[git] "git pull" or "git merge" between master and development branches

my rule of thumb is:

rebase for branches with the same name, merge otherwise.

examples for same names would be master, origin/master and otherRemote/master.

if develop exists only in the local repository, and it is always based on a recent origin/master commit, you should call it master, and work there directly. it simplifies your life, and presents things as they actually are: you are directly developing on the master branch.

if develop is shared, it should not be rebased on master, just merged back into it with --no-ff. you are developing on develop. master and develop have different names, because we want them to be different things, and stay separate. do not make them same with rebase.