Git Rebase Squash

Transcript

# Hello and welcome to the Alchemists Screencasts!
# Today, we'll learn about Git Rebase Squash.
# We'll do this by working on a Ruby script that adds two numbers:

ruby calc.rb 1 2

# 💡 If you've watched the *Git Rebase Fixup* screencast, this'll look familiar.
# Our team has requested we print mathematical calculations instead of sentences.
# We can do this by fixing the original implementation:

vi calc.rb

ruby calc.rb 1 2

# Much better, let's commit these changes:

git commit --all

# 💡 `--all` was used to pick up all changes (in this case a single file).
# To continue, let's study the Git log:

gl

# 💡 To learn more about the `gl` alias, see the *Git Log Pretty* screencast.
# Notice the third commit is where the original implementation was added.
# For clarity, here's the subject used: "Added calculator implementation".
# The plan is to *squash* our last into the above above commit using Git Rebase.
# Here's a review of the commit to be squashed:

git show

# Before we start, pay attention to how I move and change the commits.
# We'll discuss more after the rebase is complete:

git rebase --interactive

# If you didn't catch all of that, feel free to rewind and watch again. 😉
# Let me explain, though:
# 1. The squash commit was moved to the commit that needed squashing.
# 2. "p" (pick) was changed to "s" (squash) so Git knows to *squash* the commit.
# 3. We saved and exited to let Git perform our instructions.
# 4. Git Rebase halted, during the squash, so we could edit the commit *body*.

# The difference between squash and fixup is that squash edits the commit.
# The best part of squashing is to combine multiple thoughts into one.
# This is why squashing without editing or worse, merge squashing, is harmful.
# 💡 A well written, thought out Git history, is a valuable learning/debugging asset.

# OK, let's return to the Git log:

gl

# Notice how the squashed commit is gone!
# Even better, the original implementation is fixed *and* commit message updated:

git show

# We can test this further by running the implementation:

ruby calc.rb 1 2

# Here's what I love about this workflow:
# 1. We fixed the original implementation while erasing our mistake.
# 2. We edited the original commit message to tell a complete story. 🎉
# 3. Reviewers will have a high signal to noise when providing feedback.
# 4. Our implementation looks as if it was crafted perfectly the first time. 🎉

# By the way, you can use `git commit --squash` to speed up this process further.
# (we'll cover that in a future screencast, though)

# Enjoy!
# https://alchemists.io
# ☿ 🜔 🜍 🜂 🜃 🜁 🜄