When to use git merge ?
Use it as a default scenario when you don’t want to bother about the commit history and want to avoid problems, anyways it comes as default with git pull.
When to use git rebase ?
Use it to make your commit history look more clear and consistent.
Can be used for temporary local branches(like feature branches).
You can use git rebase -i(interactive) for rewriting the local commit histories into a neat one before you push it to the remote repository.
Difference between Merge and Rebase – When to use what
| Git Merge | Git Rebase |
|---|---|
| git merge apply all the unique commits from one branch to the other in one commit | git rebase takes all the unique commits from both the branches and applies them one by one |
| merge does not rewrite any commit history but just add one new one | rebase rewrites the commit history but doesn’t create extra commit to merge |
Summary
In this tutorial we looked into the difference between git merge and git rebase and when to use what.
Hope you liked it!
