Using git merge --squash to merge develop into master when master was previously merged into develop?

Question

I have two branches. My master branch and my feature branch.

I'm developing on the feature branch and did several commits there and pushed them to the remote. From time to time I merged the master branch into my develop branch to make sure that I get the newest changes.

Now I'm done with developing on the develop branch and want to merge the develop branch into the master branch.

Ideally, I would like to squash all commits on the develop branch into one single commit. I guess I could do that with

git merge --squash

However, can I still do that when I merged master into develop from time to time?

Answer 1

You have merged master into develop from time to time - you mean to say you have updated the master branch and develop branch with the changes from master branch, in your local repo from time to time, correct?

In that case, when you do a git checkout develop and a git log , and if you are the only person who has been working on this branch , you should see only your commits till date - in which case you can directly do a git merge --squash develop , which will take all the commits made to develop branch and squash it into one.

If you have other people working on this develop branch too , and their commits are also in between yours, and you want to only squash your commits, then do a git rebase -i , where you can pick the commits you want to squash by replacing the word 'pick' before the corresponding commits with 'squash' .

Or, you can follow the first method listed here .

The easiest way to turn multiple commits in a feature branch into a single commit is to reset the feature branch changes in the master and commit again, this time - everything as one.

Answer 2

If you use git merge develop --squash to merge develop branch into master , it won't squash commits to a commit on develop branch, but create a "merge commit" on master branch. Illustrate by below graphs:

Assume the original commit history is (before merging develop into master ):

A---B---F---G   master
     \
  …---C---D---E   develop

After you execute git merge develop --squash , the new commit H as if you do a real merge the changes from develop branch into master .

A---B---F---G---H   master
     \
  …---C---D---E   develop

And of cause you can merge master into develop and then merge develop branch back into master branch. But it's not a recommend way. You should treat only one branch as the main branch (such as master branch as main branch). When the other branch ( develop ) has new features/changes, you just need to merge develop into master branch. When other new changes committed on develop branch later, you just need to merge develop branch into master branch from time to time.

And if you only want to squash commits on develop branch, you can use git rebase -i develop~n , and then edit the commits you want to squash (change drop to squash ) in interactive window.