Git refusing to merge unrelated histories on rebase [solution with example]

RELATED : Git refusing to merge unrelated histories on rebase [Solution]

If you are trying to rebase a branch and Git is refusing to merge unrelated histories, it means that Git is unable to automatically merge the two branches because they have no common commit history. This can happen if you are trying to rebase a branch that was created independently of the current branch, rather than being based on the current branch.

To resolve this issue, you can use the ‘--allow-unrelated-histories‘ flag when performing the rebase. This tells Git to ignore the fact that the two branches have unrelated histories and to attempt the rebase anyway.

For example, if you are trying to rebase the my-feature branch onto the master branch and Git is refusing to merge unrelated histories, you can use the following command:

git rebase --allow-unrelated-histories master

This will tell Git to ignore the unrelated histories and attempt to rebase the my-feature branch onto the master branch.

It’s important to note that using the ‘--allow-unrelated-histories‘ flag can result in conflicts during the rebase, since the two branches have no common commit history. You will need to resolve any conflicts manually before the rebase can be completed.

If you do not want to use the ‘--allow-unrelated-histories‘ flag, you can instead create a new branch that is based on the current branch and then perform the rebase on the new branch. This will ensure that the two branches have a common commit history and Git will be able to automatically merge them.