# REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase 6 messages from 2026-07-28 to 2026-07-28. Participants: Long 76, Matt Hunter, Phillip Wood. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/66077 ## Long 76, 2026-07-28 08:26 Subject: REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase Message-ID: ``` Hi, My configuration: OS Kubuntu 24.04 Git version: 2.54.0 from ppa:git-core/ppa .gitconfig [merge] guitool = meld tool = meld [core] editor = code -w autocrlf = input quotePath = false eol = lf [global] [diff] tool = meld [gui] editor = code [fetch] prune = true [mergetool] keepBackup = false How to reproduce: 1) Made repo # Init repo with README.md git init echo -e '# Git rebase bug\n\nˋˋˋ\ngit rebase master\ngit mergetool\ngit rebase --continue\ngit rev-parse REBASE_HEAD\nˋˋˋ' > README.md git add README.md git commit -m "docs: add README.md" # Add feature branch git branch feature_branch # Add files in separate commits echo -e "Text 1 line\nText 2 line\nText 3 line\nText 4 line\nText 5 line" > Text1.txt git add Text1.txt git commit -m "feat: add Text1.txt" echo -e "Text 1 line\nText 2 line\nText 3 line\nText 4 line\nText 5 line" > Text2.txt git add Text2.txt git commit -m "feat: add Text2.txt" echo -e "Text 1 line\nText 2 line\nText 3 line\nText 4 line\nText 5 line" > Text3.txt git add Text3.txt git commit -m "feat: add Text3.txt" # Do the same in feature branch and one more in one commit git checkout feature_branch echo -e "Texts 1 line\nTexts 2 line\nTexts 3 line\nText 4 line\nTexts 5 line" > Text1.txt git add Text1.txt echo -e "Text 1 line\nText 2 line\nText 3 line\nText 4 line\nText 5 line" > Text2.txt git add Text2.txt echo -e "Texts 1 line\nTexts 2 line\nTexts 3 line\nText 4 line\nTexts 5 line" > Text3.txt git add Text3.txt echo -e "Texts 1 line\nTexts 2 line\nText 3 line\nTexts 4 line\nText 5 line" > Text4.txt git add Text4.txt git commit -m "feat: add all files" 2) Call — git rebase master 3) Call — git mergetool 4) Call — git rebase --continue 5) Call — git rev-parse REBASE_HEAD Last command return value and .git/REBASE_HEAD exists. In other words REBASE_HEAD exists if ogirinal commit in new branch modified and need call git push --force to send it to server. Please fix it, thanks! -- Long76 ``` ## Matt Hunter, 2026-07-28 09:39 Subject: Re: REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase Message-ID: In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue Jul 28, 2026 at 4:26 AM EDT, Long 76 wrote: > > In other words REBASE_HEAD exists if ogirinal commit in new branch > modified and need call git push --force to send it to server. Please fix > it, thanks! I ran into this not that long ago too, while working on a script. It looked like this behavior depended on how the _last_ item in the rebase todo list was handled. I found if the last action was a squash or edit (I don't think reword did this), then REBASE_HEAD was left behind. Also, if rebase stops on a break command, then REBASE_HEAD will be missing, even though a rebase is still in-progress. I made a very short-lived effort to look into why this "bug" was happening. I say "bug" in quotes, because I'm not even sure if it is even problematic behavior. I solved my need at the time (detecting a rebase in progress) by checking for the existence of either of the 'rebase-merge' or 'rebase-apply' directories in $GIT_DIR. > > -- > Long76 ``` ## Phillip Wood, 2026-07-28 13:21 Subject: Re: REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase Message-ID: <92a69a99-c56f-4ec5-968f-436bef64ee48@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: ``` On 28/07/2026 10:39, Matt Hunter wrote: > On Tue Jul 28, 2026 at 4:26 AM EDT, Long 76 wrote: >> >> In other words REBASE_HEAD exists if ogirinal commit in new branch >> modified and need call git push --force to send it to server. Please fix >> it, thanks! The need for "--force" when pushing is due to you having rebased the branch, it is unrelated to the existence of REBASE_HEAD (other than the fact that it exists indicates you have rebased). Rebasing rewrites the history which means that the remote cannot fast-forward when you push. Rather than using "--force" I'd recommend "--force-with-lease --force-if-includes" instead (see the "git push" man page for more details). > I ran into this not that long ago too, while working on a script. It > looked like this behavior depended on how the _last_ item in the rebase > todo list was handled. I found if the last action was a squash or edit > (I don't think reword did this), then REBASE_HEAD was left behind. > > Also, if rebase stops on a break command, then REBASE_HEAD will be > missing, even though a rebase is still in-progress. > > I made a very short-lived effort to look into why this "bug" was > happening. I say "bug" in quotes, because I'm not even sure if it is > even problematic behavior. I think leaving REBASE_HEAD behind after a rebase is a bug, albeit not a very serious one. Looking at the code we delete it before processing each command, but do not clean it up after the last command. > I solved my need at the time (detecting a rebase in progress) by > checking for the existence of either of the 'rebase-merge' or > 'rebase-apply' directories in $GIT_DIR. That's the best way to detect if a rebase is in progress - REBASE_HEAD only exists when there are conflicts, or the editor is opened for the user to reword a commit. It does not exist when the user is editing the todo list at the start of a rebase; when stopping for conflicts after a "merge parent" command without "-C"; when stopping for a break or failed exec command. Thanks Phillip ``` ## Long 76, 2026-07-28 15:34 Subject: Re: REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <92a69a99-c56f-4ec5-968f-436bef64ee48@gmail.com> ``` > The need for "--force" when pushing is due to you having rebased the > branch, it is unrelated to the existence of REBASE_HEAD (other than the > fact that it exists indicates you have rebased). Rebasing rewrites the > history which means that the remote cannot fast-forward when you push. > Rather than using "--force" I'd recommend "--force-with-lease --force- > if-includes" instead (see the "git push" man page for more details). I know it, commit don't the same that was before rebase - because of the conflict, it had to be changed. ``` ## Long 76, 2026-07-28 15:27 Subject: Re: REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase Message-ID: <9ee7b916-a9ce-4300-baf4-b24d0a52fe46@mail.ru> In-Reply-To: ``` > I made a very short-lived effort to look into why this "bug" was > happening. I say "bug" in quotes, because I'm not even sure if it is > even problematic behavior. I think this is a bug because git create similar HEADs if you made merge or cherry-pick. I don't have problems with them. Plus by git rebase docs on official site flag '--show-current-patch': --- Show the current patch in an interactive rebase or when rebase is stopped because of conflicts. This is the equivalent of git show REBASE_HEAD. --- For me it means that return patch only if rebase in progress - not aborted/not complete/have conflicts > I solved my need at the time (detecting a rebase in progress) by > checking for the existence of either of the 'rebase-merge' or > 'rebase-apply' directories in $GIT_DIR. Thanks for advice! I don't knew it. ``` ## Long 76, 2026-07-28 15:28 Subject: Re: REBASE_HEAD still exists after success end rebase Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <9ee7b916-a9ce-4300-baf4-b24d0a52fe46@mail.ru> ``` + phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk 28.07.2026 18:27, Long 76 пишет: >> I made a very short-lived effort to look into why this "bug" was >> happening.  I say "bug" in quotes, because I'm not even sure if it is >> even problematic behavior. > > I think this is a bug because git create similar HEADs if you made merge > or cherry-pick. I don't have problems with them. > > Plus by git rebase docs on official site flag '--show-current-patch': > --- > Show the current patch in an interactive rebase or when rebase is > stopped because of conflicts. This is the equivalent of git show > REBASE_HEAD. > --- > For me it means that return patch only if rebase in progress - not > aborted/not complete/have conflicts > >> I solved my need at the time (detecting a rebase in progress) by >> checking for the existence of either of the 'rebase-merge' or >> 'rebase-apply' directories in $GIT_DIR. > > Thanks for advice! I don't knew it. ```