+=head1 HINTS AND TIPS
+
+=head2 Minimising pseudomerges
+
+Above we noted that each time you conclude a debrebase, you introduce
+a pseudomerge into your git history, which may make it harder to read.
+
+A simple convention you can use to minimise the number of pseudomerges
+is to B<git debrebase conclude> only right before you upload or push
+to B<salsa.debian.org>.
+
+It is possible, though much less convenient, to reduce the number of
+pseudomerges yet further. We debrebase only (i) when importing a new
+release, and (ii) right before uploading. Instead of editing the
+existing delta queue, you append fixup commits (and reversions of
+commits) that alter the upstream source to the required state. You
+can push and pull to and from B<salsa.debian.org> during this. Just
+before uploading, you debrebase, once, to tidy everything up.
+
+=head2 The debian/patches directory
+
+In this workflow, I<debian/patches> is purely an output of
+git-debrebase(1). You should not make changes there. They will
+either cause trouble, or be ignored and overwritten by
+git-debrebase(1).
+
+I<debian/patches> will often be out-of-date because git-debrebase(1)
+will only regenerate it when it needs to. So you should not rely on
+the information in that directory. When preparing patches to forward
+upstream, you should use git-format-patch(1) on git commits, rather
+than sending files from I<debian/patches>.
+
+=head2 Upstream branches
+
+In this workflow, we specify upstream tags rather than any branches.
+
+Except when (i) upstream releases only tarballs, (ii) we require DFSG
+filtering, or (iii) you also happen to be involved in upstream
+development, we do not maintain any local branch corresponding to
+upstream, except temporary branches used to prepare patches for
+forwarding, and the like.
+
+The idea here is that from Debian's point of view, upstream releases
+are immutable points in history. We want to make sure that we are
+basing our Debian package on a properly identified upstream version,
+rather than some arbitrary commit on some branch. Tags are more
+useful for this.
+
+Upstream's branches remain available as the git remote tracking
+branches for your upstream remote, e.g. I<remotes/upstream/master>.
+
+=head2 The first ever dgit push
+
+If this is the first ever dgit push of the package, consider passing
+I<--deliberately-not-fast-forward> instead of I<--overwrite>. This
+avoids introducing a new origin commit into your git history. (This
+origin commit would represent the most recent non-dgit upload of the
+package, but this should already be represented in your git history.)
+
+=head2 Inspecting the history
+
+The git history made by git-debrebase can seem complicated.
+Here are some suggestions for helpful invocations of gitk and git.
+They can be adapted for other tools like tig(1), git-log(1), magit, etc.
+
+History of package in Debian, disregarding history from upstream:
+
+=over
+
+ % gitk --first-parent
+
+In a laundered branch, the delta queue is at the top.
+
+=back
+
+History of the packaging, excluding the delta queue:
+
+ % gitk :/debian :!/debian/patches
+
+Just the delta queue (i.e. Debian's changes to upstream):
+
+ % gitk --first-parent -- :/ :!/debian
+
+Full history including old versions of the delta queue:
+
+=over
+
+ % gitk --date-order
+
+The "Declare fast forward" commits you see have an older history
+(usually, an older delta queue) as one parent,
+and a newer history as the other.
+--date-order makes gitk show the delta queues in the right order.
+
+=back
+
+Complete diff since the last upload:
+
+=over
+
+ % git diff dgit/dgit/sid..HEAD -- :/ :!/debian/patches
+
+This includes changes to upstream files.
+
+=back
+
+Interdiff of delta queue since last upload, if you really want it:
+
+ % git debrebase make-patches
+ % git diff dgit/dgit/sid..HEAD -- debian/patches
+
+And of course there is:
+
+ % git debrebase status
+
+=head2 Alternative ways to start a debrebase
+
+Above we started an interactive debrebase by invoking git-debrebase(1)
+like this:
+
+=over 4
+
+ % git debrebase -i
+
+=back
+
+It is also possible to perform a non-interactive rebase, like this:
+
+=over 4
+
+ % git debrebase -- [git-rebase options...]
+
+=back
+
+
+A third alternative is to have git-debrebase(1) shuffle all the Debian
+changes to the end of your branch, and then manipulate them yourself
+using git-rebase(1) directly. For example,
+
+=over 4
+
+ % git debrebase
+ % git rebase -i HEAD~5 # there are 4 Debian patches
+
+=back
+
+If you take this approach, you should be very careful not to start the
+rebase too early,
+including before the most recent pseudomerge.
+git-rebase without a base argument will often
+start the rebase too early,
+and should be avoided.
+Run git-debrebase instead.
+See also "ILLEGAL OPERATIONS" in git-debrebase(5).
+