6 git-rebase - Forward-port local commits to the updated upstream head
11 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--onto <newbase>]
13 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] --onto <newbase>
16 'git rebase' --continue | --skip | --abort
20 If <branch> is specified, 'git rebase' will perform an automatic
21 `git checkout <branch>` before doing anything else. Otherwise
22 it remains on the current branch.
24 All changes made by commits in the current branch but that are not
25 in <upstream> are saved to a temporary area. This is the same set
26 of commits that would be shown by `git log <upstream>..HEAD` (or
27 `git log HEAD`, if --root is specified).
29 The current branch is reset to <upstream>, or <newbase> if the
30 --onto option was supplied. This has the exact same effect as
31 `git reset --hard <upstream>` (or <newbase>). ORIG_HEAD is set
32 to point at the tip of the branch before the reset.
34 The commits that were previously saved into the temporary area are
35 then reapplied to the current branch, one by one, in order. Note that
36 any commits in HEAD which introduce the same textual changes as a commit
37 in HEAD..<upstream> are omitted (i.e., a patch already accepted upstream
38 with a different commit message or timestamp will be skipped).
40 It is possible that a merge failure will prevent this process from being
41 completely automatic. You will have to resolve any such merge failure
42 and run `git rebase --continue`. Another option is to bypass the commit
43 that caused the merge failure with `git rebase --skip`. To restore the
44 original <branch> and remove the .git/rebase-apply working files, use the
45 command `git rebase --abort` instead.
47 Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "topic":
55 From this point, the result of either of the following commands:
59 git rebase master topic
69 The latter form is just a short-hand of `git checkout topic`
70 followed by `git rebase master`.
72 If the upstream branch already contains a change you have made (e.g.,
73 because you mailed a patch which was applied upstream), then that commit
74 will be skipped. For example, running `git rebase master` on the
75 following history (in which A' and A introduce the same set of changes,
76 but have different committer information):
92 Here is how you would transplant a topic branch based on one
93 branch to another, to pretend that you forked the topic branch
94 from the latter branch, using `rebase --onto`.
96 First let's assume your 'topic' is based on branch 'next'.
97 For example, a feature developed in 'topic' depends on some
98 functionality which is found in 'next'.
101 o---o---o---o---o master
103 o---o---o---o---o next
108 We want to make 'topic' forked from branch 'master'; for example,
109 because the functionality on which 'topic' depends was merged into the
110 more stable 'master' branch. We want our tree to look like this:
113 o---o---o---o---o master
117 o---o---o---o---o next
120 We can get this using the following command:
122 git rebase --onto master next topic
125 Another example of --onto option is to rebase part of a
126 branch. If we have the following situation:
138 git rebase --onto master topicA topicB
150 This is useful when topicB does not depend on topicA.
152 A range of commits could also be removed with rebase. If we have
153 the following situation:
156 E---F---G---H---I---J topicA
161 git rebase --onto topicA~5 topicA~3 topicA
163 would result in the removal of commits F and G:
166 E---H'---I'---J' topicA
169 This is useful if F and G were flawed in some way, or should not be
170 part of topicA. Note that the argument to --onto and the <upstream>
171 parameter can be any valid commit-ish.
173 In case of conflict, 'git rebase' will stop at the first problematic commit
174 and leave conflict markers in the tree. You can use 'git diff' to locate
175 the markers (<<<<<<) and make edits to resolve the conflict. For each
176 file you edit, you need to tell git that the conflict has been resolved,
177 typically this would be done with
183 After resolving the conflict manually and updating the index with the
184 desired resolution, you can continue the rebasing process with
187 git rebase --continue
190 Alternatively, you can undo the 'git rebase' with
199 Whether to show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last
200 rebase. False by default.
203 If set to true enable '--autosquash' option by default.
208 Starting point at which to create the new commits. If the
209 --onto option is not specified, the starting point is
210 <upstream>. May be any valid commit, and not just an
211 existing branch name.
213 As a special case, you may use "A...B" as a shortcut for the
214 merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can
215 leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
218 Upstream branch to compare against. May be any valid commit,
219 not just an existing branch name.
222 Working branch; defaults to HEAD.
225 Restart the rebasing process after having resolved a merge conflict.
228 Restore the original branch and abort the rebase operation.
231 Restart the rebasing process by skipping the current patch.
235 Use merging strategies to rebase. When the recursive (default) merge
236 strategy is used, this allows rebase to be aware of renames on the
239 Note that a rebase merge works by replaying each commit from the working
240 branch on top of the <upstream> branch. Because of this, when a merge
241 conflict happens, the side reported as 'ours' is the so-far rebased
242 series, starting with <upstream>, and 'theirs' is the working branch. In
243 other words, the sides are swapped.
246 --strategy=<strategy>::
247 Use the given merge strategy.
248 If there is no `-s` option 'git merge-recursive' is used
249 instead. This implies --merge.
251 Because 'git rebase' replays each commit from the working branch
252 on top of the <upstream> branch using the given strategy, using
253 the 'ours' strategy simply discards all patches from the <branch>,
254 which makes little sense.
258 Be quiet. Implies --no-stat.
262 Be verbose. Implies --stat.
265 Show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last rebase. The
266 diffstat is also controlled by the configuration option rebase.stat.
270 Do not show a diffstat as part of the rebase process.
273 This option bypasses the pre-rebase hook. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
276 Ensure at least <n> lines of surrounding context match before
277 and after each change. When fewer lines of surrounding
278 context exist they all must match. By default no context is
283 Force the rebase even if the current branch is a descendant
284 of the commit you are rebasing onto. Normally non-interactive rebase will
285 exit with the message "Current branch is up to date" in such a
287 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
289 You may find this (or --no-ff with an interactive rebase) helpful after
290 reverting a topic branch merge, as this option recreates the topic branch with
291 fresh commits so it can be remerged successfully without needing to "revert
292 the reversion" (see the
293 link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.txt[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
295 --ignore-whitespace::
296 --whitespace=<option>::
297 These flag are passed to the 'git apply' program
298 (see linkgit:git-apply[1]) that applies the patch.
299 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
301 --committer-date-is-author-date::
303 These flags are passed to 'git am' to easily change the dates
304 of the rebased commits (see linkgit:git-am[1]).
305 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
309 Make a list of the commits which are about to be rebased. Let the
310 user edit that list before rebasing. This mode can also be used to
311 split commits (see SPLITTING COMMITS below).
315 Instead of ignoring merges, try to recreate them.
317 This uses the `--interactive` machinery internally, but combining it
318 with the `--interactive` option explicitly is generally not a good
319 idea unless you know what you are doing (see BUGS below).
323 Rebase all commits reachable from <branch>, instead of
324 limiting them with an <upstream>. This allows you to rebase
325 the root commit(s) on a branch. Must be used with --onto, and
326 will skip changes already contained in <newbase> (instead of
327 <upstream>). When used together with --preserve-merges, 'all'
328 root commits will be rewritten to have <newbase> as parent
333 When the commit log message begins with "squash! ..." (or
334 "fixup! ..."), and there is a commit whose title begins with
335 the same ..., automatically modify the todo list of rebase -i
336 so that the commit marked for squashing comes right after the
337 commit to be modified, and change the action of the moved
338 commit from `pick` to `squash` (or `fixup`).
340 This option is only valid when the '--interactive' option is used.
342 If the '--autosquash' option is enabled by default using the
343 configuration variable `rebase.autosquash`, this option can be
344 used to override and disable this setting.
347 With --interactive, cherry-pick all rebased commits instead of
348 fast-forwarding over the unchanged ones. This ensures that the
349 entire history of the rebased branch is composed of new commits.
351 Without --interactive, this is a synonym for --force-rebase.
353 You may find this helpful after reverting a topic branch merge, as this option
354 recreates the topic branch with fresh commits so it can be remerged
355 successfully without needing to "revert the reversion" (see the
356 link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.txt[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
358 include::merge-strategies.txt[]
363 You should understand the implications of using 'git rebase' on a
364 repository that you share. See also RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
367 When the git-rebase command is run, it will first execute a "pre-rebase"
368 hook if one exists. You can use this hook to do sanity checks and
369 reject the rebase if it isn't appropriate. Please see the template
370 pre-rebase hook script for an example.
372 Upon completion, <branch> will be the current branch.
377 Rebasing interactively means that you have a chance to edit the commits
378 which are rebased. You can reorder the commits, and you can
379 remove them (weeding out bad or otherwise unwanted patches).
381 The interactive mode is meant for this type of workflow:
383 1. have a wonderful idea
385 3. prepare a series for submission
388 where point 2. consists of several instances of
391 1. finish something worthy of a commit
394 1. realize that something does not work
398 Sometimes the thing fixed in b.2. cannot be amended to the not-quite
399 perfect commit it fixes, because that commit is buried deeply in a
400 patch series. That is exactly what interactive rebase is for: use it
401 after plenty of "a"s and "b"s, by rearranging and editing
402 commits, and squashing multiple commits into one.
404 Start it with the last commit you want to retain as-is:
406 git rebase -i <after-this-commit>
408 An editor will be fired up with all the commits in your current branch
409 (ignoring merge commits), which come after the given commit. You can
410 reorder the commits in this list to your heart's content, and you can
411 remove them. The list looks more or less like this:
413 -------------------------------------------
414 pick deadbee The oneline of this commit
415 pick fa1afe1 The oneline of the next commit
417 -------------------------------------------
419 The oneline descriptions are purely for your pleasure; 'git rebase' will
420 not look at them but at the commit names ("deadbee" and "fa1afe1" in this
421 example), so do not delete or edit the names.
423 By replacing the command "pick" with the command "edit", you can tell
424 'git rebase' to stop after applying that commit, so that you can edit
425 the files and/or the commit message, amend the commit, and continue
428 If you just want to edit the commit message for a commit, replace the
429 command "pick" with the command "reword".
431 If you want to fold two or more commits into one, replace the command
432 "pick" for the second and subsequent commits with "squash" or "fixup".
433 If the commits had different authors, the folded commit will be
434 attributed to the author of the first commit. The suggested commit
435 message for the folded commit is the concatenation of the commit
436 messages of the first commit and of those with the "squash" command,
437 but omits the commit messages of commits with the "fixup" command.
439 'git rebase' will stop when "pick" has been replaced with "edit" or
440 when a command fails due to merge errors. When you are done editing
441 and/or resolving conflicts you can continue with `git rebase --continue`.
443 For example, if you want to reorder the last 5 commits, such that what
444 was HEAD~4 becomes the new HEAD. To achieve that, you would call
445 'git rebase' like this:
447 ----------------------
448 $ git rebase -i HEAD~5
449 ----------------------
451 And move the first patch to the end of the list.
453 You might want to preserve merges, if you have a history like this:
463 Suppose you want to rebase the side branch starting at "A" to "Q". Make
464 sure that the current HEAD is "B", and call
466 -----------------------------
467 $ git rebase -i -p --onto Q O
468 -----------------------------
474 In interactive mode, you can mark commits with the action "edit". However,
475 this does not necessarily mean that 'git rebase' expects the result of this
476 edit to be exactly one commit. Indeed, you can undo the commit, or you can
477 add other commits. This can be used to split a commit into two:
479 - Start an interactive rebase with `git rebase -i <commit>^`, where
480 <commit> is the commit you want to split. In fact, any commit range
481 will do, as long as it contains that commit.
483 - Mark the commit you want to split with the action "edit".
485 - When it comes to editing that commit, execute `git reset HEAD^`. The
486 effect is that the HEAD is rewound by one, and the index follows suit.
487 However, the working tree stays the same.
489 - Now add the changes to the index that you want to have in the first
490 commit. You can use `git add` (possibly interactively) or
491 'git gui' (or both) to do that.
493 - Commit the now-current index with whatever commit message is appropriate
496 - Repeat the last two steps until your working tree is clean.
498 - Continue the rebase with `git rebase --continue`.
500 If you are not absolutely sure that the intermediate revisions are
501 consistent (they compile, pass the testsuite, etc.) you should use
502 'git stash' to stash away the not-yet-committed changes
503 after each commit, test, and amend the commit if fixes are necessary.
506 RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
507 -------------------------------
509 Rebasing (or any other form of rewriting) a branch that others have
510 based work on is a bad idea: anyone downstream of it is forced to
511 manually fix their history. This section explains how to do the fix
512 from the downstream's point of view. The real fix, however, would be
513 to avoid rebasing the upstream in the first place.
515 To illustrate, suppose you are in a situation where someone develops a
516 'subsystem' branch, and you are working on a 'topic' that is dependent
517 on this 'subsystem'. You might end up with a history like the
521 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
523 o---o---o---o---o subsystem
528 If 'subsystem' is rebased against 'master', the following happens:
531 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
533 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
538 If you now continue development as usual, and eventually merge 'topic'
539 to 'subsystem', the commits from 'subsystem' will remain duplicated forever:
542 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
544 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o'--M subsystem
546 *---*---*-..........-*--* topic
549 Such duplicates are generally frowned upon because they clutter up
550 history, making it harder to follow. To clean things up, you need to
551 transplant the commits on 'topic' to the new 'subsystem' tip, i.e.,
552 rebase 'topic'. This becomes a ripple effect: anyone downstream from
553 'topic' is forced to rebase too, and so on!
555 There are two kinds of fixes, discussed in the following subsections:
557 Easy case: The changes are literally the same.::
559 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase was a simple rebase and
562 Hard case: The changes are not the same.::
564 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase had conflicts, or used
565 `\--interactive` to omit, edit, squash, or fixup commits; or
566 if the upstream used one of `commit \--amend`, `reset`, or
573 Only works if the changes (patch IDs based on the diff contents) on
574 'subsystem' are literally the same before and after the rebase
577 In that case, the fix is easy because 'git rebase' knows to skip
578 changes that are already present in the new upstream. So if you say
579 (assuming you're on 'topic')
581 $ git rebase subsystem
583 you will end up with the fixed history
585 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
587 o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
596 Things get more complicated if the 'subsystem' changes do not exactly
597 correspond to the ones before the rebase.
599 NOTE: While an "easy case recovery" sometimes appears to be successful
600 even in the hard case, it may have unintended consequences. For
601 example, a commit that was removed via `git rebase
602 \--interactive` will be **resurrected**!
604 The idea is to manually tell 'git rebase' "where the old 'subsystem'
605 ended and your 'topic' began", that is, what the old merge-base
606 between them was. You will have to find a way to name the last commit
607 of the old 'subsystem', for example:
609 * With the 'subsystem' reflog: after 'git fetch', the old tip of
610 'subsystem' is at `subsystem@\{1}`. Subsequent fetches will
611 increase the number. (See linkgit:git-reflog[1].)
613 * Relative to the tip of 'topic': knowing that your 'topic' has three
614 commits, the old tip of 'subsystem' must be `topic~3`.
616 You can then transplant the old `subsystem..topic` to the new tip by
617 saying (for the reflog case, and assuming you are on 'topic' already):
619 $ git rebase --onto subsystem subsystem@{1}
622 The ripple effect of a "hard case" recovery is especially bad:
623 'everyone' downstream from 'topic' will now have to perform a "hard
629 The todo list presented by `--preserve-merges --interactive` does not
630 represent the topology of the revision graph. Editing commits and
631 rewording their commit messages should work fine, but attempts to
632 reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results.
634 For example, an attempt to rearrange
636 1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5
640 1 --- 2 --- 4 --- 3 --- 5
642 by moving the "pick 4" line will result in the following history:
651 Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and
652 Johannes E. Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
656 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
660 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite