What I want rebase to do

This is how I see what rebase should do:

The simple case for rebase starts from

               P---Q---R---S master
                    \
                     A---B---C topic

Then "git checkout topic ; git rebase master" will change it to

               P---Q---R---S master
                            \
                             A'--B'--C' topic

A' is created by a three-way merge that can be symbolized

        Q-->S
        |   |
        v   v
        A-->A'

That is, Q, applying the changes from Q to A and the changes from Q to S, becomes A'.

After that

        A-->A'
        |   |
        v   v
        B-->B'
        |   |
        v   v
        C-->C'

A more complex case is when there is a merge from an external source

               P---Q---R---S master
                    \
                     A---M---C topic
                        /
                    ---X

We want to produce

               P---Q---R---S master
                            \
                             A'--M'--C' topic
                                /
                            ---X

So we have to merge

        Q-->S
        |   |
        v   v
        A-->A'
        |   |
        v   v
        M-->M'
        |   |
        v   v
        C-->C'

Any "evil" changes in M will be in the changes A->M (along with the changes introduced from X), and so they will be reincorporated in A'->M'. M' lists A' and X as its parents. (And not M!)

If there is an internal merge in the topic branch, things look like this

               P---Q---R---S master
                    \
                     \   B
                      \ / \
                       A   M---D topic
                        \ /
                         C

and we want to produce this

               P---Q---R---S master
                            \
                             \    B'
                              \  /  \
                               A'    M'--D' topic
                                 \  /
                                  C'

Which can be done with these merges

        Q-->S
        |   |
        v   v
        A-->A'        A-->A'
        |   |         |   | 
        v   v         v   v 
        B-->B'        C-->C'

There are two choices for constructing M' (which ought to produce the same results under ordinary circumstances)

        B-->B'        C-->C'
        |   |         |   | 
        v   v         v   v 
        M-->M'        M-->M'

and finally

        M-->M'
        |   |
        v   v
        D-->D'

Dale