How to rebase after git-subtree add?
GitGit RebaseGit SubtreeGit Problem Overview
I'm trying to learn the new git-subtree command which was added in Git 1.7.11. I seem to lose ability to rebase after I add a subtree. I have the primary repository with README file and a library repository which also has a README file. I add it to lib directory with subtree add:
$ git subtree add -P lib/mylib myliborigin master
This works fine, but now the history looks like this:
* 22c1fe6 (HEAD, master) Merge commit 'b6e698d9f4985825efa06dfdd7bba8d2930cd40e' as 'lib/mylib' -
|\
| * b6e698d Squashed 'lib/mylib/' content from commit d7dbd3d
* b99d55b Add readme
* 020e372 Initial
Now when I want to rebase my repo against origin/master and it fails because the squash commit is applied directly against its parent commit which does not apply, because it is applied to the root of the repo and not the prefix I gave it to it when adding the subtree.
The reason for this is pretty clear if I look at the squash commit. There is no information about the prefix. It is just the original mylib commits squashed together. Only the next merge commit knows anything about it, but rebase does not take it to account here.
Are there any workarounds (besides never rebasing over the subtree commits)?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
This works in simple cases:
git rebase --preserve-merges master
Thanks to @Techlive Zheng in the comments.
You may see
fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories
Error redoing merge a95986e...
Which means that git failed to automatically apply your subtree. This puts you in the situation @ericpeters described in his answer. Solution:
Re-add your subtree (use the same command you originally used):
git subtree add -P lib lib-origin master
Continue the rebase:
git rebase --continue
And you're all set!
If you're wondering if it worked successfully, you can compare with your original version after rebasing to make sure you didn't change anything:
git diff <ref-before-rebase> <ref-after-rebase> -- .
(the -- . at the end instructs git to only diff the files in your current directory).
If all else fails and you don't care about preserving the commits themselves, you can simply git cherry-pick the original subtree commit.
The commit message will look something like Add 'lib/' from commit '9767e6...' -- that's the one you want.
Solution 2 - Git
This is an old question, but I just had the same problem with my repo, and I finally found a complete solution, which (hopefully) preserves all the subtree metadata.
Suppose we had this commit tree:
B (master) Add README.md
|
A Initial commit
and we forked a feature branch with a subtree residing in lib/:
git remote add -f githublib https://github.com/lib/lib.git
git subtree add --prefix lib/ githublib master --squash
It creates a merge commit D with two parents: our current master (B), and an unrelated commit F with the squashed history of the external repo. This commit also contains some git subtree metadata in its commit message (namely, git-subtree-dir and git-subtree-split).
D (feature) Merged commit 'F' as 'lib/'
/ \
/ F Squashed 'lib/' content from GGGGGG
B (master) Add README.md
|
A Initial commit
Later, we add some commits to both branches independently.
E (feature) Remove .gitignore from lib/
C | (master) Add LICENSE.md
| D Merged commit 'F' as 'lib/'
| / \
|/ F Squashed 'lib/' content from GGGGGG
B Add README.md
|
A Initial commit
Now we want to rebase feature onto master. Here's how:
1. Cherry-pick the commits from feature one by one to create a new copy of the feature branch on top of master.
git branch -f feature C
git checkout feature
git cherry-pick D E
E' (feature) Remove .gitignore from lib/
|
D' Merged commit 'F' as 'lib/'
|
| E Remove .gitignore from lib/
C | (master) Add LICENSE.md
| D Merged commit 'F' as 'lib/'
| / \
|/ F Squashed 'lib/' content from GGGGGG
B Add README.md
|
A Initial commit
Now we have the equivalent of a rebase, but we've lost all information about the external repo, required for git subtree. To restore it:
2. Add the missing parent link as a graft, and rewrite the history of feature to make it permanent.
git checkout feature
git replace --graft D' C F
git filter-branch --tag-name-filter cat -- master..
And now we get a picture exactly equivalent to the one with started with. The old commits D and E are still out there, but they can be garbage-collected later.
E' (feature) Remove .gitignore from lib/
|
D' Merged commit 'F' as 'lib/'
|\
| \
C \ (master) Add LICENSE.md
| \
| \
| F Squashed 'lib/' content from GGGGGG
B Add README.md
|
A Initial commit
Warning: This rewrites the history of feature, so be wary of publishing it if anybody else collaborates with you on this branch. However, since you wanted to make a rebase in the first place, you are probably aware of that :-)
Solution 3 - Git
This isn't a solution, but its the current work around I use...
Using your initial example:
* 22c1fe6 (HEAD, master) Merge commit 'b6e698d9f4985825efa06dfdd7bba8d2930cd40e' as 'lib/mylib' -
|\
| * b6e698d Squashed 'lib/mylib/' content from commit d7dbd3d
* b99d55b Add readme
* 020e372 Initial
Rebase interactively to the 2nd commit before the subtree add:
$ git rebase -i 020e372
Delete the two subtree entries & mark edit for the prior commit:
e b99d55b Add readme
Save file/close, then when it gets to the "Add readme" commit, run the amend command:
$ git commit --amend
Then re-add your new subtree:
$ git subtree add -P lib/mylib myliborigin master
Continue the rebase:
$ git rebase --continue
Your branch should then be rebased off of master, and the subtree will be "normal" with the Squash + the Merge intact:
* 22c1fe6 (HEAD, master) Merge commit 'b6e698d9f4985825efa06dfdd7bba8d2930cd40e' as 'lib/mylib' -
|\
| * b6e698d Squashed 'lib/mylib/' content from commit d7dbd3d
Solution 4 - Git
Git 2.24.0 (released 2019-11-04) added support for git rebase --rebase-merges --strategy [strategy]. So now if you run git rebase --rebase-merges --strategy subtree [branch] when your current branch contains a subtree merge, it will Just Work now.
For my project, I've decided I might not use git subtree add, but instead throw away the second parent of the merge commit using git replace --edit. I've also used the Git book v1's obsolete "subtree" tutorial, which does the same thing but is tedious.
Solution 5 - Git
Apparently this is expected behaviour (for some perverse definition of "expected behaviour.") See: http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/subtree-merges-lose-prefix-after-rebase-td7332850.html.
Not that this is much help to anyone. I'd love to find a workaround for this too.
Solution 6 - Git
I had a similar issue: I wanted to rebase after doing a subtree add, and using --preserve-merges still left me with a merge conflict (due to conflicting .gitignore files and others).
In my case, I didn't necessarily plan on using any subtree functionality: I was simply pulling in a repo that should have been part of the superproject originally. In case it helps anyone else, here's what I ended up doing, based off of other related answers I found.
Suppose I have two projects, main_project and sub_project, in the same directory. I want to pull sub_project into a directory named sub_project within main_project, assuming neither repo has ever had a directory named sub_project:
cd main_project
git fetch ../sub_project
git checkout -b sub_project FETCH_HEAD
git filter-branch --prune-empty --tree-filter '
if [[ ! -e sub_project ]]; then
mkdir -p sub_project
git ls-tree --name-only $GIT_COMMIT | xargs -I files mv files sub_project
fi'
git checkout branch-to-merge-within
git merge sub_project
git branch -d sub_project
I'll update if I find any problems with this approach.
Solution 7 - Git
You need to use
git rebase --preserve-merges --preserve-committer --onto new_place start end
Solution 8 - Git
An alternative way is to git rebase -i master, then substitute the merged squashed commit with b (break here), so git rebase would stop at the time of the original subtree add commit. Run git subtree add ... again at that moment, then git rebase --continue. You would get the same history but rebased onto the latest master.