The whole series of article from Junio C. Hamano, and in particular &quot;Fun with merges and purposes of branches&quot; (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitster.livejournal.com&#x2F;42247.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitster.livejournal.com&#x2F;42247.html</a>) are full of good advices regarding how to use branches, merging and rebasing.