GitButler now supports first class conflicts, making rebasing less annoying

Rebasing vs Merging & Commit History

• Large subthread debates whether rebasing is worth the effort compared to merging.
• Pro‑rebase arguments:
  • Linear history is seen as easier to read, reason about, and bisect.
  • Rebasing commits individually avoids “giant patch bomb” merges and can make conflict resolution more incremental.
  • Clean, logically grouped commits aid review and long‑term forensics.
• Pro‑merge arguments:
  • Merges preserve original history and branching structure, which some consider “objectively better” for understanding how changes evolved.
  • Rebased histories can create long chains of non‑compiling commits, making automated bisecting harder.
  • Squash merges and feature branches are said to be “good enough” for many teams, with less workflow overhead.
• Several posters conclude the “right” choice depends on project scale, branching strategy, and how much value the team gets from fine‑grained history.

Rebasing Pain, Conflicts & Tools

• Many note that long‑running branches and late rebases are the main source of pain; frequent small rebases help.
• git rerere is highlighted as a built‑in mechanism that remembers conflict resolutions and greatly reduces repetitive conflict work; pitfalls include it also remembering incorrect resolutions.
• Some prefer simple backup‑branch workflows over relying on reflog, while others emphasize reflog as the primary safety net.
• Concerns raised that reflog and merge/rebase don’t protect uncommitted work; uncommitted changes can still be lost.

Git Bisect & CI Practices

• Strong claims that linear histories make bisecting regressions dramatically faster; others argue bisect works fine with merges and that non‑compiling rebased commits are a bigger problem.
• Disagreement over how realistic it is to require every individual commit (including rebased ones) to compile and pass tests, especially with long CI times.

Force‑Push Safety

• One side views rebase + force‑push as inherently riskier and prefers “inherently safe” workflows.
• Others argue data is rarely truly lost due to reflog and that force‑push (especially with --force-with-lease / similar) is safe and useful, particularly on isolated branches.

GitButler, Licensing & UX

• Some express enthusiasm for GitButler’s design and conflict handling; others remain skeptical of new Git tools in general.
• Noted that GitButler’s desktop app dropped Ubuntu 20.04 due to underlying toolkit support.
• Its “functional source” / timed‑open licensing is called out as interesting but not unique.
• One user criticizes the blog’s separation from the main product site and lack of clear navigation.