DVCS - What's the downside of rewriting unpublished history?

Posted by user1447278 on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by user1447278
Published on 2012-06-10T11:49:26Z Indexed on 2012/06/10 16:40 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 191

Filed under:

git

|

dvcs

|

bazaar

I was wondering what in particular is the downside of "losing history" in a development process. One famous example is of course git rebase -i / git merge --squash, but also what is described here: http://fourkitchens.com/blog/2009/04/20/alternatives-rebasing-bazaar under "I want to clean up my commit history prior to submitting my changes to the mainline."

I can see that exporting patches and applying them to another branch would lose the "history" of the branch, but why would that branch and its commit history be useful after it has been merged?

Can someone elaborate on why such techniques are considered "dirty"? Why does it matter in which order changes were originally committed in the first place as long as they can be applied to the main branch?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about git

git pull gives error: 401 Authorization Required while accessing https://git.foo.com/bar.git

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
My macbook pro is able to clone/push/pull from the company git server. My cent 6.3 vm gets a 401 error git clone https://git.acme.com/git/torque-setup "error: The requested URL returned error: 401 Authorization Required while accessing https://git.acme.com/git/torque-setup/info/refs As a work… >>> More
Can't install git on Ubuntu 12.10

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I'm following these instructions to install git on my laptop: http://git-scm.com/download/linux When I do: $ sudo apt-get install git-core This is what my terinal shows: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages… >>> More
Git apache : unable to push via http

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have to setup a server which can allow http vcs management (such as git and svn). svn support works well, but I have some trouble with git. Actual configuration: CentOS 5 Apache 2.2.8 Git 1.7.4.1 The /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf content: ServerTokens OS ServerRoot "/etc/httpd" PidFile run/httpd… >>> More
git on HTTP with gitolite and nginx

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am trying to setup a server where my git repo would be accessible with HTTP(S). I am using gitolite and nginx (and gitlab for web interface but I doubt it makes any difference). I have searched the whole afternoon and I think I'm stuck. I have think I have understood that nginx needs fcgiwrap… >>> More
Redmine git integration - issue in accessing git from redmine but not from external git client

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have setup redmine integration with apache as described in the redmine documentation. I have a /git path accessible with auth and /git-private accessible only to redmine. When I clone the repository through /git path, I get the up-to-date repo. But when I try to view it in redmine repo viewer, I… >>> More

Related posts about dvcs

What is the difference between DVCS systems?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
What is the difference between DVCS systems? Seriously, wikipedia doesn't cover it well, and I read an article on HN recently comparing git and bzr in some detail, but the author admitted knowing little about mercurial, and the other options didn't get mentioned. (I'm happily using fossil on small… >>> More
DVCS and data loss?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
After almost two years of using DVCS, it seems that one inherent "flaw" is accidental data loss: I have lost code which isn't pushed, and I know other people who have as well. I can see a few reasons for this: off-site data duplication (ie, "commits have to go to a remote host") is not built in,… >>> More
Push DVCS repository to master without needing codebase

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
To work on a client's staging environment I have to connect through a VPN which locks all normal network traffic and prevents any connection to the Internet. This would immediately prevent any of the "normal" VCS solutions from being used as it's not possible to gain access to the server. A solution… >>> More
Which DVCS is most conducive to experimenting?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I was wondering which DVCS is most conducive to experimentation i.e. branching, etc. I want something where anyone can quickly launch smaller projects and refactor code quickly. I want to create an environment where experimenting is cheap and can be discarded/merged easily. >>> More
Is IDE integration *really* useful for a DVCS?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Specifically, for Visual Studio 2008 (or 2010) and Mercurial, but generalize if desired. >>> More