diff --git a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
index 93092da3bf..fbac1cf38d 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ See also INCOMPATIBLE OPTIONS below.
 --merge::
 	Use merging strategies to rebase.  When the recursive (default) merge
 	strategy is used, this allows rebase to be aware of renames on the
-	upstream side.
+	upstream side.  This is the default.
 +
 Note that a rebase merge works by replaying each commit from the working
 branch on top of the <upstream> branch.  Because of this, when a merge
@@ -683,6 +683,17 @@ accident of implementation rather than by design.  Both backends
 should have the same behavior, though it is not clear which one is
 correct.
 
+Interruptability
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The am backend has safety problems with an ill-timed interrupt; if the
+user presses Ctrl-C at the wrong time to try to abort the rebase, the
+rebase can enter a state where it cannot be aborted with a subsequent
+`git rebase --abort`.  The interactive backend does not appear to
+suffer from the same shortcoming.  (See
+https://lore.kernel.org/git/20200207132152.GC2868@szeder.dev/ for
+details.)
+
 Miscellaneous differences
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/builtin/rebase.c b/builtin/rebase.c
index f0a862f41b..db8fd699d7 100644
--- a/builtin/rebase.c
+++ b/builtin/rebase.c
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ struct rebase_options {
 #define REBASE_OPTIONS_INIT {			  	\
 		.type = REBASE_UNSPECIFIED,	  	\
 		.empty = EMPTY_UNSPECIFIED,	  	\
-		.default_backend = "am",	  	\
+		.default_backend = "merge",	  	\
 		.flags = REBASE_NO_QUIET, 		\
 		.git_am_opts = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT,		\
 		.git_format_patch_opt = STRBUF_INIT	\
@@ -1917,7 +1917,7 @@ int cmd_rebase(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	if (options.type == REBASE_UNSPECIFIED) {
 		if (!strcmp(options.default_backend, "merge"))
-			options.type = REBASE_MERGE;
+			imply_interactive(&options, "--merge");
 		else if (!strcmp(options.default_backend, "am"))
 			options.type = REBASE_AM;
 		else
diff --git a/t/t5520-pull.sh b/t/t5520-pull.sh
index 3fff6a06fa..4f9e7f7ff6 100755
--- a/t/t5520-pull.sh
+++ b/t/t5520-pull.sh
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ test_expect_success '--rebase with conflicts shows advice' '
 	test_tick &&
 	git commit -m "Create conflict" seq.txt &&
 	test_must_fail git pull --rebase . seq 2>err >out &&
-	test_i18ngrep "Resolve all conflicts manually" out
+	test_i18ngrep "Resolve all conflicts manually" err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'failed --rebase shows advice' '
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ test_expect_success 'failed --rebase shows advice' '
 	git checkout -f -b fails-to-rebase HEAD^ &&
 	test_commit v2-without-cr file "2" file2-lf &&
 	test_must_fail git pull --rebase . diverging 2>err >out &&
-	test_i18ngrep "Resolve all conflicts manually" out
+	test_i18ngrep "Resolve all conflicts manually" err
 '
 
 test_expect_success '--rebase fails with multiple branches' '
@@ -774,8 +774,10 @@ test_expect_success 'git pull --rebase does not reapply old patches' '
 	(
 		cd dst &&
 		test_must_fail git pull --rebase &&
-		find .git/rebase-apply -name "000*" >patches &&
-		test_line_count = 1 patches
+		cat .git/rebase-merge/done .git/rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo >work &&
+		grep -v -e \# -e ^$ work >patches &&
+		test_line_count = 1 patches &&
+		rm -f work
 	)
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t9106-git-svn-commit-diff-clobber.sh b/t/t9106-git-svn-commit-diff-clobber.sh
index dbe8deac0d..aec45bca3b 100755
--- a/t/t9106-git-svn-commit-diff-clobber.sh
+++ b/t/t9106-git-svn-commit-diff-clobber.sh
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@ test_expect_success 'multiple dcommit from git svn will not clobber svn' "
 
 
 test_expect_success 'check that rebase really failed' '
-	test -d .git/rebase-apply
+	git status >output &&
+	grep currently.rebasing output
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'resolve, continue the rebase and dcommit' "