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Software Engineering vocabulary · Version Control

Rebase

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/riːˈbeɪs/verbCommon term

In software engineering, rebase means: In Git, to move your branch's commits so that they start from a newer point, usually the latest main, which gives a cleaner, straight-line history.

In Turkish: tabanı güncellemek, yeniden temellendirmek

How it is used

Teams often debate 'rebase vs merge'. You rebase on main or rebase onto main before merging. Rebasing rewrites history, so you should not rebase a branch that other people are also using.

Example sentences

  1. Can you rebase your branch on main? It's 40 commits behind.

  2. After rebasing, I had to force push because the history had changed.

Common collocations

  • rebase on main
  • rebase onto
  • interactive rebase
  • rebase vs merge
  • mergeTo combine the changes from one branch into another, so that both sets of work end up in the same code.
  • branchA separate line of development in a repository, where you can work on changes without affecting the main code until you are ready to merge.
  • merge conflictA situation where Git cannot combine two branches automatically because both changed the same lines, so a person has to choose the right version.
  • pushTo send your local commits to a shared remote repository, so that other people and automated systems can see them.
  • commitA saved snapshot of changes in a repository, with a short message that explains what was changed and why. Also used as a verb: to commit your changes.

More terms: Version Control

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