Git concepts: rebasing

Rebasing in Git is a process that allows you to integrate changes from one branch into another. Like merging, it's a way to integrate different lines of work. However, instead of combining two branches and creating a new commit, rebasing incorporates changes by creating a new "base" for your branch.

When you rebase, Git takes the changes made in the commits on the branch you're on, saves them as temporary files, and applies them to the branch you're rebasing onto.

Here's a step-by-step process of how rebasing works:

• You start by checking out the branch that you want to rebase onto another branch. For example, if you have a 'feature' branch that you want to base onto the 'master' branch, you would checkout the 'feature' branch.
• You then use the git rebasej command followed by the name of the branch that you want to rebase onto. In our example, you would type 'git rebase master'.
• Git will find the common ancestor of the two branches, take the diff introduced by each commit of the branch you're on, save them as temporary files, then apply each change onto the other branch.
• If conflicts occur during rebasing, Git will pause and allow you to resolve the conflicts, then you can continue the rebase process.

Rebasing is useful for maintaining a clean, linear project history. You can use it to make sure your feature branch includes all the updated code from the master branch. But it should be used with caution because it can overwrite commit history and make collaboration more challenging if not handled properly.