Git pull - can't submit merge message

Question

Possible Duplicate: github locks up mac terminal when using pull command

I am using Git via the terminal on the mac. I have encountered an annoying problem recently when I try to perform git pull. After performing git pull I receive the following error message:

Merge ssh://example.com/repository.git
# Please enter a commit message to explain why this merge is necessary,
# especially if it merges an updated upstream into a topic branch.
#
# Lines starting with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts:
# the commit.

The issue is that I can't enter anything. My terminal seems stuck and there isn't anything I seem to be able to do about it. I am reasonably new to Git so it may be a simple mistake I am making.

I read here that for some people the text editor opens at this point. This certainly isn't the case at my end. It also states there that I can use the --no-edit flag to merge without a message, but even this does not seem to work at my end.

I am a bit clueless at the moment, stuck and unable to push any changes to my server.

score 127 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 30 '12 at 23:45

127

This is vim, it's a common unix editor

press:

:wq

that's it. (w=write q=quit)

answered Dec 30 '12 at 23:45

Luigi R. Viggiano

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And if you did want to insert something you would type "i" and Vim goes in to edit mode. To exit edit mode just hit "escape". – Glen Selle Nov 13 '13 at 17:04
1

simple but yet difficult to find for windows users like me. thanks for it :) – Vikas Dec 01 '16 at 12:48
Damn. And I thought that I will never be stuck in VI. – Johnny Dec 14 '20 at 21:24
":wq" is not a button to be pressed. – Sinusx Jun 25 '21 at 13:31
https://www.commitstrip.com/en/2017/05/29/trapped :o) – nquincampoix Jul 01 '22 at 09:18

score 24 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 30 '12 at 23:46

When you see this, an editor already opened, because you see this ;) I guess it opens vi, or a derivate of this. Google for it to find out how to use it, but it seems you prefer to change the editor instead

git config --global core.editor "emacs"

I prefer nano :)

Git pull - can't submit merge message

2 Answers2