Git Rebase: Keep
your features' branches updated!
Today's blog will discuss how you will keep your feature branch
up-to-date with the main upstream branch.
Let's say you started working on a feature (a big one) and created a
branch for it one month ago. Now, there are so many updates in the
main upstream branch that you must include in your feature
branch.
What is the easiest way to sync your feature branch with the
upstream main branch?
The solution to this challenge is straightforward: run
git rebase {branch-to-rebase-on}. This command effectively syncs your feature branch with the main
upstream branch, ensuring you're always working with the latest
updates.
Let's visualize the rebase process. Suppose we have the following two branches, with the alphabets referring to each branch's commits. You created your feature branch when the main branch's head was at D.
A---B---C feature branch
/
D---E---F---G main branch
You can see now that the main branch's head is at the G commit. You need to change the HEAD of your feature branch to be on top of the G commit.
We run git rebase main, and the result will be:
A'---B'---C' feature branch
/
D---E---F---G main branch
And that's it; your feature branch now has the latest updates!
git pull origin main
(or its equivalent) before running git rebase
Congratulations, you now know how to keep your branches up-to-date with your upstream!