Git merge master into feature branch

Question

Let   s say we have the following situation in Git    A created repository   mkdir GitTest2 cd GitTest2 git init  Some modifications in the master take place and get committed   echo  On Master   gt  file git commit -a -m  Initial commit   Feature1 branched off master and some work is done   git branch feature1 git checkout feature1 echo  Feature1   gt  featureFile git commit -a -m  Commit for feature1   Meanwhile  a bug is discovered in the master-code and a hotfix-branch is established   git checkout master git branch hotfix1 git checkout hotfix1  The bug is fixed in the hotfix branch and merged back into the master  perhaps after a pull request code review    echo  Bugfix   gt  bugfixFile git commit -a -m  Bugfix Commit  git checkout master git merge --no-ff hotfix1  Development on feature1 continues   git checkout feature1    Say I need the hotfix in my feature branch  maybe because the bug also occurs there  How can I achieve this without duplicating the commits into my feature branch   I want to prevent to get two new commits on my feature branch which have no relation to the feature implementation  This especially seems important for me if I use pull requests  All these commits will also be included in the pull request and have to be reviewed although this has already been done  as the hotfix is already in the master    I can not do a git merge master --ff-only   fatal  Not possible to fast-forward  aborting    but I am not sure if this helped me

User · Answer

You should be able to rebase your branch on master:

git checkout feature1
git rebase master

Manage all conflicts that arise. When you get to the commits with the bugfixes (already in master), Git will say that there were no changes and that maybe they were already applied. You then continue the rebase (while skipping the commits already in master) with

git rebase --skip

If you perform a git log on your feature branch, you'll see the bugfix commit appear only once, and in the master portion.

For a more detailed discussion, take a look at the Git book documentation on git rebase (https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rebase) which cover this exact use case.

================ Edit for additional context ====================

This answer was provided specifically for the question asked by @theomega, taking his particular situation into account. Note this part:

I want to prevent [...] commits on my feature branch which have no relation to the feature implementation.

Rebasing his private branch on master is exactly what will yield that result. In contrast, merging master into his branch would precisely do what he specifically does not want to happen: adding a commit that is not related to the feature implementation he is working on via his branch.

To address the users that read the question title, skip over the actual content and context of the question, and then only read the top answer blindly assuming it will always apply to their (different) use case, allow me to elaborate:

only rebase private branches (i.e. that only exist in your local repository and haven't been shared with others). Rebasing shared branches would "break" the copies other people may have.
if you want to integrate changes from a branch (whether it's master or another branch) into a branch that is public (e.g. you've pushed the branch to open a pull request, but there are now conflicts with master, and you need to update your branch to resolve those conflicts) you'll need to merge them in (e.g. with git merge master as in @Sven's answer).
you can also merge branches into your local private branches if that's your preference, but be aware that it will result in "foreign" commits in your branch.

Finally, if you're unhappy with the fact that this answer is not the best fit for your situation even though it was for @theomega, adding a comment below won't be particularly helpful: I don't control which answer is selected, only @theomega does.

User · Answer

git merge     you can follow below steps   1  merge origin master branch to feature branch    step1  change branch to master  and pull to update all commits   git checkout master   git pull    step2  change branch to target  and pull to update commits   git checkout feature   git pull    step3  merge master to feature    current is feature branch    git merge master      2  merge feature branch to origin master branch     origin master is the remote master branch  while master is the local master branch     git checkout master   git pull origin master    git merge feature   git push origin master

User · Answer

In Eclipse -  1 Checkout master branch Git Repositories - gt Click on your repository - gt  click on Local - gt double click master branch - gt Click on yes for check out  2 Pull master branch Right click on project - gt click on Team - gt  Click on Pull  3 Checkout your feature branch follow same steps mentioned in 1 point  4 Merge master into feature Git Repositories - gt Click on your repository - gt  click on Local - gt Right Click on your selected feature branch - gt Click on merge - gt Click on Local - gt Click on Master - gt Click on Merge   5 Now you will get all changes of Master branch in feature branch  Remove conflict if any  For conflict if any exists  follow this - Changes mentioned as Head  lt  lt  lt  lt  lt  lt  HEAD  is your change  Changes mentioned in branch  gt  gt  gt  gt  gt  gt  gt  branch  is other person change  you can update file accordingly   Note - You need to do add to index for conflicts files 6 commit and push your changes in feature branch  Right click on project - gt click on Team - gt  Click on commit - gt  Commit and Push   OR Git Repositories - gt Click on your repository - gt  click on Local - gt Right Click on your selected feature branch - gt Click on Push Branch - gt Preview - gt Push

User · Answer

Zimi s answer describes this process generally  Here are the specifics    Create and switch to a new branch  Make sure the new branch is based on master so it will include the recent hotfixes   git checkout master git branch feature1 new git checkout feature1 new    Or  combined into one command  git checkout -b feature1 new master  After switching to the new branch  merge the changes from your existing feature branch  This will add your commits without duplicating the hotfix commits   git merge feature1  On the new branch  resolve any conflicts between your feature and the master branch    Done  Now use the new branch to continue to develop your feature

User · Answer

Here is a script you can use to merge your master branch into your current branch   The script does the following    Switches to the master branch Pulls the master branch Switches back to your current branch Merges the master branch into your current branch   Save this code as a batch file   bat  and place the script anywhere in your repository  Then click on it to run it and you are set      This batch file pulls current master and merges into current branch   echo off     Option to use the batch file outside the repo and pass the repo path as an arg set repoPath  1 cd  repoPath   FOR  F  tokens      g IN   git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD   do  SET currentBranch   g   echo current branch is  currentBranch  echo switching to master git checkout master echo  echo pulling origin master git pull origin master echo  echo switching back to  currentBranch  git checkout  currentBranch  echo  echo attemting merge master into  currentBranch  git merge master echo  echo script finished successfully PAUSE

User · Answer

I add my answer  similar to others but maybe it will be the quickest one to read and implement  NOTE  Rebase is not needed in this case  Assume I have a repo1 and two branches master and dev-user  dev-user is a branch done at a certain state of master  Now assume that both dev-user and master advance  At some point I want dev-user to get all the commits made in master  How do I do it  I go first in my repository root folder cd name of the repository then git checkout master  git pull  git checkout dev-user git pull git merge master  git push   I hope this helps someone else in the same situation

User · Answer

I am on the feature branch and made refactorings  I want to merge the master changes now to my feature branch  I am far behind  Note I do not want to pull the master changes to my local because my feature branch have modules moved from one place to another  I found just performing below without pull does not work  it says  Already up to date       below does not get the latest from remote master to my local feature branch without git pull     git checkout master      git fetch      git checkout my-feature-branch      git merge master   This below works  note use git merge origin master    git checkout master      git fetch      git checkout my-feature-branch      git merge origin master

User · Answer

Complementing the existing answers  as these commands are recurrent we can do it in a row  Given we are in the feature branch  git checkout master  amp  amp  git pull  amp  amp  git checkout -  amp  amp  git merge -  Or add them in an alias  alias merge with master  quot git checkout master  amp  amp  git pull  amp  amp  git checkout -  amp  amp  git merge - quot

User · Answer

How do we merge the master branch into the feature branch  Easy   git checkout feature1 git merge master   There is no point in forcing a fast forward merge here  as it cannot be done  You committed both into the feature branch and the master branch  Fast forward is impossible now   Have a look at GitFlow  It is a branching model for git that can be followed  and you unconsciously already did  It also is an extension to Git which adds some commands for the new workflow steps that do things automatically which you would otherwise need to do manually   So what did you do right in your workflow  You have two branches to work with  your feature1 branch is basically the  develop  branch in the GitFlow model   You created a hotfix branch from master and merged it back  And now you are stuck   The GitFlow model asks you to merge the hotfix also to the development branch  which is  feature1  in your case   So the real answer would be   git checkout feature1 git merge --no-ff hotfix1   This adds all the changes that were made inside the hotfix to the feature branch  but only those changes  They might conflict with other development changes in the branch  but they will not conflict with the master branch should you merge the feature branch back to master eventually   Be very careful with rebasing  Only rebase if the changes you did stayed local to your repository  e g  you did not push any branches to some other repository  Rebasing is a great tool for you to arrange your local commits into a useful order before pushing it out into the world  but rebasing afterwards will mess up things for the git beginners like you

User · Answer

You might be able to do a  cherry-pick  to pull the exact commit s  that you need in to your feature branch   Do a git checkout hotfix1 to get on the hotfix1 branch  Then do a git log to get the SHA-1 hash  big sequence of random letters and numbers that uniquely identifies a commit  of the commit in question  Copy that  or the first 10 or so characters    Then  git checkout feature1 to get back onto your feature branch   Then  git cherry-pick  lt the SHA-1 hash that you just copied gt   That will pull that commit  and only that commit  into your feature branch  That change will be in the branch - you just  cherry-picked  it in  Then  resume work  edit  commit  push  etc  to your heart s content   When  eventually  you perform another merge from one branch into your feature branch  or vice-versa   Git will recognize that you ve already merged in that particular commit  know that it doesn t have to make it again  and just  skip over  it

User · Answer

Based on this article  you should    create new branch which is based upon new version of master  git branch -b newmaster merge your old feature branch into new one  git checkout newmaster resolve conflict on new feature branch   The first two commands can be combined to git checkout -b newmaster   This way your history stays clear because you don t need back merges  And you don t need to be so super cautious since you don t need to do a Git rebase

[git] Git merge master into feature branch

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