Avoid using merge commits where possible?

[jonahgraham]

Can we avoid using merge commits when applying Pull Requests? This is what the CDT contribution guideline says:

Merge the Pull Request. Do so while keeping a clean history for CDT

• Use "Rebase and Merge" when the Pull Request has multiple commits separated in a logical fashion.
• Use "Squash and Merge" when merging the PR, especially one where subsequent commits are simply review fixes.
• Only use "Create a Merge Commit" when there is a natural grouping that will be best expressed by showing two branches plus a merge commit.
• It is not necessary for the commit to have a reference in the commit message to the pull request. This reference can be obtained from GitHub automatically. See this Q&A

Here is a screenshot of what current recent history looks like:

This type of history becomes harder to read, rebase and bisect in the future than a (mostly) linear history.

[ghentschke]

Yep, I agree. I just changed the settings to disable merge commits.