Re: git pull on Linux/ACPI release tree

[Martin Langhoff <martin.langhoff@gmail.com>]

On 1/9/06, Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> wrote:
> And then do
>
>         git-rebase linus
>
> to rebase your development branch to mine.
>
> THIS is what "rebase" is for. It sounds like what you really want to do is
> not have a development branch at all, but you just want to track my tree
> and then keep track of a few branches of your own. In other words, you
> don't really have a "real" branch - you've got an odd collection of
> patches that you really want to carry around on top of _my_ branch. No?

FWIW, I determine whether I should rebase or merge based on

 + Whether the branch/head I maintain is public. For public repos, I
*must* merge carefully as rebase "rewinds" the head and that makes a
mess of any repositor tracking me.

 + Whether the changes on my both sides are significant, and it is
semantically meaningful to have a merge. If either side had just a
couple of minor commits, rebase makes life a lot easier down the path.
If both side clearly saw parallel development, it is more sincere to
merge and let that be recorded.

 + If my attempt to rebase leads to any non-trivial conflicts or
co-dependencies, then I definitely cancel the rebase and merge.

> Now, in this model, you're not really using git as a distributed system.

I'd argue that it is not about distributed or not. It's all in what
you want to record in your history. As such, it is a communication
device -- and I want to make effective use of it. I guess the question
I ask myself is: what will communicate what's happened here most
clearly? What will be useful for people to read? In that context, a
white-lie here and there simplifying the history a bit where it's not
interesting counts as a good thing.

cheers,


martin
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