Git Rebase And Resolve Conflicts

Git Rebase and Resolve Conflicts

Goal

Move a branch onto the newest commits of the mainline, and resolve each conflict with your own judgement.

Quick start

git status --short --branch
git branch "backup/$(git branch --show-current)/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
git fetch origin && git rebase origin/<mainline>

• DO stop and tell me when the working tree holds changes of mine; they are mine to place, unless a rebase is in progress, when they are the conflict itself
• DO rebase onto origin/<mainline>; git fetch moves that ref, and leaves the local branch of the same name on the commit it already held
• DO make the backup branch; the verification below compares against it
• DO take the backup from ORIG_HEAD when a rebase is already in progress, with git branch "backup/rebase/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" ORIG_HEAD; HEAD is detached, so --show-current prints nothing and the line above fails on the empty name
• DO rebase a branch that sits on another branch with git rebase --onto origin/<mainline> <that branch>; a plain rebase replays commits the mainline already holds another way

How to resolve a conflict

git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U
git add <file>
GIT_EDITOR=true git rebase --continue

• DO set GIT_EDITOR=true; this environment shows no editor, and git waits forever
• DO resolve and git add every file the first command lists, then continue; git stops again at the next commit it cannot replay, so repeat the block until it reports success
• DO pick a side for a binary file with git checkout --theirs -- <file> before the git add; it holds no marker, and git leaves the mainline version in the tree for git add to keep
• DO abort with git rebase --abort, and ask me, when a resolution is unclear

How to verify

git log --format=%s origin/<mainline>..HEAD
git log --format=%s origin/<mainline>..<backup>
git grep -n "^<<<<<<< \|^>>>>>>> " HEAD
git diff origin/<mainline> HEAD
git diff <backup> HEAD

• DO account for each subject that the first two commands do not agree on; the rebase rewrote every hash, so the subjects are what compare, and one that only the second prints is a commit git dropped after a resolution emptied it, reported as success with an exit status of 0
• DO read the third command; git commits a marker I left behind and reports success
• DO treat a removed line as a mistake in both diffs; the first drops the work of the mainline, and the second drops mine, unless the mainline rewrote that line
• DO NOT push, and DO NOT delete the backup branch, until I ask

Reference

A rebase replays my commits onto the mainline, so the sides are the opposite of a merge:

Copyright © 2026 Lorenzo Mazzarotto