Git Rebase for the Terrified

Re:Git Rebase for the Terrified by OptionOfT on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @10:11AM (#46602010)

In fact, for searching how a file got to the state it is I prefer that when PRs are merged, they are merged and not rebased. I want the commit shas to be the same.

Rebasing on main loses provenance.

If you want a clean history doing it in the PR, before merging it. That way the PR is the single unit of work.

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Re:Git Rebase for the Terrified by yawaramin on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @11:08AM (#46602883)

Merging a PR with rebase doesn't lose provenance. You can just keep all the commits in the PR branch. But even if you squash the branch into a single commit and merge (which these tools automate and many people do), it still doesn't lose provenance. The provenance is the PR itself. The PR is connected to a work item in the ticketing system. The git history preserves all the relevant info.

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Re:Git Rebase for the Terrified by noisem4ker on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @01:40PM (#46605636)

The provenance that is lost is the original base.

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Re:Git Rebase for the Terrified by yawaramin on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @01:51PM (#46605802)

No, the original base is in the commit history. It's just not relevant any more after rebase. It's like your individual keystrokes before a commit are not relevant any more after a commit. They're not lost provenance.

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Re:Git Rebase for the Terrified by game_the0ry on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @10:19AM (#46602111)

> That way the PR is the single unit of work.

Well if I have a diff of the PR with just the changes, then the PR is already a "unit of work," regardless of merge or rebase, right?

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