1. Introduction

Goal of the Tutorial

This tutorial aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how to use Git Rebase and Interactive Rebase. These powerful tools allow developers to integrate changes from one branch to another without creating additional merge commits, resulting in a cleaner project history.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

• Understand what Git Rebase and Interactive Rebase are and when to use them
• Execute basic and interactive rebasing operations in Git
• Resolve any conflicts that may arise during the rebasing process

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, you should have:

• Basic knowledge of Git and its command line interface
• Git installed on your local machine

2. Step-by-Step Guide

Git Rebase

Git Rebase is a command that allows you to move or combine a sequence of commits to a new base commit. It's useful for maintaining a linear project history.

Example:
Suppose you have a feature branch that has diverged from the main branch. You can rebase the feature branch onto main with the following command:

git checkout feature
git rebase main

Interactive Rebase

Interactive Rebase (git rebase -i) is a more powerful tool that allows you to modify commits as they are moved to the new base.

Example:
To perform an interactive rebase of the last three commits, use:

git rebase -i HEAD~3

This command will open a text editor with a list of the last three commits and actions to be taken.

Best Practice

Always perform a rebase on branches that aren't shared with others. Rebasing rewrites commit history, which can cause conflicts for other developers working on the same branch.

3. Code Examples

Basic Rebase

First, check out the branch you want to rebase:

git checkout feature

Then, rebase it onto the main branch:

git rebase main

If there are any conflicts, Git will pause and allow you to resolve those conflicts before continuing.

Interactive Rebase

To squash the last three commits into one, start an interactive rebase with:

git rebase -i HEAD~3

In the text editor, change pick to squash for the second and third commits. Save and close the editor. Then, write a new commit message for the squashed commits.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we've covered:

• The basic concept of Git Rebase and Interactive Rebase
• How to perform a basic and interactive rebase
• Best practices for using rebase

Next, you might want to learn more about Git's other advanced features, such as bisect and submodules.

5. Practice Exercises

1. Create a new branch, make several commits, then rebase it onto the main branch.
2. Start an interactive rebase to squash your last three commits into one.
3. Simulate a conflict during a rebase and resolve it.

Remember, the key to mastering Git Rebase is practice. Don't be afraid to use it in your projects, but remember the golden rule: "Don't rebase shared branches!"