Git MERGE vs. REBASE: 2 min Guide

Imagine you have your main branch with commits A&B. Now, what you need to do is create a feature branch. This feature branch will have commits C&D.

Unfortunately, you’ve been watching a bit too much YouTube and your coworker beats you with commit E, that’s now on the main branch or the trunk.

What you want to do is use git rebase on your branch to rebase or change the base to incorporate the new commits from the main branch. This action will modify your commits to be C' and D'.

However, now you'll be able to test with the current situation on the main branch. Once you're done with testing, you can merge those changes, resulting in a correct history of your development without any unsightly merge commits either within the branch or as you move back to the main branch.

Git merge creates a new commit that combines changes from both the feature branch and the main branch. Imagine you start working on a feature while others are also adding to the main branch. When you’re ready to put your changes into the main branch, a merge commit blends your work with the main branch.

On the other hand, git rebase works by moving your feature branch’s changes to the end of the main branch’s latest commits. This makes the history look straight and tidy, with no extra merge commits.

Rebasing:

• Provides a cleaner history.
• Creates a more readable graph.
• Can be tougher to resolve conflicts.

Merging:

• Preserves history.
• Is better for handling merge conflicts.
• Is easy to undo if needed.