You are sharing a branch with another developer and this developer did a git push --force and you want to resume work on that branch without losing your local commits.

The initial setup is as follows:

A branch b1 has been created out of main.
b1 has been pushed to the remote repository.
Both Alina and Blake are working on that branch.
New commits were pushed on main.

There is only one file being edited: file.txt.

The commit tree is as follows:

arenas.git

On main, when the branch b1 was created, the file was at commit a9e37e2.

After the branch b1 was created, the file on main was changed to commit 417701d.

A:1

X:24

Alina changes the file on b1 to commit 91c8e94.

Alina and Blake are both working on that branch from that initial state.

Alina does a git rebase

Alina decides to rebase the branch b1 on main in order to sync with the latest changes on main.

alina

alina git:( b1 ) git rebase origin/main

Rebasing (1/1)

Auto-merging file.txt

CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in file.txt

error: could not apply 91c8e94... add line B

hint: Resolve all conflicts manually, mark them as resolved with

hint: "git add/rm <conflicted_files>", then run "git rebase --continue".

hint: You can instead skip this commit: run "git rebase --skip".

hint: To abort and get back to the state before "git rebase", run "git rebase --abort".

Could not apply 91c8e94... add line B

alina █

Due to the incompatible changes between the two branches, the rebase fails with a conflict and Alina must resolve the conflict manually.

Alina edits the file file.txt and resolves the conflicts by removing the markers while fixing the content:

alina

alina git:( b1 ) cat file.txt

A:1

X:24

alina git:( b1 ) █

Alina then finishes the rebase.

alina

alina git add file.txt

alina git rebase --continue

Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/b1.

alina git:( b1 ) █

Because Alina performed a rebase, she must do a push --force to update the remote branch.

alina

alina git:( b1 ) git push --force

Enumerating objects: 5, done.

Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.

Delta compression using up to 8 threads

Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.

Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 279 bytes | 279.00 KiB/s, done.

Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0

remote:

remote: Create a new pull request for 'b1':

remote: http://localhost:3030/gitpowerup/arenas/compare/main...b1

remote:

remote: . Processing 1 references

remote: Processed 1 references in total

To ssh://remote.mygit.com/gitpowerup/arenas.git

+ 91c8e94...0f6f7bf b1 -> b1 (forced update)

alina git:( b1 ) █

And Alina’s commit graph is now:

alina

On the server, the commit graph is:

arenas.git

back to Blake

Blake, who is also working on the branch b1, changes the file file.txt to be:

And commits the change.

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git add file.txt

blake git:( b1 ) git commit -m 'add line C'

[b1 9c5b6bd] add line C

1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

blake git:( b1 ) █

But when she tries to push her change, she gets an error.

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git push

To ssh://remote.mygit.com/gitpowerup/arenas.git

! [rejected] b1 -> b1 (fetch first)

error: failed to push some refs to 'ssh://remote.mygit.com/gitpowerup/arenas.git'

hint: Updates were rejected because the remote contains work that you do

hint: not have locally. This is usually caused by another repository pushing

hint: to the same ref. You may want to first integrate the remote changes

hint: (e.g., 'git pull ...') before pushing again.

hint: See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.

blake git:( b1 ) █

Blake syncs up her local with a git fetch.

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git fetch --all

remote: Enumerating objects: 5, done.

remote: Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.

remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0

Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), 259 bytes | 129.00 KiB/s, done.

From ssh://remote.mygit.com/gitpowerup/arenas

+ 91c8e94...0f6f7bf b1 -> origin/b1 (forced update)

blake git:( b1 ) █

A git status shows the divergence between her local branch b1 and the remote branch b1:

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git status

On branch b1

Your branch and 'origin/b1' have diverged,

and have 2 and 2 different commits each, respectively.

(use "git pull" to merge the remote branch into yours)

nothing to commit, working tree clean

blake git:( b1 ) █

Blake’s commit graph is:

blake

Blake:

Has 2 commits that are not on the remote branch b1: 9c5b6bd and 91c8e94.
Is missing the 2 commits that are on the remote branch b1: 0f6f7bf and 417701d.

Git suggests performing a git pull:

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git pull

hint: You have divergent branches and need to specify how to reconcile them.

hint: You can do so by running one of the following commands sometime before

hint: your next pull:

hint:

hint: git config pull.rebase false # merge

hint: git config pull.rebase true # rebase

hint: git config pull.ff only # fast-forward only

hint:

hint: You can replace "git config" with "git config --global" to set a default

hint: preference for all repositories. You can also pass --rebase, --no-rebase,

hint: or --ff-only on the command line to override the configured default per

hint: invocation.

fatal: Need to specify how to reconcile divergent branches.

blake git:( b1 ) █

Blake can either merge or rebase her commits onto the remote branch b1. She could also have done a git reset --hard to fully reconcile her local branch b1 with the remote branch b1, but she would have lost her local commits.

Blake performs a rebase.

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git pull --rebase

Rebasing (1/1)

Auto-merging file.txt

CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in file.txt

error: could not apply 9c5b6bd... add line C

hint: Resolve all conflicts manually, mark them as resolved with

hint: "git add/rm <conflicted_files>", then run "git rebase --continue".

hint: You can instead skip this commit: run "git rebase --skip".

hint: To abort and get back to the state before "git rebase", run "git rebase --abort".

Could not apply 9c5b6bd... add line C

blake █

There is also a conflict as git doesn’t know how to add the line C in the file file.txt.

Blake resolves the conflict by editing the file file.txt to be:

alina

alina git:( b1 ) cat file.txt

A:1

X:24

alina git:( b1 ) █

Blake finishes the rebase.

blake

blake git add file.txt

blake git rebase --continue

Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/b1.

blake git:( b1 ) █

Blake can now push her changes.

blake

blake git:( b1 ) git status

On branch b1

Your branch is ahead of 'origin/b1' by 1 commit.

(use "git push" to publish your local commits)

nothing to commit, working tree clean

blake git:( b1 ) git push

Enumerating objects: 5, done.

Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.

Delta compression using up to 8 threads

Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.

Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 281 bytes | 281.00 KiB/s, done.

Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0

remote:

remote: Create a new pull request for 'b1':

remote: http://localhost:3030/gitpowerup/arenas/compare/main...b1

remote:

remote: . Processing 1 references

remote: Processed 1 references in total

To ssh://remote.mygit.com/gitpowerup/arenas.git

0f6f7bf..9336d1f b1 -> b1

blake git:( b1 ) █

Blake’s commit graph is now:

blake

back with Alina

Alina can now retrieve Blake’s change.

alina

alina git:( b1 ) git fetch --all

remote: Enumerating objects: 5, done.

remote: Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.

remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0

Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), 261 bytes | 130.00 KiB/s, done.

From ssh://remote.mygit.com/gitpowerup/arenas

0f6f7bf..9336d1f b1 -> origin/b1

alina git:( b1 ) git pull

Updating 0f6f7bf..9336d1f

Fast-forward

file.txt | 1 +

1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

alina git:( b1 ) █

Alina’s commit graph is now in sync with Blake’s.

alina

And now they have the same file.txt.

alina

alina git:( b1 ) cat file.txt

A:1

X:24

alina git:( b1 ) █

Alina goes back to the main branch.

alina

alina git:( b1 ) git switch main

Switched to branch 'main'

Your branch is behind 'origin/main' by 1 commit, and can be fast-forwarded.

(use "git pull" to update your local branch)

alina git:( main ) █

Where the file file.txt is still in its original content.

alina

alina git:( main ) cat file.txt

alina git:( main ) █

The git status indicates that the local main branch is behind the remote main branch by 1 commit.

alina

alina git:( main ) git status

On branch main

Your branch is behind 'origin/main' by 1 commit, and can be fast-forwarded.

(use "git pull" to update your local branch)

nothing to commit, working tree clean

alina git:( main ) █

Alina syncs up the local branch.

alina

alina git:( main ) git pull

Updating a9e37e2..417701d

Fast-forward

file.txt | 3 ++-

1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

alina git:( main ) █

The content is now updated.

alina

alina git:( main ) cat file.txt

A:1

X:24

alina git:( main ) █

As the branch b1 has been rebased on top of main, a fast-forward merge is possible.

alina

alina git:( main ) git merge --ff-only origin/b1

Updating 417701d..9336d1f

Fast-forward

file.txt | 2 ++

1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

alina git:( main ) █

That command brings the new commit graph on Alina’s machine.

alina

And now the last content of file.txt is available.

alina

alina git:( main ) cat file.txt

A:1

X:24

alina git:( main ) █