Git merge develop into feature branch outputs "Already up-to-date" while it's not

Question

I checked out a feature branch from develop called branch-x. After a while other people pushed changes to the develop branch.

I want to merge those changes into my branch-x. However if I do

git merge develop

it says "Already up-to-date" and doesn't allow me to merge.

git diff develop shows that there are differences between branch-x and develop.

How do I merge develop into branch-x?

Is your branch really latest? Pull sometimes fails. Try `git checkout develop` `git merge origin/develop` — shirakia, Oct 26 '15 at 11:25
Yes, "git merge origin/develop" outputs "Already up-to-date". — MeesterPatat, Oct 26 '15 at 11:31

Maroun · Answer 1 · 2019-10-17T13:52:42.663

140

You should first pull the changes from the develop branch and only then merge them to your branch:

git checkout develop 
git pull 
git checkout branch-x
git rebase develop

Or, when on branch-x:

git fetch && git rebase origin/develop

I have an alias that saves me a lot of time. Add to your ~/.gitconfig:

[alias]
    fr = "!f() { git fetch && git rebase origin/"$1"; }; f"

Now, all that you have to do is:

git fr develop

edited Oct 17 '19 at 13:52

answered Oct 26 '15 at 09:32

Maroun

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I'm sorry I haven't described it in my question, but I already did pull the changes to my local machine. So this isn't causing the issue. – MeesterPatat Oct 26 '15 at 09:47
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Mindless use of `git rebase` is dangerous. It may easily create nonsensical commits that won't compile. – cmaster - reinstate monica Aug 17 '20 at 09:21
@cmaster-reinstatemonica but, it can be a mess if your current branch already have commits and you want to 'squash' some commits after a merge, so rebase would be better in this scenario – Bruno de Oliveira Mar 12 '21 at 02:18
It broke my commits as well. – learner Aug 24 '21 at 19:06
What exactly was broken? – Maroun Aug 25 '21 at 06:32
broke my commits as well. – Kuldeep Yadav Sep 04 '21 at 02:25
Why would I use rebase instead git merge on the last line of the first list of commands? wouldn't merge do the same but retain git history better? I never understand rebase properly, that's why I ask. – Rin and Len May 18 '22 at 09:20
Much better to use git merge than this approach. Problems with commits were already mentioned. I want to add that I experienced it myself as well. On the other hand, using git merge worked like a charm. – Олег Місько Feb 28 '23 at 10:22

score 81 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 24 '22 at 18:48

81

Step by step self explaining commands for update of feature branch with the latest code from origin "develop" branch:

git checkout develop
git pull -p
git checkout feature_branch
git merge develop

If there are any merge conflicts after "git merge" CMD, fix the merge issues manually & add those manually merged file(s) & commit

git add <mergedFile>
git commit -m "Merged develop to feature_branch"

Finally push the merge to remote:

git push origin feature_branch

edited Aug 24 '22 at 18:48

Saurabhcdt

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answered Aug 17 '20 at 08:59

zdrsoft

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What does the `-p` option do? I can't find it in my manpage. – cmaster - reinstate monica Aug 17 '20 at 09:24
Just commit whatever you have in your feature_branch and then try this answer. – Deepesh kumar Gupta Aug 17 '20 at 17:51
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git pull -p -p is the same as --prune, this option do cleaning of outdated branches. You could define automatic prune instead usage of parameter: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18308535/automatic-prune-with-git-fetch-or-pull In the example above -p option could not be used. – zdrsoft Aug 18 '20 at 10:10
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If there are any merge conflicts after "git merge develop" CMD, fix the merge issues & add those manually merged file using "git add ". Then commit the changes "git commit -m "Merged develop to feature_branch" & then execute last CMD to push changes to origin feature_branch. Could not edit the answer due to "Suggested edit que is full" error. – Saurabhcdt Jun 16 '22 at 15:06
@Saurabhcdt you can edit now – hakima maarouf Aug 15 '22 at 11:38
None of theses solutions worked for me either. If I do a compare between develop and feature branch, expected changes are shown. But when I do a merge using VS 2022 or manually, nothing changes. Had to manually update one script to hopefully get past issue. – Russ R Aug 25 '23 at 13:34

score 19 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 02 '20 at 02:18

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git pull origin develop

Since pulling a branch into another directly merges them together

answered Apr 02 '20 at 02:18

Paul-Arthur THIÉRY

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score 14 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 13 '19 at 13:11

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git fetch && git merge origin/develop

edited Aug 13 '19 at 13:11

Dharman

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answered Aug 13 '19 at 12:48

Sebastian Diez

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'git pull origin develop' is an equivalent – keemor Jan 27 '20 at 10:08
Yes, that's the easiest way. Thank you. – nima Oct 02 '20 at 06:31

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 13 '19 at 10:24

Initially my repo said "Already up to date."

MINGW64 (feature/Issue_123) 
$ git merge develop

Output:

Already up to date.

But the code is not up to date & it is showing some differences in some files.

MINGW64 (feature/Issue_123)
$ git diff develop

Output:

diff --git 
a/src/main/database/sql/additional/pkg_etl.sql 
b/src/main/database/sql/additional/pkg_etl.sql
index ba2a257..1c219bb 100644
--- a/src/main/database/sql/additional/pkg_etl.sql
+++ b/src/main/database/sql/additional/pkg_etl.sql

However, merging fixes it.

MINGW64 (feature/Issue_123)
$ git merge origin/develop

Output:

Updating c7c0ac9..09959e3
Fast-forward
3 files changed, 157 insertions(+), 92 deletions(-)

Again I have confirmed this by using diff command.

MINGW64 (feature/Issue_123)
$ git diff develop

No differences in the code now!

Git merge develop into feature branch outputs "Already up-to-date" while it's not

5 Answers5