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1git-rebase(1)
2=============
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3
4NAME
5----
b385085b 6git-rebase - Reapply commits on top of another base tip
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7
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
e448ff87 10[verse]
c2145384 11'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>]
95c68267 12 [<upstream> [<branch>]]
0cd993a7 13'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>]
be496621 14 --root [<branch>]
9512177b 15'git rebase' --continue | --skip | --abort | --quit | --edit-todo
031321c6 16
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17DESCRIPTION
18-----------
0b444cdb 19If <branch> is specified, 'git rebase' will perform an automatic
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20`git checkout <branch>` before doing anything else. Otherwise
21it remains on the current branch.
22
15a147e6 23If <upstream> is not specified, the upstream configured in
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24branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge options will be used (see
25linkgit:git-config[1] for details) and the `--fork-point` option is
26assumed. If you are currently not on any branch or if the current
27branch does not have a configured upstream, the rebase will abort.
15a147e6 28
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29All changes made by commits in the current branch but that are not
30in <upstream> are saved to a temporary area. This is the same set
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31of commits that would be shown by `git log <upstream>..HEAD`; or by
32`git log 'fork_point'..HEAD`, if `--fork-point` is active (see the
33description on `--fork-point` below); or by `git log HEAD`, if the
34`--root` option is specified.
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35
36The current branch is reset to <upstream>, or <newbase> if the
37--onto option was supplied. This has the exact same effect as
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38`git reset --hard <upstream>` (or <newbase>). ORIG_HEAD is set
39to point at the tip of the branch before the reset.
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40
41The commits that were previously saved into the temporary area are
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42then reapplied to the current branch, one by one, in order. Note that
43any commits in HEAD which introduce the same textual changes as a commit
44in HEAD..<upstream> are omitted (i.e., a patch already accepted upstream
45with a different commit message or timestamp will be skipped).
69a60af5 46
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47It is possible that a merge failure will prevent this process from being
48completely automatic. You will have to resolve any such merge failure
cc120056 49and run `git rebase --continue`. Another option is to bypass the commit
5960bc9d 50that caused the merge failure with `git rebase --skip`. To check out the
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51original <branch> and remove the .git/rebase-apply working files, use the
52command `git rebase --abort` instead.
031321c6 53
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54Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "topic":
55
031321c6 56------------
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57 A---B---C topic
58 /
59 D---E---F---G master
031321c6 60------------
69a60af5 61
228382ae 62From this point, the result of either of the following commands:
69a60af5 63
031321c6 64
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65 git rebase master
66 git rebase master topic
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67
68would be:
69
031321c6 70------------
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71 A'--B'--C' topic
72 /
73 D---E---F---G master
031321c6 74------------
69a60af5 75
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76*NOTE:* The latter form is just a short-hand of `git checkout topic`
77followed by `git rebase master`. When rebase exits `topic` will
78remain the checked-out branch.
69a60af5 79
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80If the upstream branch already contains a change you have made (e.g.,
81because you mailed a patch which was applied upstream), then that commit
b1889c36 82will be skipped. For example, running `git rebase master` on the
e08bc7a9 83following history (in which `A'` and `A` introduce the same set of changes,
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84but have different committer information):
85
86------------
87 A---B---C topic
88 /
89 D---E---A'---F master
90------------
91
92will result in:
93
94------------
95 B'---C' topic
96 /
97 D---E---A'---F master
98------------
99
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100Here is how you would transplant a topic branch based on one
101branch to another, to pretend that you forked the topic branch
102from the latter branch, using `rebase --onto`.
69a60af5 103
e52775f4 104First let's assume your 'topic' is based on branch 'next'.
e2b850b2 105For example, a feature developed in 'topic' depends on some
e52775f4 106functionality which is found in 'next'.
69a60af5 107
031321c6 108------------
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109 o---o---o---o---o master
110 \
111 o---o---o---o---o next
112 \
113 o---o---o topic
114------------
115
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116We want to make 'topic' forked from branch 'master'; for example,
117because the functionality on which 'topic' depends was merged into the
118more stable 'master' branch. We want our tree to look like this:
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119
120------------
121 o---o---o---o---o master
122 | \
123 | o'--o'--o' topic
124 \
125 o---o---o---o---o next
031321c6 126------------
7fc9d69f 127
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128We can get this using the following command:
129
b1889c36 130 git rebase --onto master next topic
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131
132
133Another example of --onto option is to rebase part of a
134branch. If we have the following situation:
135
136------------
137 H---I---J topicB
138 /
139 E---F---G topicA
140 /
141 A---B---C---D master
142------------
143
144then the command
145
b1889c36 146 git rebase --onto master topicA topicB
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147
148would result in:
149
150------------
151 H'--I'--J' topicB
152 /
153 | E---F---G topicA
154 |/
155 A---B---C---D master
156------------
157
158This is useful when topicB does not depend on topicA.
159
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160A range of commits could also be removed with rebase. If we have
161the following situation:
162
163------------
164 E---F---G---H---I---J topicA
165------------
166
167then the command
168
b1889c36 169 git rebase --onto topicA~5 topicA~3 topicA
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170
171would result in the removal of commits F and G:
172
173------------
174 E---H'---I'---J' topicA
175------------
176
177This is useful if F and G were flawed in some way, or should not be
178part of topicA. Note that the argument to --onto and the <upstream>
179parameter can be any valid commit-ish.
180
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181In case of conflict, 'git rebase' will stop at the first problematic commit
182and leave conflict markers in the tree. You can use 'git diff' to locate
031321c6 183the markers (<<<<<<) and make edits to resolve the conflict. For each
2de9b711 184file you edit, you need to tell Git that the conflict has been resolved,
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185typically this would be done with
186
187
d7f078b8 188 git add <filename>
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189
190
191After resolving the conflict manually and updating the index with the
192desired resolution, you can continue the rebasing process with
193
194
195 git rebase --continue
8978d043 196
8978d043 197
0b444cdb 198Alternatively, you can undo the 'git rebase' with
8978d043 199
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200
201 git rebase --abort
8978d043 202
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203CONFIGURATION
204-------------
205
206rebase.stat::
207 Whether to show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last
208 rebase. False by default.
209
da0005b8 210rebase.autoSquash::
bcf9626a 211 If set to true enable `--autosquash` option by default.
dd1e5b31 212
da0005b8 213rebase.autoStash::
bcf9626a 214 If set to true enable `--autostash` option by default.
58794775 215
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216rebase.missingCommitsCheck::
217 If set to "warn", print warnings about removed commits in
218 interactive mode. If set to "error", print the warnings and
219 stop the rebase. If set to "ignore", no checking is
220 done. "ignore" by default.
221
16cf51c7 222rebase.instructionFormat::
bcf9626a 223 Custom commit list format to use during an `--interactive` rebase.
16cf51c7 224
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225OPTIONS
226-------
c2145384 227--onto <newbase>::
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228 Starting point at which to create the new commits. If the
229 --onto option is not specified, the starting point is
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230 <upstream>. May be any valid commit, and not just an
231 existing branch name.
873c3472 232+
b9190e79 233As a special case, you may use "A\...B" as a shortcut for the
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234merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can
235leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
69a60af5 236
52a22d1e 237<upstream>::
ea81fcc5 238 Upstream branch to compare against. May be any valid commit,
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239 not just an existing branch name. Defaults to the configured
240 upstream for the current branch.
7fc9d69f 241
228382ae 242<branch>::
52a22d1e 243 Working branch; defaults to HEAD.
7fc9d69f 244
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245--continue::
246 Restart the rebasing process after having resolved a merge conflict.
247
248--abort::
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249 Abort the rebase operation and reset HEAD to the original
250 branch. If <branch> was provided when the rebase operation was
251 started, then HEAD will be reset to <branch>. Otherwise HEAD
252 will be reset to where it was when the rebase operation was
253 started.
031321c6 254
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255--quit::
256 Abort the rebase operation but HEAD is not reset back to the
257 original branch. The index and working tree are also left
258 unchanged as a result.
259
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260--keep-empty::
261 Keep the commits that do not change anything from its
262 parents in the result.
263
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264--skip::
265 Restart the rebasing process by skipping the current patch.
58634dbf 266
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267--edit-todo::
268 Edit the todo list during an interactive rebase.
269
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270-m::
271--merge::
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272 Use merging strategies to rebase. When the recursive (default) merge
273 strategy is used, this allows rebase to be aware of renames on the
274 upstream side.
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275+
276Note that a rebase merge works by replaying each commit from the working
277branch on top of the <upstream> branch. Because of this, when a merge
278conflict happens, the side reported as 'ours' is the so-far rebased
279series, starting with <upstream>, and 'theirs' is the working branch. In
280other words, the sides are swapped.
58634dbf 281
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282-s <strategy>::
283--strategy=<strategy>::
06f39190 284 Use the given merge strategy.
0b444cdb 285 If there is no `-s` option 'git merge-recursive' is used
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286 instead. This implies --merge.
287+
0b444cdb 288Because 'git rebase' replays each commit from the working branch
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289on top of the <upstream> branch using the given strategy, using
290the 'ours' strategy simply discards all patches from the <branch>,
291which makes little sense.
58634dbf 292
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293-X <strategy-option>::
294--strategy-option=<strategy-option>::
295 Pass the <strategy-option> through to the merge strategy.
6cf378f0 296 This implies `--merge` and, if no strategy has been
93ce190c 297 specified, `-s recursive`. Note the reversal of 'ours' and
edfbbf7e 298 'theirs' as noted above for the `-m` option.
93ce190c 299
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300-S[<keyid>]::
301--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
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302 GPG-sign commits. The `keyid` argument is optional and
303 defaults to the committer identity; if specified, it must be
304 stuck to the option without a space.
3ee5e540 305
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306-q::
307--quiet::
308 Be quiet. Implies --no-stat.
309
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310-v::
311--verbose::
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312 Be verbose. Implies --stat.
313
314--stat::
315 Show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last rebase. The
316 diffstat is also controlled by the configuration option rebase.stat.
317
318-n::
319--no-stat::
320 Do not show a diffstat as part of the rebase process.
b758789c 321
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322--no-verify::
323 This option bypasses the pre-rebase hook. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
324
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325--verify::
326 Allows the pre-rebase hook to run, which is the default. This option can
327 be used to override --no-verify. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
328
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329-C<n>::
330 Ensure at least <n> lines of surrounding context match before
331 and after each change. When fewer lines of surrounding
332 context exist they all must match. By default no context is
333 ever ignored.
334
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335-f::
336--force-rebase::
7560f547 337 Force a rebase even if the current branch is up to date and
2d26d533 338 the command without `--force` would return without doing anything.
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339+
340You may find this (or --no-ff with an interactive rebase) helpful after
341reverting a topic branch merge, as this option recreates the topic branch with
342fresh commits so it can be remerged successfully without needing to "revert
343the reversion" (see the
d5ff3b4b 344link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.html[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
5e75d56f 345
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346--fork-point::
347--no-fork-point::
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348 Use reflog to find a better common ancestor between <upstream>
349 and <branch> when calculating which commits have been
350 introduced by <branch>.
ad8261d2 351+
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352When --fork-point is active, 'fork_point' will be used instead of
353<upstream> to calculate the set of commits to rebase, where
354'fork_point' is the result of `git merge-base --fork-point <upstream>
355<branch>` command (see linkgit:git-merge-base[1]). If 'fork_point'
356ends up being empty, the <upstream> will be used as a fallback.
357+
358If either <upstream> or --root is given on the command line, then the
359default is `--no-fork-point`, otherwise the default is `--fork-point`.
ad8261d2 360
86c91f91 361--ignore-whitespace::
749485f6 362--whitespace=<option>::
0b444cdb 363 These flag are passed to the 'git apply' program
5162e697 364 (see linkgit:git-apply[1]) that applies the patch.
7fe54385 365 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
059f446d 366
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367--committer-date-is-author-date::
368--ignore-date::
0b444cdb 369 These flags are passed to 'git am' to easily change the dates
570ccad3 370 of the rebased commits (see linkgit:git-am[1]).
56a05720 371 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
570ccad3 372
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373--signoff::
374 This flag is passed to 'git am' to sign off all the rebased
375 commits (see linkgit:git-am[1]). Incompatible with the
376 --interactive option.
377
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378-i::
379--interactive::
1b1dce4b 380 Make a list of the commits which are about to be rebased. Let the
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381 user edit that list before rebasing. This mode can also be used to
382 split commits (see SPLITTING COMMITS below).
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383+
384The commit list format can be changed by setting the configuration option
385rebase.instructionFormat. A customized instruction format will automatically
386have the long commit hash prepended to the format.
1b1dce4b 387
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388-p::
389--preserve-merges::
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390 Recreate merge commits instead of flattening the history by replaying
391 commits a merge commit introduces. Merge conflict resolutions or manual
392 amendments to merge commits are not preserved.
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393+
394This uses the `--interactive` machinery internally, but combining it
395with the `--interactive` option explicitly is generally not a good
396idea unless you know what you are doing (see BUGS below).
397
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398-x <cmd>::
399--exec <cmd>::
400 Append "exec <cmd>" after each line creating a commit in the
401 final history. <cmd> will be interpreted as one or more shell
402 commands.
403+
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404You may execute several commands by either using one instance of `--exec`
405with several commands:
406+
407 git rebase -i --exec "cmd1 && cmd2 && ..."
408+
409or by giving more than one `--exec`:
410+
411 git rebase -i --exec "cmd1" --exec "cmd2" --exec ...
412+
413If `--autosquash` is used, "exec" lines will not be appended for
414the intermediate commits, and will only appear at the end of each
415squash/fixup series.
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416+
417This uses the `--interactive` machinery internally, but it can be run
418without an explicit `--interactive`.
f09c9b8c 419
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420--root::
421 Rebase all commits reachable from <branch>, instead of
422 limiting them with an <upstream>. This allows you to rebase
df5df20c 423 the root commit(s) on a branch. When used with --onto, it
be496621 424 will skip changes already contained in <newbase> (instead of
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425 <upstream>) whereas without --onto it will operate on every change.
426 When used together with both --onto and --preserve-merges,
427 'all' root commits will be rewritten to have <newbase> as parent
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428 instead.
429
f59baa50 430--autosquash::
dd1e5b31 431--no-autosquash::
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432 When the commit log message begins with "squash! ..." (or
433 "fixup! ..."), and there is a commit whose title begins with
434 the same ..., automatically modify the todo list of rebase -i
42cfcd20 435 so that the commit marked for squashing comes right after the
f59baa50 436 commit to be modified, and change the action of the moved
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437 commit from `pick` to `squash` (or `fixup`). Ignores subsequent
438 "fixup! " or "squash! " after the first, in case you referred to an
439 earlier fixup/squash with `git commit --fixup/--squash`.
f59baa50 440+
bcf9626a 441This option is only valid when the `--interactive` option is used.
dd1e5b31 442+
bcf9626a 443If the `--autosquash` option is enabled by default using the
da0005b8 444configuration variable `rebase.autoSquash`, this option can be
dd1e5b31 445used to override and disable this setting.
b4995494 446
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447--autostash::
448--no-autostash::
e01db917 449 Automatically create a temporary stash entry before the operation
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450 begins, and apply it after the operation ends. This means
451 that you can run rebase on a dirty worktree. However, use
452 with care: the final stash application after a successful
453 rebase might result in non-trivial conflicts.
454
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455--no-ff::
456 With --interactive, cherry-pick all rebased commits instead of
457 fast-forwarding over the unchanged ones. This ensures that the
458 entire history of the rebased branch is composed of new commits.
459+
460Without --interactive, this is a synonym for --force-rebase.
461+
462You may find this helpful after reverting a topic branch merge, as this option
463recreates the topic branch with fresh commits so it can be remerged
464successfully without needing to "revert the reversion" (see the
d5ff3b4b 465link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.html[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
f59baa50 466
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467include::merge-strategies.txt[]
468
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469NOTES
470-----
90d1c08e 471
0b444cdb 472You should understand the implications of using 'git rebase' on a
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473repository that you share. See also RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
474below.
031321c6 475
467c0197 476When the git-rebase command is run, it will first execute a "pre-rebase"
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477hook if one exists. You can use this hook to do sanity checks and
478reject the rebase if it isn't appropriate. Please see the template
479pre-rebase hook script for an example.
480
702088af 481Upon completion, <branch> will be the current branch.
031321c6 482
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483INTERACTIVE MODE
484----------------
485
486Rebasing interactively means that you have a chance to edit the commits
487which are rebased. You can reorder the commits, and you can
488remove them (weeding out bad or otherwise unwanted patches).
489
490The interactive mode is meant for this type of workflow:
491
4921. have a wonderful idea
4932. hack on the code
4943. prepare a series for submission
4954. submit
496
497where point 2. consists of several instances of
498
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499a) regular use
500
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501 1. finish something worthy of a commit
502 2. commit
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503
504b) independent fixup
505
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506 1. realize that something does not work
507 2. fix that
508 3. commit it
509
510Sometimes the thing fixed in b.2. cannot be amended to the not-quite
511perfect commit it fixes, because that commit is buried deeply in a
512patch series. That is exactly what interactive rebase is for: use it
513after plenty of "a"s and "b"s, by rearranging and editing
514commits, and squashing multiple commits into one.
515
516Start it with the last commit you want to retain as-is:
517
518 git rebase -i <after-this-commit>
519
520An editor will be fired up with all the commits in your current branch
521(ignoring merge commits), which come after the given commit. You can
522reorder the commits in this list to your heart's content, and you can
523remove them. The list looks more or less like this:
524
525-------------------------------------------
526pick deadbee The oneline of this commit
527pick fa1afe1 The oneline of the next commit
528...
529-------------------------------------------
530
0b444cdb 531The oneline descriptions are purely for your pleasure; 'git rebase' will
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532not look at them but at the commit names ("deadbee" and "fa1afe1" in this
533example), so do not delete or edit the names.
534
535By replacing the command "pick" with the command "edit", you can tell
0b444cdb 536'git rebase' to stop after applying that commit, so that you can edit
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537the files and/or the commit message, amend the commit, and continue
538rebasing.
539
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540If you just want to edit the commit message for a commit, replace the
541command "pick" with the command "reword".
542
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543To drop a commit, replace the command "pick" with "drop", or just
544delete the matching line.
545
1b1dce4b 546If you want to fold two or more commits into one, replace the command
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547"pick" for the second and subsequent commits with "squash" or "fixup".
548If the commits had different authors, the folded commit will be
549attributed to the author of the first commit. The suggested commit
550message for the folded commit is the concatenation of the commit
551messages of the first commit and of those with the "squash" command,
552but omits the commit messages of commits with the "fixup" command.
1b1dce4b 553
0b444cdb 554'git rebase' will stop when "pick" has been replaced with "edit" or
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555when a command fails due to merge errors. When you are done editing
556and/or resolving conflicts you can continue with `git rebase --continue`.
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557
558For example, if you want to reorder the last 5 commits, such that what
559was HEAD~4 becomes the new HEAD. To achieve that, you would call
0b444cdb 560'git rebase' like this:
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561
562----------------------
563$ git rebase -i HEAD~5
564----------------------
565
566And move the first patch to the end of the list.
567
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568You might want to preserve merges, if you have a history like this:
569
570------------------
571 X
572 \
573 A---M---B
574 /
575---o---O---P---Q
576------------------
577
578Suppose you want to rebase the side branch starting at "A" to "Q". Make
579sure that the current HEAD is "B", and call
580
581-----------------------------
582$ git rebase -i -p --onto Q O
583-----------------------------
584
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585Reordering and editing commits usually creates untested intermediate
586steps. You may want to check that your history editing did not break
587anything by running a test, or at least recompiling at intermediate
588points in history by using the "exec" command (shortcut "x"). You may
589do so by creating a todo list like this one:
590
591-------------------------------------------
592pick deadbee Implement feature XXX
593fixup f1a5c00 Fix to feature XXX
594exec make
595pick c0ffeee The oneline of the next commit
596edit deadbab The oneline of the commit after
597exec cd subdir; make test
598...
599-------------------------------------------
600
601The interactive rebase will stop when a command fails (i.e. exits with
602non-0 status) to give you an opportunity to fix the problem. You can
603continue with `git rebase --continue`.
604
605The "exec" command launches the command in a shell (the one specified
606in `$SHELL`, or the default shell if `$SHELL` is not set), so you can
607use shell features (like "cd", ">", ";" ...). The command is run from
608the root of the working tree.
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610----------------------------------
611$ git rebase -i --exec "make test"
612----------------------------------
613
614This command lets you check that intermediate commits are compilable.
615The todo list becomes like that:
616
617--------------------
618pick 5928aea one
619exec make test
620pick 04d0fda two
621exec make test
622pick ba46169 three
623exec make test
624pick f4593f9 four
625exec make test
626--------------------
627
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628SPLITTING COMMITS
629-----------------
630
631In interactive mode, you can mark commits with the action "edit". However,
0b444cdb 632this does not necessarily mean that 'git rebase' expects the result of this
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633edit to be exactly one commit. Indeed, you can undo the commit, or you can
634add other commits. This can be used to split a commit into two:
635
483bc4f0 636- Start an interactive rebase with `git rebase -i <commit>^`, where
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637 <commit> is the commit you want to split. In fact, any commit range
638 will do, as long as it contains that commit.
639
640- Mark the commit you want to split with the action "edit".
641
483bc4f0 642- When it comes to editing that commit, execute `git reset HEAD^`. The
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643 effect is that the HEAD is rewound by one, and the index follows suit.
644 However, the working tree stays the same.
645
646- Now add the changes to the index that you want to have in the first
483bc4f0 647 commit. You can use `git add` (possibly interactively) or
0b444cdb 648 'git gui' (or both) to do that.
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649
650- Commit the now-current index with whatever commit message is appropriate
651 now.
652
653- Repeat the last two steps until your working tree is clean.
654
483bc4f0 655- Continue the rebase with `git rebase --continue`.
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656
657If you are not absolutely sure that the intermediate revisions are
658consistent (they compile, pass the testsuite, etc.) you should use
0b444cdb 659'git stash' to stash away the not-yet-committed changes
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660after each commit, test, and amend the commit if fixes are necessary.
661
662
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663RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
664-------------------------------
665
666Rebasing (or any other form of rewriting) a branch that others have
667based work on is a bad idea: anyone downstream of it is forced to
668manually fix their history. This section explains how to do the fix
669from the downstream's point of view. The real fix, however, would be
670to avoid rebasing the upstream in the first place.
671
672To illustrate, suppose you are in a situation where someone develops a
673'subsystem' branch, and you are working on a 'topic' that is dependent
674on this 'subsystem'. You might end up with a history like the
675following:
676
677------------
01826066 678 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
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679 \
680 o---o---o---o---o subsystem
681 \
682 *---*---* topic
683------------
684
685If 'subsystem' is rebased against 'master', the following happens:
686
687------------
688 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
689 \ \
690 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
691 \
692 *---*---* topic
693------------
694
695If you now continue development as usual, and eventually merge 'topic'
696to 'subsystem', the commits from 'subsystem' will remain duplicated forever:
697
698------------
699 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
700 \ \
701 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o'--M subsystem
702 \ /
703 *---*---*-..........-*--* topic
704------------
705
706Such duplicates are generally frowned upon because they clutter up
707history, making it harder to follow. To clean things up, you need to
708transplant the commits on 'topic' to the new 'subsystem' tip, i.e.,
709rebase 'topic'. This becomes a ripple effect: anyone downstream from
710'topic' is forced to rebase too, and so on!
711
712There are two kinds of fixes, discussed in the following subsections:
713
714Easy case: The changes are literally the same.::
715
716 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase was a simple rebase and
717 had no conflicts.
718
719Hard case: The changes are not the same.::
720
721 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase had conflicts, or used
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722 `--interactive` to omit, edit, squash, or fixup commits; or
723 if the upstream used one of `commit --amend`, `reset`, or
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724 `filter-branch`.
725
726
727The easy case
728~~~~~~~~~~~~~
729
730Only works if the changes (patch IDs based on the diff contents) on
731'subsystem' are literally the same before and after the rebase
732'subsystem' did.
733
0b444cdb 734In that case, the fix is easy because 'git rebase' knows to skip
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735changes that are already present in the new upstream. So if you say
736(assuming you're on 'topic')
737------------
738 $ git rebase subsystem
739------------
740you will end up with the fixed history
741------------
742 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
743 \
744 o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
745 \
746 *---*---* topic
747------------
748
749
750The hard case
751~~~~~~~~~~~~~
752
753Things get more complicated if the 'subsystem' changes do not exactly
754correspond to the ones before the rebase.
755
756NOTE: While an "easy case recovery" sometimes appears to be successful
757 even in the hard case, it may have unintended consequences. For
758 example, a commit that was removed via `git rebase
6cf378f0 759 --interactive` will be **resurrected**!
90d1c08e 760
0b444cdb 761The idea is to manually tell 'git rebase' "where the old 'subsystem'
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762ended and your 'topic' began", that is, what the old merge-base
763between them was. You will have to find a way to name the last commit
764of the old 'subsystem', for example:
765
0b444cdb 766* With the 'subsystem' reflog: after 'git fetch', the old tip of
6cf378f0 767 'subsystem' is at `subsystem@{1}`. Subsequent fetches will
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768 increase the number. (See linkgit:git-reflog[1].)
769
770* Relative to the tip of 'topic': knowing that your 'topic' has three
771 commits, the old tip of 'subsystem' must be `topic~3`.
772
773You can then transplant the old `subsystem..topic` to the new tip by
774saying (for the reflog case, and assuming you are on 'topic' already):
775------------
776 $ git rebase --onto subsystem subsystem@{1}
777------------
778
779The ripple effect of a "hard case" recovery is especially bad:
780'everyone' downstream from 'topic' will now have to perform a "hard
781case" recovery too!
782
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783BUGS
784----
785The todo list presented by `--preserve-merges --interactive` does not
786represent the topology of the revision graph. Editing commits and
787rewording their commit messages should work fine, but attempts to
788reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results.
789
790For example, an attempt to rearrange
791------------
7921 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5
793------------
794to
795------------
7961 --- 2 --- 4 --- 3 --- 5
797------------
798by moving the "pick 4" line will result in the following history:
799------------
800 3
801 /
8021 --- 2 --- 4 --- 5
803------------
804
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805GIT
806---
9e1f0a85 807Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite