rebase-onto-rewritten

Rebase onto Rewritten History

Help rebase the current branch onto a base branch that has rewritten its history (e.g., through squash-and-merge or force-push).

Required Information

1. The first (oldest) commit to cherry-pick from the branch (required)
2. The base branch to rebase onto (optional, default: main)

Process

1. Analyze the situation:

   • Show current branch commits to help identify the first commit
   • Show base branch recent history
   • Prepare to cherry-pick from the specified commit to HEAD

2. Create a backup:

   • Create a backup branch (e.g., <branch>-backup-<timestamp>)

3. Prepare for rebase:

   • Create a temporary branch from the latest base branch
   • Use the range from the specified commit to HEAD

4. Cherry-pick commits:

   • Apply commits ONE AT A TIME (not as a range)
   • This is critical for commits involving directory restructuring or file moves
   • Git can better track changes when applied incrementally
   • If conflicts arise, stop and show the conflicting files
   • Wait for instructions on how to resolve conflicts
   • Show progress during the process

5. Finalize:

   • Rename branches to preserve the original branch name
   • Delete temporary branch
   • Show final status

Why One-by-One?

When cherry-picking multiple commits at once (e.g., git cherry-pick A..B), Git may fail to properly track directory renames and file moves across commits, causing unnecessary conflicts. Applying commits individually allows Git to correctly recognize and apply each structural change sequentially.

When to Use

• Base branch was squash-merged
• Base branch was force-pushed
• Normal rebase fails due to history rewriting