如何在GitHub网页端执行标准快进合并？为何Rebase and Merge不符预期？

Let's break this down clearly based on your scenario and GitHub's current functionality:

Short Answer #

No, you can't perform a pure fast-forward merge via GitHub's web interface—even when the target branch (like master) has no new commits since your feature branch was created.

Why GitHub Doesn't Offer This Option #

Your hunch about accountability is spot-on, and that's one of the core reasons GitHub avoids pure fast-forward merges in the web UI:

• Traceability for merges: GitHub prioritizes clear audit trails for changes to main branches. A pure fast-forward merge doesn't create a new commit, and it leaves the original commits' committer metadata untouched. This means there's no record of who actually merged the feature into master—all commits still show the original author as the committer. For teams that need to track who approved and merged changes, this loses critical context.
• Consistent merge history: GitHub designs its merge options to leave explicit markers in the repository history. Whether you use "Create a merge commit", "Rebase and Merge", or "Squash and Merge", each operation either generates a new commit or modifies existing commit metadata to reflect the merge action. Pure fast-forward merges don't fit this pattern, as they make the branch history look like the feature commits were directly added to master without any merge step.
• Reducing user confusion: For less experienced Git users, a pure fast-forward merge might be confusing—there's no obvious "merge event" in the commit history, which could lead someone to think the branch was never merged. GitHub's standardized merge options help keep history predictable and easy to follow.

Workaround: Do a Pure Fast-Forward Merge Locally #

If you absolutely need a fast-forward merge (no modified commits, no new merge commit), you'll have to use the Git command line:

1. Fetch the latest state of your remote repository: git fetch origin
2. Check out your target branch (e.g., master): git checkout master
3. Make sure you're up to date: git pull origin master
4. Merge your feature branch with the fast-forward-only flag: git merge feature-branch --ff-only
5. Push the updated master branch back to GitHub: git push origin master

Quick Tip for Verifying Commit Metadata #

As you discovered, when "Rebase and Merge" is used, it rewrites commits with new hashes and updates the committer field to the person who performed the merge. To confirm this:

• Use gitk to visually compare the Author vs Committer fields across commits
• Run git log --pretty=raw to see the raw commit metadata, where you'll clearly spot differences in the committer line between original and rebased commits

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者umläute