You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists)

Question

I made a branch called 'f' and did a checkout to master. When I tried the git pull command I got this message:

You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists).
Please, commit your changes before you can merge.

When I try the git status, it gave me the following:

On branch master
# Your branch and 'origin/master' have diverged,
# and have 1 and 13 different commit(s) each, respectively.
#
# Changes to be committed:
#
#   modified:   app/assets/images/backward.png
#   modified:   app/assets/images/forward.png
#   new file:   app/assets/images/index_background.jpg
#   new file:   app/assets/images/loading.gif
#   modified:   app/assets/images/pause.png
#   modified:   app/assets/images/play.png
#   new file:   app/assets/javascripts/jquery-ui-bootstrap.js
#   new file:   app/assets/stylesheets/jquery-ui-bootstrap.css
#   modified:   app/controllers/friends_controller.rb
#   modified:   app/controllers/plays_controller.rb
#   modified:   app/mailers/invite_friends_mailer.rb
#   modified:   app/mailers/send_plays_mailer.rb
#   modified:   app/mailers/shot_chart_mailer.rb
#   modified:   app/views/friends/show_plays.html.erb
#   modified:   app/views/layouts/application.html.erb
#   modified:   app/views/plays/_inbox_table.html.erb
#   modified:   app/views/plays/show.html.erb
#   modified:   app/views/welcome/contact_form.html.erb
#   modified:   app/views/welcome/index.html.erb
#   modified:   log/development.log
#   modified:   log/restclient.log
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/C1A/C00/sprockets%2Fb7901e0813446f810e560158a1a97066
#   modified:   tmp/cache/assets/C64/930/sprockets%2F65aa1510292214f4fd1342280d521e4c
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/C73/C40/sprockets%2F96912377b93498914dd04bc69fa98585
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/CA9/090/sprockets%2Fa71992733a432421e67e03ff1bd441d8
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/CCD/7E0/sprockets%2F47125c2ebd0e8b29b6511b7b961152a1
#   modified:   tmp/cache/assets/CD5/DD0/sprockets%2F59d317902de6e0f68689899259caff26
#   modified:   tmp/cache/assets/CE3/080/sprockets%2F5c3b516e854760f14eda2395c4ff2581
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/CED/B20/sprockets%2F423772fde44ab6f6f861639ee71444c4
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D0C/E10/sprockets%2F8d1f4b30c6be13017565fe1b697156ce
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D12/290/sprockets%2F93ae21f3cdd5e24444ae4651913fd875
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D13/FC0/sprockets%2F57aad34b9d3c9e225205237dac9b1999
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D1D/DE0/sprockets%2F5840ff4283f6545f472be8e10ce67bb8
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D23/BD0/sprockets%2F439d5dedcc8c54560881edb9f0456819
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D24/570/sprockets%2Fb449db428fc674796e18b7a419924afe
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D28/480/sprockets%2F9aeec798a04544e478806ffe57e66a51
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D3A/ED0/sprockets%2Fcd959cbf710b366c145747eb3c062bb4
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D3C/060/sprockets%2F363ac7c9208d3bb5d7047f11c159d7ce
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D48/D00/sprockets%2Fe23c97b8996e7b5567a3080c285aaccb
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D6A/900/sprockets%2Fa5cece9476b21aa4d5f46911ca96c450
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D6C/510/sprockets%2Fb086a020de3c258cb1c67dfc9c67d546
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/D70/F30/sprockets%2Facf9a6348722adf1ee7abbb695603078
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DA3/4A0/sprockets%2F69c26d0a9ca8ce383e20897cefe05aa4
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DA7/2F0/sprockets%2F61da396fb86c5ecd844a2d83ac759b4b
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DB9/C80/sprockets%2F876fbfb9685b2b8ea476fa3c67ae498b
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DBD/7A0/sprockets%2F3640ea84a1dfaf6f91a01d1d6fbe223d
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DC1/8D0/sprockets%2Fe5ee1f1cfba2144ec00b1dcd6773e691
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DCC/E60/sprockets%2Fd6a95f601456c93ff9a1bb70dea3dfc0
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/DF1/130/sprockets%2Fcda4825bb42c91e2d1f1ea7b2b958bda
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/E23/DE0/sprockets%2Fb1acc25c28cd1fabafbec99d169163d3
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/E23/FD0/sprockets%2Fea3dbcd1f341008ef8be67b1ccc5a9c5
#   modified:   tmp/cache/assets/E4E/AD0/sprockets%2Fb930f45cfe7c6a8d0efcada3013cc4bc
#   new file:   tmp/cache/assets/E63/7D0/sprockets%2F77de495a665c3ebcb47befecd07baae6
#   modified:   tmp/pids/server.pid
#
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#   Coachbase/
#   log/development.log.orig
#   log/restclient.log.orig

What should I do?

my issue was that after resolving conflicts, there were not changes to commit, so I had to `git commit --no-edit` as [suggested here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/36189488/6908282) — Gangula, Jul 27 '23 at 06:40

score 2871 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '23 at 17:54

2871

The problem is your previous pull failed to merge automatically and went to conflict state. And the conflict wasn't resolved properly before the next pull.

Undo the merge and pull again.

To undo a merge:

git merge --abort [Since git version 1.7.4]

git reset --merge [prior git versions]
Resolve the conflict.
Don't forget to add and commit the merge.
git pull now should work fine.

edited Aug 21 '23 at 17:54

ggorlen

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answered Jul 25 '12 at 10:38

Karthik Bose

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I tried and gave me conflict in files(when pull) Auto-merging app/views/layouts/application.html.erb Auto-merging log/development.log CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in log/development.log Auto-merging log/restclient.log CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in log/restclient.log Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result. I fixed the local files specified, and then I tried 'git pull' Pull is not possible because you have unmerged files. Please, fix them up in the work tree, and then use 'git add/rm ' as appropriate to mark resolution, or use 'git commit -a'. – Ankit Suri Jul 26 '12 at 04:00
2

@AnkitSuri, After fixing the conflicts, did you stage them and commit? – Karthik Bose Jul 26 '12 at 05:21
1

I tried it and it help me to get on flow again. After revert back I did try "git mergetool". It directly associate with merging tool. – CoDe Dec 26 '13 at 13:02
10

Does not work: ``[env]$ git merge --abort fatal: You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists). Please, commit your changes before you can merge.`` – user1429980 Jun 03 '14 at 21:55
@user1429980: Which version of GIT you are using? did you try `git reset --merge` – Karthik Bose Jun 04 '14 at 03:59
1

@KarthikBose, it actually did end up working. Since I was working over SSH, I had to start a new session and do a ``git status``. – user1429980 Jun 05 '14 at 19:40
@KarthikBose How do you add and commit a merge, since the files that were merged are already added? I get as response only the untracked files and on commit that I have nothing to commit – stelios Oct 26 '16 at 16:07
@chefarov After you resolve the conflict, the file needs to be staged. Execute "git add to stage the file. Then "git commit" to commit your merge. You got nothing to commit, after resolve the conflict?? It cud be because you chose local version of the file. Use git gui to commit empty merge. – Karthik Bose Nov 08 '16 at 22:18
Thank you very much, `git merge --abort` does the trick. I wasn't able to re-merge after reset all files and this resolved my problem. – Mohammad Zaid Pathan Mar 09 '17 at 14:24
after `git merge --abort` I had to do `git pull` again to have a conflict to respond to. Then when I resolved using `Current Change`, VS Code told me there was no change and would not let me commit to complete the merge. So I did everything over again choosing the alternate resolve. – cyrf Jan 05 '21 at 23:19
1

@cyrf alternatively, after aborting the merge, you should have undo last commit and then stash all changes, after stash you need to pull the latest code and then apply latest stash, by doing those all, then you need to resolve the merge conflicts and it should've worked. – Zeeshan Ali Khan Feb 24 '23 at 10:47
`git commit` After relying on VSCode for git operations for some time, I totally forgot how to do the step 3. All I had to do was just commit without options. `git status` was showing nothing to commit but this command brought me to the editor to modify the merge message. – otterb Jun 12 '23 at 20:01

knagode · Answer 2 · 2018-07-11T20:01:25.763

144

If you are sure that you already resolved all merge conflicts:

rm -rf .git/MERGE*

And the error will disappear.

edited Jul 11 '18 at 20:01

answered Feb 17 '14 at 12:52

knagode

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if you remove MERGE_HEAD, won't the resulting commit only have one parent so you won't have the history of the merged branch? – Jason Goemaat Dec 17 '15 at 10:21
1

@JasonGoemaat in my case I'm temporarily merging in multiple PRs that haven't been accepted yet. I don't plan to commit those merges on the feature branch, I just need them during development. – Andy Nov 03 '16 at 22:08
I had already resolved my conflicts and was still getting this error. So the command worked for me. – Sibgha Apr 30 '19 at 13:13
This saved me from a nasty merge conflict loop. – Sledge Jul 15 '19 at 15:56
Failed for me: `fatal: pathspec '.git/MERGE*' did not match any files` – Mojtaba Dec 21 '22 at 10:00
@Mojtaba, you were probably not at the root of your project. – clemsciences Mar 27 '23 at 13:03

score 104 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

104

I think it's worth mentioning that there are numerous scenarios in which the message You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists) could occur, because many people have probably arrived at this page after searching for said message. The resolution will depend on how you got there.

git status is always a useful starting point.

If you've already merged the contents to your satisfaction and are still getting this message, it could be as simple as doing

git add file
git commit

But again, it really depends on the situation. It's a good idea to understand the basics before attempting anything (same link Terence posted): Git - Basic Merge Conflicts

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Jul 18 '14 at 04:45

fantabolous

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Thank you for asking this, for those of us with the simpler type of problem. "Git status" was what a newbie like me needed, to be reminded that the last step of fixing a conflicted merge was the simple command "git commit". – Dana Apr 20 '17 at 21:22
This has been really helpful, after checking, I discovered that I needed to add a file I modified unknowingly. – Adesoft Oct 14 '21 at 07:11

Badr Bellaj · Answer 4 · 2019-11-26T20:00:34.330

91

I think this is the right way :

git merge --abort

git fetch --all

Then, you have two options:

git reset --hard origin/master

OR If you are on some other branch:

git reset --hard origin/<branch_name>

edited Nov 26 '19 at 20:00

answered Aug 26 '19 at 19:17

Badr Bellaj

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only git merge --abort worked itself && git pull then – luky Oct 23 '19 at 12:43
2

git reset --hard origin/ worked for me. Thanks! – knigalye Nov 23 '21 at 04:59
Those commands delete all your local changes. We don't need that! – Oltion Driza Jan 06 '22 at 11:01

Aakash · Answer 5 · 2021-04-29T04:27:13.153

64

Abort did not work for me. So I had to continue and this is what worked for me:

git merge --continue

edited Apr 29 '21 at 04:27

answered Apr 22 '21 at 02:21

Aakash

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This fixed my problem, but I would love to know how my branch got into this state. – Alex Dresko Dec 21 '21 at 21:00
@AlexDresko, it could be because there was no` diff `between your branch and what you are trying to merge with after resolving the conflicts. – Aakash Dec 22 '21 at 03:44
1

This works for me. I did `merge --abort` and `reset --merge` but still couldn't pull – Noah Feb 18 '23 at 23:42
1

I always get this error and still, end up looking up this answer. Always works for me – Noah Apr 12 '23 at 20:21
1

Only one that worked for me as well! Thanks @Aakash. – rodolfo_r Aug 21 '23 at 18:09

score 22 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:23

22

Try

git reset --hard origin/trunk

'trunk' is the branch that I am trying to get to.

I don't know how or why this works. It had something to do with some commit I made which was forcing my pull requests to do a merge.

edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:23

Aakash

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answered Mar 13 '19 at 16:45

Franklin

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This worked in combination with above answers for me – darth vader Oct 06 '20 at 06:18

score 14 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:22

14

Commit merge changes solved my problem:

git commit -m "commit message"

edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:22

Aakash

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answered Mar 13 '20 at 12:21

sai

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score 13 · Answer 8 · edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:23

13

I resolved conflicts and also committed but still getting this error message on git push

All conflicts fixed but you are still merging.
(use "git commit" to conclude merge)

I did these steps to resolve error:

rm -rf .git/MERGE*
git pull origin branch_name 
git push origin branch_name

edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:23

Aakash

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answered Nov 08 '16 at 06:25

Taimoor Changaiz

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What does the `push` at the end accomplish? – Mark Storer Dec 05 '19 at 15:37

score 13 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 12 '23 at 08:04

13

git merge --abort

This code fixed my problem.

answered Mar 12 '23 at 08:04

Sunil Sapkota

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score 11 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 25 '21 at 14:54

11

Just run this command for aborting the conflict:

git merge --abort

After that, you can pull your project:

git pull origin YOUR_BRANCH

Tested git version 2.25.1

answered Aug 25 '21 at 14:54

Pejman Kheyri

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score 8 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 05 '22 at 19:49

8

Git commit with add flag solved my problem:

$ git commit -am "commit message"

answered Jul 05 '22 at 19:49

user8128167

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score 6 · Answer 12 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

6

Try changing any temporary file. Like just remove any space or add space and then commit and push that file.

git add 'temporary_change_file'

git commit -m "git issue resolving"

git push origin develop

And then try git pull,

git pull origin develop

Hope this might help you.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered May 10 '18 at 05:12

Kazim Noorani

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This was the only thing that solved my problem. Thanks! – PeachesToad May 26 '23 at 15:22

score 5 · Answer 13 · edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:22

5

In my case I had a cherry pick that produce a number of Merge Conflicts, so I decide to not complete the cherry pick. I discarded all my changes. Doing so put me into a state where I received the following error:

You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists

To fix the issue I performed the following git command which fixed the problem.

git cherry-pick --abort

edited Apr 22 '21 at 02:22

Aakash

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answered Sep 29 '17 at 15:38

Cosmo Scrivanich

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score 5 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 27 '22 at 14:57

5

I got this issue when I had two commits with same messages. What fixed my issue is,

git add.
git commit -m "New commit message"

answered Apr 27 '22 at 14:57

Nupur Sharma

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Rohith · Answer 15 · 2019-01-24T21:23:19.227

4

Blockquote

If you're trying to pull from another branch into your branch. If you're seeing this error.

First, you should try doing git commit and then pull another branch into yours.

"git add . "
git commit
Then do git pull from the required branch.

edited Jan 24 '19 at 21:23

answered Jan 24 '19 at 21:18

Rohith

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score 4 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 06 '20 at 08:49

4

We can use git merge --continue with git version 2.12 and above to continue your merging after resolved the conflict. Can see this answer

answered Oct 06 '20 at 08:49

Pyae Hlian Moe

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This is right now, IMO, the best answer. – Loolooii Feb 23 '23 at 14:24

score 3 · Answer 17 · answered Nov 14 '13 at 06:54

Best approach is to undo the merge and perform the merge again. Often you get the order of things messed up. Try and fix the conflicts and get yourself into a mess.

So undo do it and merge again.

Make sure that you have the appropriate diff tools setup for your environment. I am on a mac and use DIFFMERGE. I think DIFFMERGE is available for all environments. Instructions are here: Install DIFF Merge on a MAC

I have this helpful resolving my conflicts: Git Basic-Merge-Conflicts

score 1 · Answer 18 · answered Jun 07 '19 at 05:03

1

first,use git pull to merge repository save your change.then retype git commit -m "your commit".

answered Jun 07 '19 at 05:03

Jack loner

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score 1 · Answer 19 · answered Oct 29 '20 at 14:25

1

I resolved the conflict and then do a commit with -a option. It worked for me.

answered Oct 29 '20 at 14:25

Svetoslav Marinov

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score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Oct 26 '21 at 05:54

First, make sure there are no conflicts before proceeding.

Check if there is no MERGE_MSG.* file in your .git folder.

I knew there are no conflicts and somehow I´ve got 2 of those (one *.swp second *.swo) and deleting them (try maybe to cut+paste them to some different directory just in case) helped to handle the error and merge successfully.

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Jun 07 '23 at 10:52

This message is shown when you are in the middle of a merge. These steps worked for me to finish the merge:

stage files with the resolved conflicts,
commit, you may need to create an empty commit.

And you are done, now it should be possible to pull again.

score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Jun 23 '23 at 15:59

1

Run git status and it will tell you what to do.

For example, in my case it was the message: All conflicts fixed but you are still merging. (use "git commit" to conclude merge)

Indeed, running git commit solved the problem.

answered Jun 23 '23 at 15:59

Andrey Ptashinskiy

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score 0 · Answer 23 · answered Aug 29 '23 at 01:39

0

For those using SourceTree and don’t wanna jump to the terminal to hit and try these commands. Just commit with any message without any changes and it will be resolved.

answered Aug 29 '23 at 01:39

Tabish Sohail

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score -12 · Answer 24 · edited Dec 22 '16 at 21:24

-12

This worked for me:

git log
`git reset --hard <089810b5be5e907ad9e3b01f>`
git pull
git status

edited Dec 22 '16 at 21:24

Bob Gilmore

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answered Sep 21 '15 at 12:42

Plus1

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First of all, this will delete all working directory changes. Also the hardcoded version is not helpful, perhaps something like HEAD^ is better. – Entomo Apr 13 '16 at 15:16
@Plus1 This is exactly what I need - remove my wrong local commits and apply changes with respect to the changed source code. Thank you for your answer! – amuliar Oct 02 '18 at 10:29
It caused a problem in my case – Hafiz Muhammad Shafiq Jan 31 '19 at 06:26

You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists)

24 Answers24

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