Remote Diff

Fetch the latest remote refs, generate both diffs with zero context lines and ignoring whitespace changes, strip metadata lines, then compare:

git fetch origin

git diff -b --unified=0 <base-branch>...HEAD > tmp/local_branch_diff.patch
git diff -b --unified=0 origin/<base-branch>...@{u} > tmp/remote_branch_diff.patch

grep -v -E '^(index |@@ |diff --git)' tmp/local_branch_diff.patch > tmp/local_stripped.patch
grep -v -E '^(index |@@ |diff --git)' tmp/remote_branch_diff.patch > tmp/remote_stripped.patch

diff tmp/local_stripped.patch tmp/remote_stripped.patch > tmp/diff_comparison.patch || true

Step 4: Analyze results

Read tmp/diff_comparison.patch.

If it's empty, report: Clean rebase — no issues detected. The local and remote branches make identical code changes relative to the base branch.

If there are differences, read the relevant source files for context and report:

Interpreting differences

Any difference warrants review. Read the source files to assess each one.

Signs of trouble:

• A + line present in the remote diff but missing from local → an addition was lost during rebase
• A - line present in the remote diff but missing from local → a deletion was lost, meaning removed code came back
• Lines present only in the local diff could be conflict resolution or accidental — verify by reading the code

Report format

For each difference:

• What changed — which file and what code differs
• Remote version — what the remote branch had
• Local version — what the local branch has
• Assessment — whether this looks intentional (e.g., correct conflict resolution adapting to renamed code) or suspicious (e.g., lost code, accidental reversion, duplicated changes)

Summary

• Overall assessment: clean rebase or needs attention
• Any lost or accidentally reverted changes
• Any suspicious conflict resolutions

Step 5: Clean up

rm -f tmp/local_branch_diff.patch tmp/remote_branch_diff.patch tmp/local_stripped.patch tmp/remote_stripped.patch tmp/diff_comparison.patch