| git-rebase(1) |
| ============= |
| |
| NAME |
| ---- |
| git-rebase - Forward-port local commits to the updated upstream head |
| |
| SYNOPSIS |
| -------- |
| [verse] |
| 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>] |
| [<upstream>] [<branch>] |
| 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>] |
| --root [<branch>] |
| 'git rebase' --continue | --skip | --abort | --edit-todo |
| |
| DESCRIPTION |
| ----------- |
| If <branch> is specified, 'git rebase' will perform an automatic |
| `git checkout <branch>` before doing anything else. Otherwise |
| it remains on the current branch. |
| |
| If <upstream> is not specified, the upstream configured in |
| branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge options will be used; see |
| linkgit:git-config[1] for details. If you are currently not on any |
| branch or if the current branch does not have a configured upstream, |
| the rebase will abort. |
| |
| All changes made by commits in the current branch but that are not |
| in <upstream> are saved to a temporary area. This is the same set |
| of commits that would be shown by `git log <upstream>..HEAD` (or |
| `git log HEAD`, if --root is specified). |
| |
| The current branch is reset to <upstream>, or <newbase> if the |
| --onto option was supplied. This has the exact same effect as |
| `git reset --hard <upstream>` (or <newbase>). ORIG_HEAD is set |
| to point at the tip of the branch before the reset. |
| |
| The commits that were previously saved into the temporary area are |
| then reapplied to the current branch, one by one, in order. Note that |
| any commits in HEAD which introduce the same textual changes as a commit |
| in HEAD..<upstream> are omitted (i.e., a patch already accepted upstream |
| with a different commit message or timestamp will be skipped). |
| |
| It is possible that a merge failure will prevent this process from being |
| completely automatic. You will have to resolve any such merge failure |
| and run `git rebase --continue`. Another option is to bypass the commit |
| that caused the merge failure with `git rebase --skip`. To check out the |
| original <branch> and remove the .git/rebase-apply working files, use the |
| command `git rebase --abort` instead. |
| |
| Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "topic": |
| |
| ------------ |
| A---B---C topic |
| / |
| D---E---F---G master |
| ------------ |
| |
| From this point, the result of either of the following commands: |
| |
| |
| git rebase master |
| git rebase master topic |
| |
| would be: |
| |
| ------------ |
| A'--B'--C' topic |
| / |
| D---E---F---G master |
| ------------ |
| |
| *NOTE:* The latter form is just a short-hand of `git checkout topic` |
| followed by `git rebase master`. When rebase exits `topic` will |
| remain the checked-out branch. |
| |
| If the upstream branch already contains a change you have made (e.g., |
| because you mailed a patch which was applied upstream), then that commit |
| will be skipped. For example, running `git rebase master` on the |
| following history (in which A' and A introduce the same set of changes, |
| but have different committer information): |
| |
| ------------ |
| A---B---C topic |
| / |
| D---E---A'---F master |
| ------------ |
| |
| will result in: |
| |
| ------------ |
| B'---C' topic |
| / |
| D---E---A'---F master |
| ------------ |
| |
| Here is how you would transplant a topic branch based on one |
| branch to another, to pretend that you forked the topic branch |
| from the latter branch, using `rebase --onto`. |
| |
| First let's assume your 'topic' is based on branch 'next'. |
| For example, a feature developed in 'topic' depends on some |
| functionality which is found in 'next'. |
| |
| ------------ |
| o---o---o---o---o master |
| \ |
| o---o---o---o---o next |
| \ |
| o---o---o topic |
| ------------ |
| |
| We want to make 'topic' forked from branch 'master'; for example, |
| because the functionality on which 'topic' depends was merged into the |
| more stable 'master' branch. We want our tree to look like this: |
| |
| ------------ |
| o---o---o---o---o master |
| | \ |
| | o'--o'--o' topic |
| \ |
| o---o---o---o---o next |
| ------------ |
| |
| We can get this using the following command: |
| |
| git rebase --onto master next topic |
| |
| |
| Another example of --onto option is to rebase part of a |
| branch. If we have the following situation: |
| |
| ------------ |
| H---I---J topicB |
| / |
| E---F---G topicA |
| / |
| A---B---C---D master |
| ------------ |
| |
| then the command |
| |
| git rebase --onto master topicA topicB |
| |
| would result in: |
| |
| ------------ |
| H'--I'--J' topicB |
| / |
| | E---F---G topicA |
| |/ |
| A---B---C---D master |
| ------------ |
| |
| This is useful when topicB does not depend on topicA. |
| |
| A range of commits could also be removed with rebase. If we have |
| the following situation: |
| |
| ------------ |
| E---F---G---H---I---J topicA |
| ------------ |
| |
| then the command |
| |
| git rebase --onto topicA~5 topicA~3 topicA |
| |
| would result in the removal of commits F and G: |
| |
| ------------ |
| E---H'---I'---J' topicA |
| ------------ |
| |
| This is useful if F and G were flawed in some way, or should not be |
| part of topicA. Note that the argument to --onto and the <upstream> |
| parameter can be any valid commit-ish. |
| |
| In case of conflict, 'git rebase' will stop at the first problematic commit |
| and leave conflict markers in the tree. You can use 'git diff' to locate |
| the markers (<<<<<<) and make edits to resolve the conflict. For each |
| file you edit, you need to tell Git that the conflict has been resolved, |
| typically this would be done with |
| |
| |
| git add <filename> |
| |
| |
| After resolving the conflict manually and updating the index with the |
| desired resolution, you can continue the rebasing process with |
| |
| |
| git rebase --continue |
| |
| |
| Alternatively, you can undo the 'git rebase' with |
| |
| |
| git rebase --abort |
| |
| CONFIGURATION |
| ------------- |
| |
| rebase.stat:: |
| Whether to show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last |
| rebase. False by default. |
| |
| rebase.autosquash:: |
| If set to true enable '--autosquash' option by default. |
| |
| OPTIONS |
| ------- |
| --onto <newbase>:: |
| Starting point at which to create the new commits. If the |
| --onto option is not specified, the starting point is |
| <upstream>. May be any valid commit, and not just an |
| existing branch name. |
| + |
| As a special case, you may use "A\...B" as a shortcut for the |
| merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can |
| leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD. |
| |
| <upstream>:: |
| Upstream branch to compare against. May be any valid commit, |
| not just an existing branch name. Defaults to the configured |
| upstream for the current branch. |
| |
| <branch>:: |
| Working branch; defaults to HEAD. |
| |
| --continue:: |
| Restart the rebasing process after having resolved a merge conflict. |
| |
| --abort:: |
| Abort the rebase operation and reset HEAD to the original |
| branch. If <branch> was provided when the rebase operation was |
| started, then HEAD will be reset to <branch>. Otherwise HEAD |
| will be reset to where it was when the rebase operation was |
| started. |
| |
| --keep-empty:: |
| Keep the commits that do not change anything from its |
| parents in the result. |
| |
| --skip:: |
| Restart the rebasing process by skipping the current patch. |
| |
| --edit-todo:: |
| Edit the todo list during an interactive rebase. |
| |
| -m:: |
| --merge:: |
| Use merging strategies to rebase. When the recursive (default) merge |
| strategy is used, this allows rebase to be aware of renames on the |
| upstream side. |
| + |
| Note that a rebase merge works by replaying each commit from the working |
| branch on top of the <upstream> branch. Because of this, when a merge |
| conflict happens, the side reported as 'ours' is the so-far rebased |
| series, starting with <upstream>, and 'theirs' is the working branch. In |
| other words, the sides are swapped. |
| |
| -s <strategy>:: |
| --strategy=<strategy>:: |
| Use the given merge strategy. |
| If there is no `-s` option 'git merge-recursive' is used |
| instead. This implies --merge. |
| + |
| Because 'git rebase' replays each commit from the working branch |
| on top of the <upstream> branch using the given strategy, using |
| the 'ours' strategy simply discards all patches from the <branch>, |
| which makes little sense. |
| |
| -X <strategy-option>:: |
| --strategy-option=<strategy-option>:: |
| Pass the <strategy-option> through to the merge strategy. |
| This implies `--merge` and, if no strategy has been |
| specified, `-s recursive`. Note the reversal of 'ours' and |
| 'theirs' as noted above for the `-m` option. |
| |
| -q:: |
| --quiet:: |
| Be quiet. Implies --no-stat. |
| |
| -v:: |
| --verbose:: |
| Be verbose. Implies --stat. |
| |
| --stat:: |
| Show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last rebase. The |
| diffstat is also controlled by the configuration option rebase.stat. |
| |
| -n:: |
| --no-stat:: |
| Do not show a diffstat as part of the rebase process. |
| |
| --no-verify:: |
| This option bypasses the pre-rebase hook. See also linkgit:githooks[5]. |
| |
| --verify:: |
| Allows the pre-rebase hook to run, which is the default. This option can |
| be used to override --no-verify. See also linkgit:githooks[5]. |
| |
| -C<n>:: |
| Ensure at least <n> lines of surrounding context match before |
| and after each change. When fewer lines of surrounding |
| context exist they all must match. By default no context is |
| ever ignored. |
| |
| -f:: |
| --force-rebase:: |
| Force the rebase even if the current branch is a descendant |
| of the commit you are rebasing onto. Normally non-interactive rebase will |
| exit with the message "Current branch is up to date" in such a |
| situation. |
| Incompatible with the --interactive option. |
| + |
| You may find this (or --no-ff with an interactive rebase) helpful after |
| reverting a topic branch merge, as this option recreates the topic branch with |
| fresh commits so it can be remerged successfully without needing to "revert |
| the reversion" (see the |
| link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.txt[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details). |
| |
| --ignore-whitespace:: |
| --whitespace=<option>:: |
| These flag are passed to the 'git apply' program |
| (see linkgit:git-apply[1]) that applies the patch. |
| Incompatible with the --interactive option. |
| |
| --committer-date-is-author-date:: |
| --ignore-date:: |
| These flags are passed to 'git am' to easily change the dates |
| of the rebased commits (see linkgit:git-am[1]). |
| Incompatible with the --interactive option. |
| |
| -i:: |
| --interactive:: |
| Make a list of the commits which are about to be rebased. Let the |
| user edit that list before rebasing. This mode can also be used to |
| split commits (see SPLITTING COMMITS below). |
| |
| -p:: |
| --preserve-merges:: |
| Instead of ignoring merges, try to recreate them. |
| + |
| This uses the `--interactive` machinery internally, but combining it |
| with the `--interactive` option explicitly is generally not a good |
| idea unless you know what you are doing (see BUGS below). |
| |
| -x <cmd>:: |
| --exec <cmd>:: |
| Append "exec <cmd>" after each line creating a commit in the |
| final history. <cmd> will be interpreted as one or more shell |
| commands. |
| + |
| This option can only be used with the `--interactive` option |
| (see INTERACTIVE MODE below). |
| + |
| You may execute several commands by either using one instance of `--exec` |
| with several commands: |
| + |
| git rebase -i --exec "cmd1 && cmd2 && ..." |
| + |
| or by giving more than one `--exec`: |
| + |
| git rebase -i --exec "cmd1" --exec "cmd2" --exec ... |
| + |
| If `--autosquash` is used, "exec" lines will not be appended for |
| the intermediate commits, and will only appear at the end of each |
| squash/fixup series. |
| |
| --root:: |
| Rebase all commits reachable from <branch>, instead of |
| limiting them with an <upstream>. This allows you to rebase |
| the root commit(s) on a branch. When used with --onto, it |
| will skip changes already contained in <newbase> (instead of |
| <upstream>) whereas without --onto it will operate on every change. |
| When used together with both --onto and --preserve-merges, |
| 'all' root commits will be rewritten to have <newbase> as parent |
| instead. |
| |
| --autosquash:: |
| --no-autosquash:: |
| When the commit log message begins with "squash! ..." (or |
| "fixup! ..."), and there is a commit whose title begins with |
| the same ..., automatically modify the todo list of rebase -i |
| so that the commit marked for squashing comes right after the |
| commit to be modified, and change the action of the moved |
| commit from `pick` to `squash` (or `fixup`). |
| + |
| This option is only valid when the '--interactive' option is used. |
| + |
| If the '--autosquash' option is enabled by default using the |
| configuration variable `rebase.autosquash`, this option can be |
| used to override and disable this setting. |
| |
| --no-ff:: |
| With --interactive, cherry-pick all rebased commits instead of |
| fast-forwarding over the unchanged ones. This ensures that the |
| entire history of the rebased branch is composed of new commits. |
| + |
| Without --interactive, this is a synonym for --force-rebase. |
| + |
| You may find this helpful after reverting a topic branch merge, as this option |
| recreates the topic branch with fresh commits so it can be remerged |
| successfully without needing to "revert the reversion" (see the |
| link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.txt[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details). |
| |
| include::merge-strategies.txt[] |
| |
| NOTES |
| ----- |
| |
| You should understand the implications of using 'git rebase' on a |
| repository that you share. See also RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE |
| below. |
| |
| When the git-rebase command is run, it will first execute a "pre-rebase" |
| hook if one exists. You can use this hook to do sanity checks and |
| reject the rebase if it isn't appropriate. Please see the template |
| pre-rebase hook script for an example. |
| |
| Upon completion, <branch> will be the current branch. |
| |
| INTERACTIVE MODE |
| ---------------- |
| |
| Rebasing interactively means that you have a chance to edit the commits |
| which are rebased. You can reorder the commits, and you can |
| remove them (weeding out bad or otherwise unwanted patches). |
| |
| The interactive mode is meant for this type of workflow: |
| |
| 1. have a wonderful idea |
| 2. hack on the code |
| 3. prepare a series for submission |
| 4. submit |
| |
| where point 2. consists of several instances of |
| |
| a) regular use |
| |
| 1. finish something worthy of a commit |
| 2. commit |
| |
| b) independent fixup |
| |
| 1. realize that something does not work |
| 2. fix that |
| 3. commit it |
| |
| Sometimes the thing fixed in b.2. cannot be amended to the not-quite |
| perfect commit it fixes, because that commit is buried deeply in a |
| patch series. That is exactly what interactive rebase is for: use it |
| after plenty of "a"s and "b"s, by rearranging and editing |
| commits, and squashing multiple commits into one. |
| |
| Start it with the last commit you want to retain as-is: |
| |
| git rebase -i <after-this-commit> |
| |
| An editor will be fired up with all the commits in your current branch |
| (ignoring merge commits), which come after the given commit. You can |
| reorder the commits in this list to your heart's content, and you can |
| remove them. The list looks more or less like this: |
| |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| pick deadbee The oneline of this commit |
| pick fa1afe1 The oneline of the next commit |
| ... |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| |
| The oneline descriptions are purely for your pleasure; 'git rebase' will |
| not look at them but at the commit names ("deadbee" and "fa1afe1" in this |
| example), so do not delete or edit the names. |
| |
| By replacing the command "pick" with the command "edit", you can tell |
| 'git rebase' to stop after applying that commit, so that you can edit |
| the files and/or the commit message, amend the commit, and continue |
| rebasing. |
| |
| If you just want to edit the commit message for a commit, replace the |
| command "pick" with the command "reword". |
| |
| If you want to fold two or more commits into one, replace the command |
| "pick" for the second and subsequent commits with "squash" or "fixup". |
| If the commits had different authors, the folded commit will be |
| attributed to the author of the first commit. The suggested commit |
| message for the folded commit is the concatenation of the commit |
| messages of the first commit and of those with the "squash" command, |
| but omits the commit messages of commits with the "fixup" command. |
| |
| 'git rebase' will stop when "pick" has been replaced with "edit" or |
| when a command fails due to merge errors. When you are done editing |
| and/or resolving conflicts you can continue with `git rebase --continue`. |
| |
| For example, if you want to reorder the last 5 commits, such that what |
| was HEAD~4 becomes the new HEAD. To achieve that, you would call |
| 'git rebase' like this: |
| |
| ---------------------- |
| $ git rebase -i HEAD~5 |
| ---------------------- |
| |
| And move the first patch to the end of the list. |
| |
| You might want to preserve merges, if you have a history like this: |
| |
| ------------------ |
| X |
| \ |
| A---M---B |
| / |
| ---o---O---P---Q |
| ------------------ |
| |
| Suppose you want to rebase the side branch starting at "A" to "Q". Make |
| sure that the current HEAD is "B", and call |
| |
| ----------------------------- |
| $ git rebase -i -p --onto Q O |
| ----------------------------- |
| |
| Reordering and editing commits usually creates untested intermediate |
| steps. You may want to check that your history editing did not break |
| anything by running a test, or at least recompiling at intermediate |
| points in history by using the "exec" command (shortcut "x"). You may |
| do so by creating a todo list like this one: |
| |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| pick deadbee Implement feature XXX |
| fixup f1a5c00 Fix to feature XXX |
| exec make |
| pick c0ffeee The oneline of the next commit |
| edit deadbab The oneline of the commit after |
| exec cd subdir; make test |
| ... |
| ------------------------------------------- |
| |
| The interactive rebase will stop when a command fails (i.e. exits with |
| non-0 status) to give you an opportunity to fix the problem. You can |
| continue with `git rebase --continue`. |
| |
| The "exec" command launches the command in a shell (the one specified |
| in `$SHELL`, or the default shell if `$SHELL` is not set), so you can |
| use shell features (like "cd", ">", ";" ...). The command is run from |
| the root of the working tree. |
| |
| ---------------------------------- |
| $ git rebase -i --exec "make test" |
| ---------------------------------- |
| |
| This command lets you check that intermediate commits are compilable. |
| The todo list becomes like that: |
| |
| -------------------- |
| pick 5928aea one |
| exec make test |
| pick 04d0fda two |
| exec make test |
| pick ba46169 three |
| exec make test |
| pick f4593f9 four |
| exec make test |
| -------------------- |
| |
| SPLITTING COMMITS |
| ----------------- |
| |
| In interactive mode, you can mark commits with the action "edit". However, |
| this does not necessarily mean that 'git rebase' expects the result of this |
| edit to be exactly one commit. Indeed, you can undo the commit, or you can |
| add other commits. This can be used to split a commit into two: |
| |
| - Start an interactive rebase with `git rebase -i <commit>^`, where |
| <commit> is the commit you want to split. In fact, any commit range |
| will do, as long as it contains that commit. |
| |
| - Mark the commit you want to split with the action "edit". |
| |
| - When it comes to editing that commit, execute `git reset HEAD^`. The |
| effect is that the HEAD is rewound by one, and the index follows suit. |
| However, the working tree stays the same. |
| |
| - Now add the changes to the index that you want to have in the first |
| commit. You can use `git add` (possibly interactively) or |
| 'git gui' (or both) to do that. |
| |
| - Commit the now-current index with whatever commit message is appropriate |
| now. |
| |
| - Repeat the last two steps until your working tree is clean. |
| |
| - Continue the rebase with `git rebase --continue`. |
| |
| If you are not absolutely sure that the intermediate revisions are |
| consistent (they compile, pass the testsuite, etc.) you should use |
| 'git stash' to stash away the not-yet-committed changes |
| after each commit, test, and amend the commit if fixes are necessary. |
| |
| |
| RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE |
| ------------------------------- |
| |
| Rebasing (or any other form of rewriting) a branch that others have |
| based work on is a bad idea: anyone downstream of it is forced to |
| manually fix their history. This section explains how to do the fix |
| from the downstream's point of view. The real fix, however, would be |
| to avoid rebasing the upstream in the first place. |
| |
| To illustrate, suppose you are in a situation where someone develops a |
| 'subsystem' branch, and you are working on a 'topic' that is dependent |
| on this 'subsystem'. You might end up with a history like the |
| following: |
| |
| ------------ |
| o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master |
| \ |
| o---o---o---o---o subsystem |
| \ |
| *---*---* topic |
| ------------ |
| |
| If 'subsystem' is rebased against 'master', the following happens: |
| |
| ------------ |
| o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master |
| \ \ |
| o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem |
| \ |
| *---*---* topic |
| ------------ |
| |
| If you now continue development as usual, and eventually merge 'topic' |
| to 'subsystem', the commits from 'subsystem' will remain duplicated forever: |
| |
| ------------ |
| o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master |
| \ \ |
| o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o'--M subsystem |
| \ / |
| *---*---*-..........-*--* topic |
| ------------ |
| |
| Such duplicates are generally frowned upon because they clutter up |
| history, making it harder to follow. To clean things up, you need to |
| transplant the commits on 'topic' to the new 'subsystem' tip, i.e., |
| rebase 'topic'. This becomes a ripple effect: anyone downstream from |
| 'topic' is forced to rebase too, and so on! |
| |
| There are two kinds of fixes, discussed in the following subsections: |
| |
| Easy case: The changes are literally the same.:: |
| |
| This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase was a simple rebase and |
| had no conflicts. |
| |
| Hard case: The changes are not the same.:: |
| |
| This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase had conflicts, or used |
| `--interactive` to omit, edit, squash, or fixup commits; or |
| if the upstream used one of `commit --amend`, `reset`, or |
| `filter-branch`. |
| |
| |
| The easy case |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| Only works if the changes (patch IDs based on the diff contents) on |
| 'subsystem' are literally the same before and after the rebase |
| 'subsystem' did. |
| |
| In that case, the fix is easy because 'git rebase' knows to skip |
| changes that are already present in the new upstream. So if you say |
| (assuming you're on 'topic') |
| ------------ |
| $ git rebase subsystem |
| ------------ |
| you will end up with the fixed history |
| ------------ |
| o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master |
| \ |
| o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem |
| \ |
| *---*---* topic |
| ------------ |
| |
| |
| The hard case |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| Things get more complicated if the 'subsystem' changes do not exactly |
| correspond to the ones before the rebase. |
| |
| NOTE: While an "easy case recovery" sometimes appears to be successful |
| even in the hard case, it may have unintended consequences. For |
| example, a commit that was removed via `git rebase |
| --interactive` will be **resurrected**! |
| |
| The idea is to manually tell 'git rebase' "where the old 'subsystem' |
| ended and your 'topic' began", that is, what the old merge-base |
| between them was. You will have to find a way to name the last commit |
| of the old 'subsystem', for example: |
| |
| * With the 'subsystem' reflog: after 'git fetch', the old tip of |
| 'subsystem' is at `subsystem@{1}`. Subsequent fetches will |
| increase the number. (See linkgit:git-reflog[1].) |
| |
| * Relative to the tip of 'topic': knowing that your 'topic' has three |
| commits, the old tip of 'subsystem' must be `topic~3`. |
| |
| You can then transplant the old `subsystem..topic` to the new tip by |
| saying (for the reflog case, and assuming you are on 'topic' already): |
| ------------ |
| $ git rebase --onto subsystem subsystem@{1} |
| ------------ |
| |
| The ripple effect of a "hard case" recovery is especially bad: |
| 'everyone' downstream from 'topic' will now have to perform a "hard |
| case" recovery too! |
| |
| BUGS |
| ---- |
| The todo list presented by `--preserve-merges --interactive` does not |
| represent the topology of the revision graph. Editing commits and |
| rewording their commit messages should work fine, but attempts to |
| reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results. |
| |
| For example, an attempt to rearrange |
| ------------ |
| 1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5 |
| ------------ |
| to |
| ------------ |
| 1 --- 2 --- 4 --- 3 --- 5 |
| ------------ |
| by moving the "pick 4" line will result in the following history: |
| ------------ |
| 3 |
| / |
| 1 --- 2 --- 4 --- 5 |
| ------------ |
| |
| GIT |
| --- |
| Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |