the modifications had been performed in place.

Let's examine Git rebase with these ideas in mind. Git "replays" all of the changes from one branch onto another when you execute the "git rebase" command. In order to merge a feature branch into the master branch, you might use the following commands.

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The Function of Git Checkout

  1. Master rebase in git
  2. Using the Master Branch and the Merge Tool in Git
  3. All of the changes made on the feature branch would be reapplied to the master branch in their entirety. All of the modifications from both branches would be merged into a new sequence of commits, with the feature branch's contributions showing first.

 


Guidelines for Rebasing in Git:

Git rebase is a powerful tool, but it may be misused and lead to serious problems. Best practices for utilizing Git rebase are as follows:


  1. You must only rebase local branches that have yet to be published.
  2. Once you've uploaded your changes to a shared repository, you shouldn't rebase a branch that other developers are using. Because rebasing alters the branch's commit history, it might make it more difficult for other people to merge their modifications into the master branch and prevent conflicts from occurring.
  3. Before rebasing, you should always make a backup branch.
  4. Make sure you have a backup branch ready before using the "git rebase" command, in case anything goes wrong. You may achieve this by making a new branch off of your existing one, as seen here:Input: git checkout my-branch
  5. git clone my-backup-branch
  6. git branch my-branch checkout
  7. git clone my-backup-branch
  8. If anything goes wrong during the rebase and you can't repair it, you can always revert to the original branch and try again.
  9. Carefully choose which commits to rebase by using the interactive mode.
  10. Any changes made on the current branch will be replicated on the new branch when using the "git rebase" command. The "interactive" option, however, allows you to pick and choose which commits to rebase and even edit the commit messages and content. Comparison between Git's Standard Rebase and Interactive Rebase
  11. Git's rebase functionality comes in two flavors: the default and the interactive. Consensus mode When you send a branch to Git's rebase command, it will instantly pull in any changes made to your working branch and merge them into the master branch.
  12. Instead of just grabbing everything and moving it to the passed branch, you may make adjustments to individual commits in Interactive mode. We've previously discussed the importance of keeping a clean history, and if you switch to interactive mode, you'll be able to delete, divide, or modify previous commits as needed.


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