Am I Git Enough?

AmIGitEnough is a tool that verifies that users have configured git for rebase workflows. The settings AmIGitEnough recommends will help users minimize the number of unnecessary merge commits they create and the number of conflicts they resolve. Experienced developers point new team members to AmIGitEnough because unnecessary merge commits in shared branches are a shared burden.

Usage

$ amigitenough
VALIDATION SUCCEEDED

What Does AmIGitEnough Check For?

AmIGitEnough checks that the user has the following configurations. If validation fails, odds are the user does not have these settings in their $HOME/.gitconfig or wherever else they have their configuration file located.

[rerere]  
	enabled = true  
[pull]  
	rebase = true

Additionally, AmIGitEnough will verify that the user has configured their name and Email address.

An Example

When the user does not have one of the required settings, AmIGitEnough will provide instructions to remedy the problem.

$ amigitenough
Rebase when performing "git pull" is not enabled. Correct this by running: git config --global pull.rebase true
VALIDATION FAILED

Why rebase=true?

This setting ensures that git pull is actually performing git pull --rebase; pull operations rebase the user's local changes on top of incoming commits fetched from the upstream branch.
By default, git pull uses a fetch followed by a merge, and the merge will occasionally cause unnecessary non-linear history even when the user is developing on the main branch.
With this setting, git pull performs a fetch followed by a rebase.

Why Enable Rerere?

The effect of git pull --rebase is that all missing changes starting from something called the merge-base onwards get moved into your history from upstream before your changes. Sometimes there are conflicts to be resolved, and this is expected. Conflicts will only need to be addressed once as long as the merge-base moves forward in time after each git pull --rebase. When the merge-base gets "stuck" at a fixed point in history the user needs to resolve the same conflicts after each execution git pull --rebase.

A scenario where the merge-base could get "stuck" is when the user pulls a change from a teammate's feature branch into their own feature branch for the purpose of continuing development against the main branch using subsequent rebases. Developers who work solo all the time are less likely to encounter this issue of a "stuck" merge-base.

We include the setting in amigitenough because the conflicts are bewildering when they occur, and we know of no situation where having the setting is a disadvantage.