Git pull --Rebase
Overview
In this article, we are going to learn about the Git pull rebase. So, before getting started with the topic, let us get a short overview of what is Git rebase and also about Git pull rebase.
Git Rebase : Git consist of a rebase action, using which we can rewrite commits from one Git branch to another Git branch. Git rebase basically involves taking commits out of one branch and adding them to another.
Git Pull Rebase : We use this git pull --rebase command, to synchronize our code by pulling the latest published changes on your remote to your local branch.
So let us now begin with the main agenda of our article, Git pull rebase.
Pre-requisites
Before getting started with the topic, you must have a clear understanding of a few topics like :
What is Git Pull --Rebase?
While working on a project in a team, several times we need to synchronize our code by pulling it from the remote repository to our local branch, we can do that by the git pull rebase method. Basically, using the git pull rebase method we can combine the recently published changes on our remote, with our local unpublished changes.
For instance, we have a local copy of our project's main branch with some unpublished changes, and the origin/main branch is one commit ahead of our local branch. We will use this git pull rebase method to combine the changes and update our local branch code.
Syntax :
When to Use Git Pull --Rebase?
Using the git pull --rebase to combine changes is a good practice in some of the cases, let us discuss it in detail.
When we are working on any project, we often pull our code numerous times daily to keep it synchronized. Now to synchronize our code we use the command git pull, but what we might not be knowing is that by typing the git pull command, we are actually executing the git fetch + git merge command, and that will cause an additional commit and unattractive merge bubbles in your commit log (check out gitk to see them).
Hence, it is much better to use the command git pull --rebase to maintain the repository clean, until and unless we push our commits to a remote server, it will always be on top of the tree. This git pull --rebase command will apply every commit you haven't yet pushed on top of the remote tree commits, allowing your commits to be in a straight line and branch-free (easier git bisects, yay!).
One more thing to note though. If It might be much better to genuinely merge out commits if we want to merge a feature branch, hence we will have a single point of the combination of two different branches.
Additionally, dispute resolution will now be done on a per-commit basis rather than all at once, so we will have to use the git rebase --continue command to get to the next batch of conflicts (if you have any).
Note : git pull --rebase is highly recommended if we want to rebase our local history, however, it is not recommended to rebase any remote (public or shared) branches, as changing other people's commits history is considered as bad practice.
How to Git Pull Rebase in the Command Line?
To execute the git pull --rebase command in our command line CLI, we need to follow some steps :
- First thing we need to do is to navigate to our local repository, where we want to combine changes from our remote branch.
- Then we need to run the git pull --rebase command in our CLI.
- If there are no merge conflicts detected by the Git during executing the rebase, we will see the message: Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/main. If Git detects any merge conflicts, however, your unpublished changes won’t be applied.
If you want to avoid typing --rebase, whenever you pull the commits, you can configure git to use it as default :
Before pushing the local commits upstream, if you want to combine the local commits, for example, because you discovered a bug or typo after a commit, yo
If you want to combine local commits before pushing them upstream, for example, because you discovered a typo or bug after a commit, You can carry out this action :
Git Pull --Rebase vs Git Pull --Merge
Let us now briefly understand the difference between the git pull --rebase and git pull --merge commands in Git while pulling. Both the rebasing and merging techniques are used to combine our recently published changes on our remote, with our local unpublished changes.
Rebasing :
If you use the --rebase flag in the git pull command to pull the remote changes, then on top of the remote changes, your local changes will be reapplied.
Merging :
If you use the --merge flag in the git pull command to pull the remote changes, then all your local changes will combine with the remote changes. The --merge flag is the default because if we don't mention it while pulling, it will do the same job as merging. A merging commit is produced as a result, pointing to both the recent local commit and the recent remote commit.
Best practice :
Whenever you are pulling the code before pushing it to the remote, it is better to always rebase, using the --rebase flag, your local commits. As your commits are unknown to everyone yet, hence nobody will get confused when your commits are rebased nevertheless, the additional commit required for a merging would be perplexing. However, it is a good practice to merge the published commits, for instance when we merge the branches.
| Merge | Rebase |
|---|---|
| Using the Git merge command we can merge the branches from Git | Ising the Git rebase command we can integrate changes from one branch to another. |
| We can see the entire history of the merging of the commits in the Git Merge logs. | As the commits are rebased, logs are linear in Git rebase. |
| The master branch will consolidate all of the feature branch's commits into a single commit. | The master branch will receive the same amount of commits once all the commits are rebased. |
| When the target branch is a shared or public branch Git Merge is used. | When the target branch is a private branch Git Rebase is used. |
Git Pull vs Git Pull --Rebase
Both the git pull and git pull --rebase are almost similar with few differences. You may be familiar with the git fetch command, which will download to your local workstation all the changes from the remote repository server that you do not currently have. This operation will not change your working directory in any way. It will simply let you merge the data it got from you. After that, you can merge all the changes by using the git merge command. Now, you can directly use the git pull command, instead of using this git fetch followed by git merge.
An alternative to merging functionality is the git pull --rebase command. The git pull --rebase moves the commits of one of the branches on top of the other, rather than creating a new commit that combines the two branches.
You can use the git pull --rebase command instead of the merge to pull the commits. Instead of being merged with the remote modifications, the local changes you made will be rebased on top of the remote changes.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned about the Git pull Rebase. Let us recap the points we discussed throughout the article:
- Git consists of a rebase action, using which we can rewrite commits from one Git branch to another Git branch.
- We use this git pull --rebase command, to synchronize our code by pulling the latest published changes on your remote to your local branch.
- It is much better to use the command git pull --rebase to maintain the repository clean, until and unless we push our commits to a remote server, it will always be on top of the tree.
- git pull --rebase is highly recommended if we want to rebase our local history, however, it is not recommended to rebase any remote (public or shared) branches, as changing other people's commits history is considered a bad practice.
- Then we learned how we can execute the git pull --rebase command in our command line CLI. To do that, the First thing we need to do is to navigate to our local repository, then we need to run the git pull --rebase command in our CLI.
- Then we briefly understood the difference between git pull --rebase and git pull --merge commands in Git while pulling.
- Your local modifications are combined with the remote changes if you pull remote changes with the --merge flag, which is also the default.
- Then we briefly understood the difference between git pull and git pull --rebase commands in Git.