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Introduction
How to solve not possible fast-forward error during git pull? Here are some reasons and solutions to avoid fatal errors.
Typical Reasons and Remedies
Local Changes Conflict
You have made local changes on the current branch and they conflict with changes from the remote.
Solution:
- Before pulling, commit or stash your local changes.
git stash git pull git stash pop # to restore your stashed changes
- Or, if you are fine with discarding your local changes
git reset --hard HEAD git pull
Diverging Branches
Your local branch and the remote branch have diverged meaning that they have different commit histories.
Solution:
Use --rebase to re-apply your changes on top of the fetched branch:
git pull --rebase
This applies to your local commits after pulling the changes from the remote, ensuring a cleaner history.
Non-Fast-Forward Merge Required
The pull requires a merge commit because the branches cannot be fast-forwarded.
Solution:
Allow Git to create a merge commit:
git pull --no-ff
This creates a merge commit and merges the branches.
Conclusion
In summary, the "fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting" error occurs because Git cannot perform a fast-forward merge. This typically happens when your local branch has changes that conflict with the remote branch, or the branches have diverged.
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