Diverged Git Branches

Diverged Git Branches | Generated by AI

Home PDF

When your local main branch and the remote origin/main branch have diverged in Git—with 74 and 70 different commits respectively—it means they share a common ancestor but have since developed unique commits. Your goal is to make your local main branch match origin/main by resetting your local branch to the common ancestor (the “parent of both”) and then using git pull to bring in the remote changes, effectively discarding your local diverging commits in favor of the remote ones. Below are the steps to achieve this.

Steps to Fix the Divergence

Fetch the Latest Remote Changes
Start by ensuring your local repository has the latest information from the remote. This updates your reference to origin/main without altering your local main branch yet.
```
git fetch origin
```
Find the Common Ancestor Commit
Use git merge-base to identify the common ancestor commit between your local main and origin/main. This is the point where the branches diverged.
```
ancestor=$(git merge-base main origin/main)
```
This command stores the commit hash of the common ancestor in the variable ancestor.
Reset Local main to the Common Ancestor
Reset your local main branch to the common ancestor commit. The --hard option ensures that both the branch pointer and your working directory are updated, discarding all local commits and changes made after this point.
```
git reset --hard $ancestor
```
Caution: This step will discard all uncommitted changes in your working directory and staging area, as well as the 74 commits unique to your local main. If you need to preserve these, consider creating a backup branch first (see “Optional Backup” below).
Pull the Remote Changes
Now, pull the changes from origin/main. Since your local main is now at the common ancestor, and origin/main is ahead by 70 commits, this will fast-forward your local main to match origin/main.
```
git pull origin main
```
After this, your local main branch will be identical to origin/main, with all local diverging commits discarded.

Complete Command Sequence

Here’s the full sequence of commands to execute:

git fetch origin
ancestor=$(git merge-base main origin/main)
git reset --hard $ancestor
git pull origin main

What Happens?

After Step 1: Your local repository knows the latest state of origin/main.
After Step 2: You’ve identified the common ancestor commit (e.g., a hash like abc123).
After Step 3: Your local main is reset to abc123, losing the 74 unique local commits.
After Step 4: git pull fast-forwards main to origin/main, bringing in the 70 commits from the remote branch.

The result is that your local main matches origin/main exactly, fulfilling your goal of using the remote branch.

Optional Backup

If you’re unsure about discarding your local commits and want to preserve them for later, create a backup branch before resetting:

git branch backup-main

Run this before the git reset command. Your 74 local commits will remain on backup-main, and you can revisit them later if needed.

Important Notes

Uncommitted Changes: If you have uncommitted changes (in your working directory or staging area) that you want to keep, stash them before resetting:
```
git stash
```
After completing the process, you can retrieve them with git stash pop.
Why This Works: Resetting to the common ancestor and pulling ensures a clean fast-forward to origin/main, avoiding merge conflicts that might arise from directly pulling with diverged branches.

By following these steps, you’ll successfully reset your local main to match origin/main as desired.

Back 2025.03.05 Donate