6 git-rebase - Forward-port local commits to the updated upstream head
11 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>]
12 [<upstream>] [<branch>]
13 'git rebase' [-i | --interactive] [options] [--exec <cmd>] [--onto <newbase>]
15 'git rebase' --continue | --skip | --abort | --edit-todo
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 check out 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.
212 If set to true enable '--autostash' option by default.
217 Starting point at which to create the new commits. If the
218 --onto option is not specified, the starting point is
219 <upstream>. May be any valid commit, and not just an
220 existing branch name.
222 As a special case, you may use "A\...B" as a shortcut for the
223 merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can
224 leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
227 Upstream branch to compare against. May be any valid commit,
228 not just an existing branch name. Defaults to the configured
229 upstream for the current branch.
232 Working branch; defaults to HEAD.
235 Restart the rebasing process after having resolved a merge conflict.
238 Abort the rebase operation and reset HEAD to the original
239 branch. If <branch> was provided when the rebase operation was
240 started, then HEAD will be reset to <branch>. Otherwise HEAD
241 will be reset to where it was when the rebase operation was
245 Keep the commits that do not change anything from its
246 parents in the result.
249 Restart the rebasing process by skipping the current patch.
252 Edit the todo list during an interactive rebase.
256 Use merging strategies to rebase. When the recursive (default) merge
257 strategy is used, this allows rebase to be aware of renames on the
260 Note that a rebase merge works by replaying each commit from the working
261 branch on top of the <upstream> branch. Because of this, when a merge
262 conflict happens, the side reported as 'ours' is the so-far rebased
263 series, starting with <upstream>, and 'theirs' is the working branch. In
264 other words, the sides are swapped.
267 --strategy=<strategy>::
268 Use the given merge strategy.
269 If there is no `-s` option 'git merge-recursive' is used
270 instead. This implies --merge.
272 Because 'git rebase' replays each commit from the working branch
273 on top of the <upstream> branch using the given strategy, using
274 the 'ours' strategy simply discards all patches from the <branch>,
275 which makes little sense.
277 -X <strategy-option>::
278 --strategy-option=<strategy-option>::
279 Pass the <strategy-option> through to the merge strategy.
280 This implies `--merge` and, if no strategy has been
281 specified, `-s recursive`. Note the reversal of 'ours' and
282 'theirs' as noted above for the `-m` option.
286 Be quiet. Implies --no-stat.
290 Be verbose. Implies --stat.
293 Show a diffstat of what changed upstream since the last rebase. The
294 diffstat is also controlled by the configuration option rebase.stat.
298 Do not show a diffstat as part of the rebase process.
301 This option bypasses the pre-rebase hook. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
304 Allows the pre-rebase hook to run, which is the default. This option can
305 be used to override --no-verify. See also linkgit:githooks[5].
308 Ensure at least <n> lines of surrounding context match before
309 and after each change. When fewer lines of surrounding
310 context exist they all must match. By default no context is
315 Force the rebase even if the current branch is a descendant
316 of the commit you are rebasing onto. Normally non-interactive rebase will
317 exit with the message "Current branch is up to date" in such a
319 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
321 You may find this (or --no-ff with an interactive rebase) helpful after
322 reverting a topic branch merge, as this option recreates the topic branch with
323 fresh commits so it can be remerged successfully without needing to "revert
324 the reversion" (see the
325 link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.html[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
327 --ignore-whitespace::
328 --whitespace=<option>::
329 These flag are passed to the 'git apply' program
330 (see linkgit:git-apply[1]) that applies the patch.
331 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
333 --committer-date-is-author-date::
335 These flags are passed to 'git am' to easily change the dates
336 of the rebased commits (see linkgit:git-am[1]).
337 Incompatible with the --interactive option.
341 Make a list of the commits which are about to be rebased. Let the
342 user edit that list before rebasing. This mode can also be used to
343 split commits (see SPLITTING COMMITS below).
347 Instead of ignoring merges, try to recreate them.
349 This uses the `--interactive` machinery internally, but combining it
350 with the `--interactive` option explicitly is generally not a good
351 idea unless you know what you are doing (see BUGS below).
355 Append "exec <cmd>" after each line creating a commit in the
356 final history. <cmd> will be interpreted as one or more shell
359 This option can only be used with the `--interactive` option
360 (see INTERACTIVE MODE below).
362 You may execute several commands by either using one instance of `--exec`
363 with several commands:
365 git rebase -i --exec "cmd1 && cmd2 && ..."
367 or by giving more than one `--exec`:
369 git rebase -i --exec "cmd1" --exec "cmd2" --exec ...
371 If `--autosquash` is used, "exec" lines will not be appended for
372 the intermediate commits, and will only appear at the end of each
376 Rebase all commits reachable from <branch>, instead of
377 limiting them with an <upstream>. This allows you to rebase
378 the root commit(s) on a branch. When used with --onto, it
379 will skip changes already contained in <newbase> (instead of
380 <upstream>) whereas without --onto it will operate on every change.
381 When used together with both --onto and --preserve-merges,
382 'all' root commits will be rewritten to have <newbase> as parent
387 When the commit log message begins with "squash! ..." (or
388 "fixup! ..."), and there is a commit whose title begins with
389 the same ..., automatically modify the todo list of rebase -i
390 so that the commit marked for squashing comes right after the
391 commit to be modified, and change the action of the moved
392 commit from `pick` to `squash` (or `fixup`). Ignores subsequent
393 "fixup! " or "squash! " after the first, in case you referred to an
394 earlier fixup/squash with `git commit --fixup/--squash`.
396 This option is only valid when the '--interactive' option is used.
398 If the '--autosquash' option is enabled by default using the
399 configuration variable `rebase.autosquash`, this option can be
400 used to override and disable this setting.
403 Automatically create a temporary stash before the operation
404 begins, and apply it after the operation ends. This means
405 that you can run rebase on a dirty worktree. However, use
406 with care: the final stash application after a successful
407 rebase might result in non-trivial conflicts.
410 With --interactive, cherry-pick all rebased commits instead of
411 fast-forwarding over the unchanged ones. This ensures that the
412 entire history of the rebased branch is composed of new commits.
414 Without --interactive, this is a synonym for --force-rebase.
416 You may find this helpful after reverting a topic branch merge, as this option
417 recreates the topic branch with fresh commits so it can be remerged
418 successfully without needing to "revert the reversion" (see the
419 link:howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.html[revert-a-faulty-merge How-To] for details).
421 include::merge-strategies.txt[]
426 You should understand the implications of using 'git rebase' on a
427 repository that you share. See also RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
430 When the git-rebase command is run, it will first execute a "pre-rebase"
431 hook if one exists. You can use this hook to do sanity checks and
432 reject the rebase if it isn't appropriate. Please see the template
433 pre-rebase hook script for an example.
435 Upon completion, <branch> will be the current branch.
440 Rebasing interactively means that you have a chance to edit the commits
441 which are rebased. You can reorder the commits, and you can
442 remove them (weeding out bad or otherwise unwanted patches).
444 The interactive mode is meant for this type of workflow:
446 1. have a wonderful idea
448 3. prepare a series for submission
451 where point 2. consists of several instances of
455 1. finish something worthy of a commit
460 1. realize that something does not work
464 Sometimes the thing fixed in b.2. cannot be amended to the not-quite
465 perfect commit it fixes, because that commit is buried deeply in a
466 patch series. That is exactly what interactive rebase is for: use it
467 after plenty of "a"s and "b"s, by rearranging and editing
468 commits, and squashing multiple commits into one.
470 Start it with the last commit you want to retain as-is:
472 git rebase -i <after-this-commit>
474 An editor will be fired up with all the commits in your current branch
475 (ignoring merge commits), which come after the given commit. You can
476 reorder the commits in this list to your heart's content, and you can
477 remove them. The list looks more or less like this:
479 -------------------------------------------
480 pick deadbee The oneline of this commit
481 pick fa1afe1 The oneline of the next commit
483 -------------------------------------------
485 The oneline descriptions are purely for your pleasure; 'git rebase' will
486 not look at them but at the commit names ("deadbee" and "fa1afe1" in this
487 example), so do not delete or edit the names.
489 By replacing the command "pick" with the command "edit", you can tell
490 'git rebase' to stop after applying that commit, so that you can edit
491 the files and/or the commit message, amend the commit, and continue
494 If you just want to edit the commit message for a commit, replace the
495 command "pick" with the command "reword".
497 If you want to fold two or more commits into one, replace the command
498 "pick" for the second and subsequent commits with "squash" or "fixup".
499 If the commits had different authors, the folded commit will be
500 attributed to the author of the first commit. The suggested commit
501 message for the folded commit is the concatenation of the commit
502 messages of the first commit and of those with the "squash" command,
503 but omits the commit messages of commits with the "fixup" command.
505 'git rebase' will stop when "pick" has been replaced with "edit" or
506 when a command fails due to merge errors. When you are done editing
507 and/or resolving conflicts you can continue with `git rebase --continue`.
509 For example, if you want to reorder the last 5 commits, such that what
510 was HEAD~4 becomes the new HEAD. To achieve that, you would call
511 'git rebase' like this:
513 ----------------------
514 $ git rebase -i HEAD~5
515 ----------------------
517 And move the first patch to the end of the list.
519 You might want to preserve merges, if you have a history like this:
529 Suppose you want to rebase the side branch starting at "A" to "Q". Make
530 sure that the current HEAD is "B", and call
532 -----------------------------
533 $ git rebase -i -p --onto Q O
534 -----------------------------
536 Reordering and editing commits usually creates untested intermediate
537 steps. You may want to check that your history editing did not break
538 anything by running a test, or at least recompiling at intermediate
539 points in history by using the "exec" command (shortcut "x"). You may
540 do so by creating a todo list like this one:
542 -------------------------------------------
543 pick deadbee Implement feature XXX
544 fixup f1a5c00 Fix to feature XXX
546 pick c0ffeee The oneline of the next commit
547 edit deadbab The oneline of the commit after
548 exec cd subdir; make test
550 -------------------------------------------
552 The interactive rebase will stop when a command fails (i.e. exits with
553 non-0 status) to give you an opportunity to fix the problem. You can
554 continue with `git rebase --continue`.
556 The "exec" command launches the command in a shell (the one specified
557 in `$SHELL`, or the default shell if `$SHELL` is not set), so you can
558 use shell features (like "cd", ">", ";" ...). The command is run from
559 the root of the working tree.
561 ----------------------------------
562 $ git rebase -i --exec "make test"
563 ----------------------------------
565 This command lets you check that intermediate commits are compilable.
566 The todo list becomes like that:
582 In interactive mode, you can mark commits with the action "edit". However,
583 this does not necessarily mean that 'git rebase' expects the result of this
584 edit to be exactly one commit. Indeed, you can undo the commit, or you can
585 add other commits. This can be used to split a commit into two:
587 - Start an interactive rebase with `git rebase -i <commit>^`, where
588 <commit> is the commit you want to split. In fact, any commit range
589 will do, as long as it contains that commit.
591 - Mark the commit you want to split with the action "edit".
593 - When it comes to editing that commit, execute `git reset HEAD^`. The
594 effect is that the HEAD is rewound by one, and the index follows suit.
595 However, the working tree stays the same.
597 - Now add the changes to the index that you want to have in the first
598 commit. You can use `git add` (possibly interactively) or
599 'git gui' (or both) to do that.
601 - Commit the now-current index with whatever commit message is appropriate
604 - Repeat the last two steps until your working tree is clean.
606 - Continue the rebase with `git rebase --continue`.
608 If you are not absolutely sure that the intermediate revisions are
609 consistent (they compile, pass the testsuite, etc.) you should use
610 'git stash' to stash away the not-yet-committed changes
611 after each commit, test, and amend the commit if fixes are necessary.
614 RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE
615 -------------------------------
617 Rebasing (or any other form of rewriting) a branch that others have
618 based work on is a bad idea: anyone downstream of it is forced to
619 manually fix their history. This section explains how to do the fix
620 from the downstream's point of view. The real fix, however, would be
621 to avoid rebasing the upstream in the first place.
623 To illustrate, suppose you are in a situation where someone develops a
624 'subsystem' branch, and you are working on a 'topic' that is dependent
625 on this 'subsystem'. You might end up with a history like the
629 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
631 o---o---o---o---o subsystem
636 If 'subsystem' is rebased against 'master', the following happens:
639 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
641 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
646 If you now continue development as usual, and eventually merge 'topic'
647 to 'subsystem', the commits from 'subsystem' will remain duplicated forever:
650 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
652 o---o---o---o---o o'--o'--o'--o'--o'--M subsystem
654 *---*---*-..........-*--* topic
657 Such duplicates are generally frowned upon because they clutter up
658 history, making it harder to follow. To clean things up, you need to
659 transplant the commits on 'topic' to the new 'subsystem' tip, i.e.,
660 rebase 'topic'. This becomes a ripple effect: anyone downstream from
661 'topic' is forced to rebase too, and so on!
663 There are two kinds of fixes, discussed in the following subsections:
665 Easy case: The changes are literally the same.::
667 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase was a simple rebase and
670 Hard case: The changes are not the same.::
672 This happens if the 'subsystem' rebase had conflicts, or used
673 `--interactive` to omit, edit, squash, or fixup commits; or
674 if the upstream used one of `commit --amend`, `reset`, or
681 Only works if the changes (patch IDs based on the diff contents) on
682 'subsystem' are literally the same before and after the rebase
685 In that case, the fix is easy because 'git rebase' knows to skip
686 changes that are already present in the new upstream. So if you say
687 (assuming you're on 'topic')
689 $ git rebase subsystem
691 you will end up with the fixed history
693 o---o---o---o---o---o---o---o master
695 o'--o'--o'--o'--o' subsystem
704 Things get more complicated if the 'subsystem' changes do not exactly
705 correspond to the ones before the rebase.
707 NOTE: While an "easy case recovery" sometimes appears to be successful
708 even in the hard case, it may have unintended consequences. For
709 example, a commit that was removed via `git rebase
710 --interactive` will be **resurrected**!
712 The idea is to manually tell 'git rebase' "where the old 'subsystem'
713 ended and your 'topic' began", that is, what the old merge-base
714 between them was. You will have to find a way to name the last commit
715 of the old 'subsystem', for example:
717 * With the 'subsystem' reflog: after 'git fetch', the old tip of
718 'subsystem' is at `subsystem@{1}`. Subsequent fetches will
719 increase the number. (See linkgit:git-reflog[1].)
721 * Relative to the tip of 'topic': knowing that your 'topic' has three
722 commits, the old tip of 'subsystem' must be `topic~3`.
724 You can then transplant the old `subsystem..topic` to the new tip by
725 saying (for the reflog case, and assuming you are on 'topic' already):
727 $ git rebase --onto subsystem subsystem@{1}
730 The ripple effect of a "hard case" recovery is especially bad:
731 'everyone' downstream from 'topic' will now have to perform a "hard
736 The todo list presented by `--preserve-merges --interactive` does not
737 represent the topology of the revision graph. Editing commits and
738 rewording their commit messages should work fine, but attempts to
739 reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results.
741 For example, an attempt to rearrange
743 1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5
747 1 --- 2 --- 4 --- 3 --- 5
749 by moving the "pick 4" line will result in the following history:
758 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite