16 posts tagged with "github"

How to Solve "Not Possible to Fast-Forward" with git pull​

The git pull "Not possible to fast-forward" error happens when your local branch and the remote branch have diverged. This means there are new commits on the remote branch that you don't have, and you also have local commits that are not on the remote branch. Git cannot simply move your branch pointer forward (fast-forward) because doing so would lose your local changes.

To fix this, you must explicitly tell Git how to merge the divergent histories. There are two primary solutions: using git pull with rebase or performing a standard git pull followed by a manual merge.

To save your username and password in Git, you can configure a credential helper. A credential helper is a Git component that securely stores your authentication information in memory or on disk, so you don't have to enter it every time you interact with a remote repository.

The fatal: unable to access error with the message "Write access to repository not granted" typically means you don't have the necessary permissions to push changes to the GitHub repository. It's a clear signal from the server that your authentication credentials, while valid, don't grant you the required write access.

Here's how to diagnose and solve this issue:

Rebasing in Git is a powerful and often misunderstood tool. While its primary use is to integrate changes from one branch onto another, there are several "unusual" yet highly effective ways to leverage git rebase to clean up your commit history, fix mistakes, and collaborate more smoothly.

This guide explores some of these advanced use cases, focusing on their practical application and best practices.

Rebasing is not recommended in two primary situations: when you are working on a public or shared branch and when the rebase operation would cause a significant loss of historical context.

Does git rebase affect other branches?

Yes, git rebase can affect other branches, but only if you rebase a branch that other developers have already pulled and started working from. Rebasing a local, unshared branch has no impact on other branches in the repository.

The key to understanding this lies in how rebase works. It rewrites the commit history of a branch by moving its commits to a new base. When you run git rebase, you're essentially creating a new set of commits that replace the original ones.