git pull –no-rebase (default) vs git pull –rebase

🟩 git pull --rebase

This is the modern, clean, recommended workflow for most developers.

What it does

• Fetches the latest remote commits
• Replays your local commits on top of the updated branch
• Produces a linear, easy‑to‑read history
• Avoids unnecessary merge commits

Visual example

Before rebase:

After:

Your commits are rewritten to sit on top.

When to use it

• Solo development
• Feature branches
• Clean, audit‑friendly history
• Government‑grade or enterprise workflows
• When you want to avoid messy merge commits

Why pros prefer it

• History stays linear
• git log is readable
• CI/CD pipelines behave more predictably
• Easier code reviews

🟦 git pull --no-rebase (default merge behavior)

This performs a merge instead of a rebase.

What it does

• Fetches remote commits
• Creates a merge commit combining remote + local work

Visual example

Before:

After:

Where M is a merge commit between C head from remote and E head from your commit so M was a merged result of C & D, E.

When to use it

• Shared branches with many contributors
• When rewriting history is not allowed
• When you want to preserve the exact order of events
• When your team explicitly requires merge commits

Downsides

• History becomes noisy
• Merge commits pile up
• Harder to read
• Harder to bisect

How to check if your local git is default –no-rebase or configured to –rebase

git config list

user.name= my name
user.email=my.name@gmail.com
pull.rebase=true
core.repositoryformatversion=0
core.filemode=true
core.bare=false
core.logallrefupdates=true
remote.origin.url=git@github.com:chanvichekaouk/catch2-hpp-unit-test.git
remote.origin.fetch=+refs/heads/:refs/remotes/origin/
branch.main.remote=origin
branch.main.merge=refs/heads/main
branch.main.vscode-merge-base=origin/main

or retreive value of specific config:

git config --get pull.rebase

if it shows true then yes it is configured to –rebase.

show empty or false then yes it is default to –no-rebase

How to set it to –rebase by default

For all repositories:

git config --global pull.rebase true

For just this repo:

git config pull.rebase true

e.g here initially my local git is set to default –no-rebase so you can see the deviation of the line as it is a merge btw remote head and my local commit since then I have configured global to –rebase so my history log will be a linear line which as pointed out would be easy to read.

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

(From my local personal laptop & git hub repo: chanvichekaouk/catch2-hpp-unit-test)