Bisect doesn't require a nice commit history, just a granular one (well, it doesn't require a granular one either but it's a bit less helpful if it lets you ide

Bisect doesn't require a nice commit history, just a granular one (well, it doesn't require a granular one either but it's a bit less helpful if it lets you identify the problem commit as the +18000/-7000 LOC "Overhaul payment system <7 paragraph description of new payment system>" than if it drops you on the +3/-3 LOC "fix encoding bug <no description of what the bug is or what the fix does>") Edit: I should also add that if you use github, squash-merging pull requests is fine because you can pull down and check out the pull request branch and run bisect on that. Or more generally if you don't delete history and keep a record of what commits were squashed to make your giant commit, your friendly local maintenance programmer might grumble slightly but will still be able to work effectively. Just please avoid erasing history entirely.