When to rebase vs when to merge in Git - Hands-On Comparison

When to Rebase vs When to Merge in Git

📖 Scenario: You are working on a team project using Git. You have a main branch called main and a feature branch called feature. You want to learn how to keep your feature branch up to date with the latest changes from main using either git rebase or git merge. This will help you avoid conflicts and keep your project history clean.

🎯 Goal: Learn when to use git rebase and when to use git merge to update your feature branch with changes from main. Practice commands to rebase and merge, and see the difference in commit history.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use git checkout to switch branches

Use git merge to merge branches

Use git rebase to rebase branches

Understand the difference in commit history after merge vs rebase

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Teams use Git to collaborate on code. Knowing when to merge or rebase helps keep the project history clean and understandable.

💼 Career

Software developers and DevOps engineers often need to update feature branches with main branch changes. Understanding merge vs rebase is essential for smooth teamwork and code integration.

1

Setup branches and initial commits

Create a new Git repository. Then create a file called file.txt with the text Initial content. Commit this change on the main branch. Next, create and switch to a branch called feature. On feature, change file.txt to have the text Feature work and commit this change.

Git

# Initialize Git repo and create initial commit on main
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use git init to start the repo. Use git checkout -b feature to create and switch to the feature branch.

2

Add a commit on main branch

Switch back to the main branch. Create a new file called main.txt with the text Main branch update. Commit this change on main.

Git

git init
echo "Initial content" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Initial commit on main"
git checkout -b feature
echo "Feature work" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Work on feature branch"

# Switch to main and commit update
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use git checkout main to switch back. Then edit and commit the file.

3

Update feature branch using git merge

Switch to the feature branch. Use git merge main to bring the changes from main into feature. This will create a merge commit.

Git

git init
echo "Initial content" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Initial commit on main"
git checkout -b feature
echo "Feature work" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Work on feature branch"
git checkout main
echo "Main branch update" > main.txt
git add main.txt
git commit -m "Update on main branch"

git checkout feature
# Merge main into feature
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use git checkout feature to switch. Then run git merge main.

4

Update feature branch using git rebase

Reset the feature branch to before the merge. Then switch to feature branch again. Use git rebase main to replay your feature commits on top of main. Finally, print the commit log with git log --oneline --graph --all to see the difference in history.

Git

git init
echo "Initial content" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Initial commit on main"
git checkout -b feature
echo "Feature work" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Work on feature branch"
git checkout main
echo "Main branch update" > main.txt
git add main.txt
git commit -m "Update on main branch"
git checkout feature
git merge main

# Reset feature branch to before merge
# Then rebase feature on main
# Print commit log
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use git reset --hard HEAD~1 to undo the merge commit. Then git rebase main. Finally, run git log --oneline --graph --all to see the commit history.