Git: merge remote changes

Question

Let's say, I have a branch with my own changes and one commit. But the remote branch is a few commits ahead as well. What is the best way to merge in the remote changes locally, not to generate merge commits?

Answer 1

You can use a rebase (git rebase):

git checkout branch
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/branch

You will replay your commits on top of the updated remote tracking branch origin/branch (replace branch by the actual name of the branch)

Even shorter:

git pull --rebase origin branch

That is valid since you haven't yet pushed 'branch', and will allow you to resolve any merge issue locally.

Answer 2

You can do a simple merge, or you can rebase your changes on the remote branch

L1: local commit

B-C-D Remote commits

A--L1
 \
  B--C--D

A--B--C--D--L1

do a simple fetch and then rebase.