- git checkout -b "new-branch"
- git commit
- git merge --no-ff master (to get the latest from master into our branches)
- git push
That's all you need. No rebase or force pushes. Easy.
git should be used like an audit log, where you can trace the thought process and actions of your developers. Erasing that by rebasing/squashing for a "clean" log isn't worth it in my opinion.
I'd much rather see 40 commits across two weeks on your branch than one "clean" commit with everything. With the 40 commits, I can trace back through your work, and understand your challenges (sometimes seeing 5 commits in a row with 'trying to get X to work' is really useful).
Now, do I want all that detail once your branch is in master. Absolutely Not! I just want a single merge commit that brings in your whole branch. Unfortunately, `git log` shows everything, which is why I advocate for `git log --first-parent` being the default.
If git log's default behavior wasn't so terrible, I don't think this argument would even come up so often.
But I understand why people who just use `git log` complain with merge commits. It is frustratingly hard to see what actually happened, because subcommits from that merge branch show up in the past in your linear timeline and aren't grouped together. It clutters your log and makes it really hard to tell what is going on and what commits are related to each other.
bazaar's (now called breezy) log (which we used before moving to git) was really nice. By default, it only showed first parents (direct commits or merges). And if you wanted to see more than that, it grouped merges together. This is what happens when you call `bzr log --include-merged` to show not just the top level merges/commits, but also the sub-commits from each merge:
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 33 [merge]
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: master
timestamp: Tue 2013-09-03 11:39:37 -0500
message:
Fixed bug #413 - Add in a blend option
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 32.1.2
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: fix-413
timestamp: Tue 2013-09-03 10:07:03 -0500
message:
Merged the Role changes from fix-412
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 32.1.1
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: fix-413
timestamp: Tue 2013-09-01 10:04:28 -0500
message:
Some initial work on a blend mode
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 32 [merge]
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: master
timestamp: Tue 2013-09-03 09:17:27 -0500
message:
Fixed bug #408 - Make the interface prettier
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 29.2.3 [merge]
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: fix-408
timestamp: Wed 2013-09-02 15:31:32 -0500
message:
mft
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 29.2.2
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: fix-408
timestamp: Wed 2013-08-24 12:13:17 -0500
message:
Fixed multiline support
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 29.2.1
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: fix-408
timestamp: Wed 2013-08-22 11:58:48 -0500
message:
Added directories for other layouts. Changed out the logo, and force a size during the signon
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 31 [merge]
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: master
timestamp: Wed 2013-08-28 15:13:24 -0500
message:
Fixed bug #404 - Pressing back in the preferences exits the application
------------------------------------------------------------
revno: 30.1.1
committer: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
branch nick: fix-404
timestamp: Wed 2013-08-28 15:11:24 -0500
message:
Got rid of the no history junk. It looks like the problem can be solved by calling finish
This even resolves stuff, like in revno 29.2.3 where the master branch is merged into the feature branch (fix-408) to get fix-408 up to date.