> I think it is quite telling that the Linux kernel developers themselves prefer a simple, linear history in the end
What do you mean? This is what the current git history of the linux kernel looks like:
* 12b9fa6 Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pu
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| * 5129fa4 do_last(): ELOOP failure exit should be done after
| * a7f7754 should_follow_link(): validate ->d_seq after having
| * d456564 namei: ->d_inode of a pinned dentry is stable only
| * c80567c do_last(): don't let a bogus return value from ->op
| * 0fcbf99 fs: return -EOPNOTSUPP if clone is not supported
| * b6853f7 hpfs: don't truncate the file when delete fails
* | 340b3a5 Merge tag 'armsoc-fixes' of git://git.kernel.org/
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| * \ d877a21 Merge tag 'renesas-soc-fixes-for-v4.5' of git:/
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| | * | 901c5ff ARM: shmobile: Remove shmobile_boot_arg
| | * | 4e960f5 ARM: shmobile: Move shmobile_smp_{mpidr, fn, ar
| | * | b1568d8 ARM: shmobile: r8a7779: Remove remainings of re
| | * | d2613f5 ARM: shmobile: Move shmobile_scu_base from .tex
| * | | 7931845 MAINTAINERS: Extend info, add wiki and ml for m
| * | | 9fa6c2b Merge tag 'omap-for-v4.5/fixes-rc5' of git://
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| | * | | 3f315c5 ARM: OMAP2+: Fix onenand initialization to av
| | * | | e327b3f Revert "regulator: tps65217: remove tps65217.
| * | | | a9e5547 MAINTAINERS: alpine: add a new maintainer and
| * | | | 5e45a25 ARM: at91/dt: fix typo in sama5d2 pinmux desc
| * | | | b223c9f Merge tag 'imx-fixes-4.5' of git://git.kern
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| | * | | | f5d0ca2 ARM: dts: imx6: remove bogus interrupt-pare
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| * | | | e3acd74 Merge tag 'omap-for-v4.5/fixes-rc3-v2' of g
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| | * | | cf26f11 ARM: OMAP2+: Fix omap_device for module reloa
| | * | | 08c78e9 ARM: OMAP2+: Improve omap_device error for dr
| | * | | bf26927 ARM: DTS: am57xx-beagle-x15: Select SYS_CLK2
| | * | | a5b8751 ARM: dts: am335x/am57xx: replace gpio-key,wak
| | * | | 5f35dc4 ARM: OMAP2+: Set system_rev from ATAGS for n9
| * | | | 74a46ec Merge tag 'mvebu-fixes-4.5-2' of git://git.
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| | * | | | 44361a2 ARM: dts: orion5x: fix the missing mtd flas
| | * | | | 9d021c9 ARM: dts: kirkwood: use unique machine name
* | | | | | 691429e Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew)
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| * | | | | | 7f6d5b5 dax: move writeback calls into the filesy