Montone

Montone is a term primarily used in the context of version control systems, particularly with regards to distributed version control systems (DVCS) like Git and Mercurial. It refers to a specific approach to managing branching and merging, often characterized by a single, evolving line of development.

In this model:

• Linear History: The goal is to maintain a mostly linear history, avoiding complex branching structures where possible.
• Rebasing/Cherry-Picking: Changes are frequently rebased or cherry-picked onto the main line of development, rather than merged in a traditional way. Rebasing rewrites the commit history by moving branches and applying changes on top of another branch. Cherry-picking applies specific commits from one branch to another.
• Simplicity: The primary motivation is to keep the project history clean and easy to understand, facilitating easier debugging and code review.

However, the "Montone" workflow is not a strict, universally defined methodology. The precise interpretation and implementation can vary depending on the team or project. Some might employ more frequent rebasing than others. The key characteristic is the strong preference for a streamlined, linear history and minimizing merge commits.

While simpler in some ways to visualize, maintaining a "Montone" workflow requires discipline and careful management, particularly when multiple developers are contributing. It can also make certain types of historical analysis more difficult, as the history has been rewritten. Force pushing is often required, which can be disruptive if not coordinated.