Request for D core devs: git pull --rebase

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Saturday, November 05, 2011 22:38:03 Alex Rønne Petersen wrote:
> Hi folks!
> 
> This is a friendly request for D core devs to use 'git pull --rebase'
> instead of just plain 'git pull' when pulling remote changes into local
> repositories. The reason for this is that it takes any outstanding
> commits in your local tree, unrolls them, pulls in the remote changes,
> and reapplies your local commits *without creating a merge commit*. This
> helps keep history clean and easier to navigate, making everyone's life
> that much easier. :)
> 
> For example:
> 
> $ git commit -m "my local stuff"
> $ git pull --rebase origin master
> $ git push origin master

I would point out that for druntime and Phobos, most merging is done by using 
the merge button that github provides, so most merges are done doing whatever 
that does. Doing anything else is more work. That's not to say that there 
isn't value in it, but unless the result is considerably negative (and I don't 
see why a stray extra commit for the merge really causes issues), then the 
Phobos devs are almost certainly just going to continue to use the merge 
button, because it's less work for them.

For dmd, I don't know what Walter does exactly. I think that he does much more 
by hand, so that process is likely quite different.

- Jonathan M Davis