Initial state: ============== A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H origin/master \ \ I - J - K - L master MERGE: After a) git pull b) git fetch && git merge origin/master: ======================================== A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H origin/master \ \ \ \ I - J - K - L - M master REBASE: After a) git pull --rebase b) git fetch && git rebase origin/master: ========================================= A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H origin/master \ \ I' - J' - K' - L' master