Merge strategies¶

Approach for non-linear commit history¶

Merging topic into main

  A---B---C topic
 /         \
D---E---F---G---H main

git fetch origin
git checkout main
git merge topic

Two approaches to achieving a linear commit history¶

Rebase the topic branch before merging it into the main¶

Before merging the topic into the main, we rebase the topic with the main branch:

          A---B---C topic
         /         \
D---E---F-----------G---H main

git checkout main
git pull
git checkout topic
git rebase origin/main

create a PR topic → main and approve using the squash merge option

Rebase the topic branch before squash merges into the main¶

Squash merging is a merge option that allows you to condense the Git history of topic branches when you complete a pull request. Instead of adding each commit on the topic to the history of main, a squash merge takes all the file changes and adds them to a single new commit on main.

          A---B---C topic
         /
D---E---F-----------G---H main

Create a PR topic → main and approve using the squash merge option