Comment by humblebee

I generally replace `git pull` with a `git fetch $remote` + `git rebase $remote/branch-name`. It provides the added benefit that I can easily diff changes prior to the rebase so that I know what is going into my branch. The use of the `--rebase` flag isn't bad though and I may start doing that when I know I will not be doing any diff prior to a rebase.

I also use `git merge-base` quite a bit so that I do not have to count commits when working with really simple branches.