This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of design and implement a source control strategy. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your team uses Git for source control. You want to maintain a clean commit history on the main branch by avoiding merge commits. Which TWO merge strategies in a pull request achieve this?
Rebase merge
Rebase merge applies commits linearly without a merge commit.
Merge commit
Why wrong: Merge commit creates a merge commit.
Squash merge
Squash merge creates a single commit, no merge commit.
Three-way merge
Why wrong: Three-way merge is not a pull request merge option; it's a merge algorithm.
Fast-forward merge
Why wrong: Fast-forward merge can create a merge commit if branches have diverged.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Rebase merge
A rebase merge (option A) rewrites the commit history of the feature branch onto the tip of the target branch, creating a linear sequence of commits without any merge commits. This maintains a clean, linear history on the main branch. A squash merge (option C) combines all commits from the feature branch into a single new commit on the target branch, also avoiding merge commits and keeping the history clean.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Rebase merge
Why this is correct
Rebase merge applies commits linearly without a merge commit.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Merge commit
Why it's wrong here
Merge commit creates a merge commit.
Squash merge
Why this is correct
Squash merge creates a single commit, no merge commit.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Three-way merge
Why it's wrong here
Three-way merge is not a pull request merge option; it's a merge algorithm.
Fast-forward merge
Why it's wrong here
Fast-forward merge can create a merge commit if branches have diverged.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'fast-forward merge' with a clean history strategy, but fast-forward merges only avoid merge commits when the branches haven't diverged; they do not rewrite or consolidate commits, so they fail to maintain a clean history in the general case.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, a rebase merge uses `git rebase` to replay each commit from the feature branch onto the target branch, creating new commit objects with new SHA-1 hashes. A squash merge uses `git merge --squash` to stage all changes as a single diff, then creates one new commit. In real-world CI/CD pipelines, rebase merges are preferred for preserving granular commit history while maintaining linearity, whereas squash merges are ideal for feature branches with many small or messy commits that should be summarized as one logical change.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
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FAQ
Design and implement a source control strategy — This question tests Design and implement a source control strategy — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Rebase merge — A rebase merge (option A) rewrites the commit history of the feature branch onto the tip of the target branch, creating a linear sequence of commits without any merge commits. This maintains a clean, linear history on the main branch. A squash merge (option C) combines all commits from the feature branch into a single new commit on the target branch, also avoiding merge commits and keeping the history clean.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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