6 git-rebase - Forward-port local commits to the updated upstream head
11 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--onto <newbase>]
12 [<upstream>] [<branch>]
13 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] --onto <newbase>
15 'git rebase' --continue | --skip | --abort
19 If <branch> is specified, 'git rebase' will perform an automatic
20 `git checkout <branch>` before doing anything else. Otherwise
21 it remains on the current branch.
23 If <upstream> is not specified, the upstream configured in
24 branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge options will be used; see
25 linkgit:git-config[1] for details. If you are currently not on any
26 branch or if the current branch does not have a configured upstream,
27 the rebase will abort.
29 All changes made by commits in the current branch but that are not
30 in <upstream> are saved to a temporary area. This is the same set
31 of commits that would be shown by `git log <upstream>..HEAD` (or
32 `git log HEAD`, if --root is specified).
34 The current branch is reset to <upstream>, or <newbase> if the
35 --onto option was supplied. This has the exact same effect as
36 `git reset --hard <upstream>` (or <newbase>). ORIG_HEAD is set
37 to point at the tip of the branch before the reset.
39 The commits that were previously saved into the temporary area are
40 then reapplied to the current branch, one by one, in order. Note that
41 any commits in HEAD which introduce the same textual changes as a commit
42 in HEAD..<upstream> are omitted (i.e., a patch already accepted upstream
43 with a different commit message or timestamp will be skipped).
45 It is possible that a merge failure will prevent this process from being
46 completely automatic. You will have to resolve any such merge failure
47 and run `git rebase --continue`. Another option is to bypass the commit
48 that caused the merge failure with `git rebase --skip`. To restore the
49 original <branch> and remove the .git/rebase-apply working files, use the
50 command `git rebase --abort` instead.
52 Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "topic":
60 From this point, the result of either of the following commands:
64 git rebase master topic
74 *NOTE:* The latter form is just a short-hand of `git checkout topic`
75 followed by `git rebase master`. When rebase exits `topic` will
76 remain the checked-out branch.
78 If the upstream branch already contains a change you have made (e.g.,
79 because you mailed a patch which was applied upstream), then that commit
80 will be skipped. For example, running `git rebase master` on the
81 following history (in which A' and A introduce the same set of changes,
82 but have different committer information):
98 Here is how you would transplant a topic branch based on one
99 branch to another, to pretend that you forked the topic branch
100 from the latter branch, using `rebase --onto`.
102 First let's assume your 'topic' is based on branch 'next'.
103 For example, a feature developed in 'topic' depends on some
104 functionality which is found in 'next'.
107 o---o---o---o---o master
109 o---o---o---o---o next
114 We want to make 'topic' forked from branch 'master'; for example,
115 because the functionality on which 'topic' depends was merged into the
116 more stable 'master' branch. We want our tree to look like this:
119 o---o---o---o---o master
123 o---o---o---o---o next
126 We can get this using the following command:
128 git rebase --onto master next topic
131 Another example of --onto option is to rebase part of a
132 branch. If we have the following situation:
144 git rebase --onto master topicA topicB
156 This is useful when topicB does not depend on topicA.
158 A range of commits could also be removed with rebase. If we have
159 the following situation:
162 E---F---G---H---I---J topicA
167 git rebase --onto topicA~5 topicA~3 topicA
169 would result in the removal of commits F and G:
172 E---H'---I'---J' topicA
175 This is useful if F and G were flawed in some way, or should not be
176 part of topicA. Note that the argument to --onto and the <upstream>
177 parameter can be any valid commit-ish.
179 In case of conflict, 'git rebase' will stop at the first problematic commit
180 and leave conflict markers in the tree. You can use 'git diff' to locate
181 the markers (<<<<<<) and make edits to resolve the conflict. For each
182 file you edit, you need to tell git that the conflict has been resolved,
183 typically this would be done with
189 After resolving the conflict manually and updating the index with the
190 desired resolution, you can continue the rebasing process with
193 git rebase --continue
196 Alternatively, you can undo the 'git rebase' with
205 Whether to show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last
206 rebase. False by default.
209 If set to true enable '--autosquash' option by default.
214 Starting point at which to create the new commits. If the
215 --onto option is not specified, the starting point is
216 <upstream>. May be any valid commit, and not just an
217 existing branch name.
219 As a special case, you may use "A\...B" as a shortcut for the
220 merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can
221 leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
224 Upstream branch to compare against. May be any valid commit,
225 not just an existing branch name. Defaults to the configured
226 upstream for the current branch.
229 Working branch; defaults to HEAD.
232 Restart the rebasing process after having resolved a merge conflict.
235 Restore the original branch and abort the rebase operation.
238 Restart the rebasing process by skipping the current patch.
242 Use merging strategies to rebase. When the recursive (default) merge
243 strategy is used, this allows rebase to be aware of renames on the
246 Note that a rebase merge works by replaying each commit from the working
247 branch on top of the <upstream> branch. Because of this, when a merge
248 conflict happens, the side reported as 'ours' is the so-far rebased
249 series, starting with <upstream>, and 'theirs' is the working branch. In
250 other words, the sides are swapped.
253 --strategy=<strategy>::
254 Use the given merge strategy.
255 If there is no `-s` option 'git merge-recursive' is used
256 instead. This implies --merge.
258 Because 'git rebase' replays each commit from the working branch
259 on top of the <upstream> branch using the given strategy, using
260 the 'ours' strategy simply discards all patches from the <branch>,
261 which makes little sense.
263 -X <strategy-option>::
264 --strategy-option=<strategy-option>::
265 Pass the <strategy-option> through to the merge strategy.
266 This implies `\--merge` and, if no strategy has been
267 specified, `-s recursive`. Note the reversal of 'ours' and
268 'theirs' as noted in above for the `-m` option.
272 Be quiet. Implies --no-stat.
276 Be verbose. Implies --stat.
279 Show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last rebase. The
280 diffstat is also controlled by the configuration option rebase.stat.
284 Do not show a diffstat as part of the rebase process.
287 This option bypasses the pre-rebase hook. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
290 Allows the pre-rebase hook to run, which is the default. This option can
291 be used to override --no-verify. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
294 Ensure at least <n> lines of surrounding context match before
295 and after each change. When fewer lines of surrounding
296 context exist they all must match. By default no context is
301 Force the rebase even if the current branch is a descendant
302 of the commit you are rebasing onto. Normally non-interactive rebase will
303 exit with the message "Current branch is up to date" in such a
305 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
307 You may find this (or --no-ff with an interactive rebase) helpful after
308 reverting a topic branch merge, as this option recreates the topic branch with
309 fresh commits so it can be remerged successfully without needing to "revert
310 the reversion" (see the
311 link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.txt[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
313 --ignore-whitespace::
314 --whitespace=<option>::
315 These flag are passed to the 'git apply' program
316 (see linkgit:git-apply[1]) that applies the patch.
317 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
319 --committer-date-is-author-date::
321 These flags are passed to 'git am' to easily change the dates
322 of the rebased commits (see linkgit:git-am[1]).
323 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
327 Make a list of the commits which are about to be rebased. Let the
328 user edit that list before rebasing. This mode can also be used to
329 split commits (see SPLITTING COMMITS below).
333 Instead of ignoring merges, try to recreate them.
335 This uses the `--interactive` machinery internally, but combining it
336 with the `--interactive` option explicitly is generally not a good
337 idea unless you know what you are doing (see BUGS below).
341 Rebase all commits reachable from <branch>, instead of
342 limiting them with an <upstream>. This allows you to rebase
343 the root commit(s) on a branch. Must be used with --onto, and
344 will skip changes already contained in <newbase> (instead of
345 <upstream>). When used together with --preserve-merges, 'all'
346 root commits will be rewritten to have <newbase> as parent
351 When the commit log message begins with "squash! ..." (or
352 "fixup! ..."), and there is a commit whose title begins with
353 the same ..., automatically modify the todo list of rebase -i
354 so that the commit marked for squashing comes right after the
355 commit to be modified, and change the action of the moved
356 commit from `pick` to `squash` (or `fixup`).
358 This option is only valid when the '--interactive' option is used.
360 If the '--autosquash' option is enabled by default using the
361 configuration variable `rebase.autosquash`, this option can be
362 used to override and disable this setting.
365 With --interactive, cherry-pick all rebased commits instead of
366 fast-forwarding over the unchanged ones. This ensures that the
367 entire history of the rebased branch is composed of new commits.
369 Without --interactive, this is a synonym for --force-rebase.
371 You may find this helpful after reverting a topic branch merge, as this option
372 recreates the topic branch with fresh commits so it can be remerged
373 successfully without needing to "revert the reversion" (see the
374 link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.txt[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
376 include::merge-strategies.txt[]
381 You should understand the implications of using 'git rebase' on a
382 repository that you share. See also RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
385 When the git-rebase command is run, it will first execute a "pre-rebase"
386 hook if one exists. You can use this hook to do sanity checks and
387 reject the rebase if it isn't appropriate. Please see the template
388 pre-rebase hook script for an example.
390 Upon completion, <branch> will be the current branch.
395 Rebasing interactively means that you have a chance to edit the commits
396 which are rebased. You can reorder the commits, and you can
397 remove them (weeding out bad or otherwise unwanted patches).
399 The interactive mode is meant for this type of workflow:
401 1. have a wonderful idea
403 3. prepare a series for submission
406 where point 2. consists of several instances of
409 1. finish something worthy of a commit
412 1. realize that something does not work
416 Sometimes the thing fixed in b.2. cannot be amended to the not-quite
417 perfect commit it fixes, because that commit is buried deeply in a
418 patch series. That is exactly what interactive rebase is for: use it
419 after plenty of "a"s and "b"s, by rearranging and editing
420 commits, and squashing multiple commits into one.
422 Start it with the last commit you want to retain as-is:
424 git rebase -i <after-this-commit>
426 An editor will be fired up with all the commits in your current branch
427 (ignoring merge commits), which come after the given commit. You can
428 reorder the commits in this list to your heart's content, and you can
429 remove them. The list looks more or less like this:
431 -------------------------------------------
432 pick deadbee The oneline of this commit
433 pick fa1afe1 The oneline of the next commit
435 -------------------------------------------
437 The oneline descriptions are purely for your pleasure; 'git rebase' will
438 not look at them but at the commit names ("deadbee" and "fa1afe1" in this
439 example), so do not delete or edit the names.
441 By replacing the command "pick" with the command "edit", you can tell
442 'git rebase' to stop after applying that commit, so that you can edit
443 the files and/or the commit message, amend the commit, and continue
446 If you just want to edit the commit message for a commit, replace the
447 command "pick" with the command "reword".
449 If you want to fold two or more commits into one, replace the command
450 "pick" for the second and subsequent commits with "squash" or "fixup".
451 If the commits had different authors, the folded commit will be
452 attributed to the author of the first commit. The suggested commit
453 message for the folded commit is the concatenation of the commit
454 messages of the first commit and of those with the "squash" command,
455 but omits the commit messages of commits with the "fixup" command.
457 'git rebase' will stop when "pick" has been replaced with "edit" or
458 when a command fails due to merge errors. When you are done editing
459 and/or resolving conflicts you can continue with `git rebase --continue`.
461 For example, if you want to reorder the last 5 commits, such that what
462 was HEAD~4 becomes the new HEAD. To achieve that, you would call
463 'git rebase' like this:
465 ----------------------
466 $ git rebase -i HEAD~5
467 ----------------------
469 And move the first patch to the end of the list.
471 You might want to preserve merges, if you have a history like this:
481 Suppose you want to rebase the side branch starting at "A" to "Q". Make
482 sure that the current HEAD is "B", and call
484 -----------------------------
485 $ git rebase -i -p --onto Q O
486 -----------------------------
488 Reordering and editing commits usually creates untested intermediate
489 steps. You may want to check that your history editing did not break
490 anything by running a test, or at least recompiling at intermediate
491 points in history by using the "exec" command (shortcut "x"). You may
492 do so by creating a todo list like this one:
494 -------------------------------------------
495 pick deadbee Implement feature XXX
496 fixup f1a5c00 Fix to feature XXX
498 pick c0ffeee The oneline of the next commit
499 edit deadbab The oneline of the commit after
500 exec cd subdir; make test
502 -------------------------------------------
504 The interactive rebase will stop when a command fails (i.e. exits with
505 non-0 status) to give you an opportunity to fix the problem. You can
506 continue with `git rebase --continue`.
508 The "exec" command launches the command in a shell (the one specified
509 in `$SHELL`, or the default shell if `$SHELL` is not set), so you can
510 use shell features (like "cd", ">", ";" ...). The command is run from
511 the root of the working tree.
516 In interactive mode, you can mark commits with the action "edit". However,
517 this does not necessarily mean that 'git rebase' expects the result of this
518 edit to be exactly one commit. Indeed, you can undo the commit, or you can
519 add other commits. This can be used to split a commit into two:
521 - Start an interactive rebase with `git rebase -i <commit>^`, where
522 <commit> is the commit you want to split. In fact, any commit range
523 will do, as long as it contains that commit.
525 - Mark the commit you want to split with the action "edit".
527 - When it comes to editing that commit, execute `git reset HEAD^`. The
528 effect is that the HEAD is rewound by one, and the index follows suit.
529 However, the working tree stays the same.
531 - Now add the changes to the index that you want to have in the first
532 commit. You can use `git add` (possibly interactively) or
533 'git gui' (or both) to do that.
535 - Commit the now-current index with whatever commit message is appropriate
538 - Repeat the last two steps until your working tree is clean.
540 - Continue the rebase with `git rebase --continue`.
542 If you are not absolutely sure that the intermediate revisions are
543 consistent (they compile, pass the testsuite, etc.) you should use
544 'git stash' to stash away the not-yet-committed changes
545 after each commit, test, and amend the commit if fixes are necessary.
548 RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
549 -------------------------------
551 Rebasing (or any other form of rewriting) a branch that others have
552 based work on is a bad idea: anyone downstream of it is forced to
553 manually fix their history. This section explains how to do the fix
554 from the downstream's point of view. The real fix, however, would be
555 to avoid rebasing the upstream in the first place.
557 To illustrate, suppose you are in a situation where someone develops a
558 'subsystem' branch, and you are working on a 'topic' that is dependent
559 on this 'subsystem'. You might end up with a history like the
563 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
565 o---o---o---o---o subsystem
570 If 'subsystem' is rebased against 'master', the following happens:
573 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
575 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
580 If you now continue development as usual, and eventually merge 'topic'
581 to 'subsystem', the commits from 'subsystem' will remain duplicated forever:
584 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
586 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o'--M subsystem
588 *---*---*-..........-*--* topic
591 Such duplicates are generally frowned upon because they clutter up
592 history, making it harder to follow. To clean things up, you need to
593 transplant the commits on 'topic' to the new 'subsystem' tip, i.e.,
594 rebase 'topic'. This becomes a ripple effect: anyone downstream from
595 'topic' is forced to rebase too, and so on!
597 There are two kinds of fixes, discussed in the following subsections:
599 Easy case: The changes are literally the same.::
601 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase was a simple rebase and
604 Hard case: The changes are not the same.::
606 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase had conflicts, or used
607 `\--interactive` to omit, edit, squash, or fixup commits; or
608 if the upstream used one of `commit \--amend`, `reset`, or
615 Only works if the changes (patch IDs based on the diff contents) on
616 'subsystem' are literally the same before and after the rebase
619 In that case, the fix is easy because 'git rebase' knows to skip
620 changes that are already present in the new upstream. So if you say
621 (assuming you're on 'topic')
623 $ git rebase subsystem
625 you will end up with the fixed history
627 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
629 o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
638 Things get more complicated if the 'subsystem' changes do not exactly
639 correspond to the ones before the rebase.
641 NOTE: While an "easy case recovery" sometimes appears to be successful
642 even in the hard case, it may have unintended consequences. For
643 example, a commit that was removed via `git rebase
644 \--interactive` will be **resurrected**!
646 The idea is to manually tell 'git rebase' "where the old 'subsystem'
647 ended and your 'topic' began", that is, what the old merge-base
648 between them was. You will have to find a way to name the last commit
649 of the old 'subsystem', for example:
651 * With the 'subsystem' reflog: after 'git fetch', the old tip of
652 'subsystem' is at `subsystem@\{1}`. Subsequent fetches will
653 increase the number. (See linkgit:git-reflog[1].)
655 * Relative to the tip of 'topic': knowing that your 'topic' has three
656 commits, the old tip of 'subsystem' must be `topic~3`.
658 You can then transplant the old `subsystem..topic` to the new tip by
659 saying (for the reflog case, and assuming you are on 'topic' already):
661 $ git rebase --onto subsystem subsystem@{1}
664 The ripple effect of a "hard case" recovery is especially bad:
665 'everyone' downstream from 'topic' will now have to perform a "hard
670 The todo list presented by `--preserve-merges --interactive` does not
671 represent the topology of the revision graph. Editing commits and
672 rewording their commit messages should work fine, but attempts to
673 reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results.
675 For example, an attempt to rearrange
677 1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5
681 1 --- 2 --- 4 --- 3 --- 5
683 by moving the "pick 4" line will result in the following history:
692 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite