Use a rebase.

You enable it using git config, after that it will apply to whatever frontend you’re using.

Depending on how structured your commits have been, it can either be very difficult to get a rebase through or a complete breeze. There are some features to make it easier - rerere being the main one I’m thinking about.

What’s your mental model for a Git commit, and a Git branch?

Once I properly learned those two concepts, understanding rebases became a lot easier.

I’ll try to explain it to the best of my abilities.

• Think of a commit being a patch - a description of how to take a particular file from one state to another
• A branch is a list of patches to be applied in order, from the point where the branch was created until the last commit on the branch

When you rebase a particular branch, what you’re essentially doing is taking all of the commits that are currently on your branch, checking out the other branch, and then applying each of the patches in order on that new branch.

A rebase can be cleanly applied if the premise for each commit has not changed when applied, but if the premise has changed, you get a conflict to be resolved before being able to continue the rebase.

I mentally model a rebase a bit as a fast version of how it would look like to build the branch I was on, but on top of the branch I’m rebasing on.

Force pushing is necessary when using rebases, and rebases are an essential tool, so you should not be afraid to force push under normal circumstances.

Don’t be afraid of rebases, they are an essential tool in Git.

This particular fear can only be addressed by understanding.

It’s mostly for undoing a rebase or merge you’re not happy with.