Git: can't commit a file even though I've resolved the conflict

Question

I pulled from origin to update my local, and one file had conflicting changes. I resolved the conflict, but I can't commit (locally) because git still thinks the file is conflicting:

$ git add style.css

This works - no errors or anything. Then:

$ git commit

Merge branch 'dev' of [origin] into dev

Conflicts:
        [path]/style.css
#
# It looks like you may be committing a MERGE.
# If this is not correct, please remove the file
#       .git/MERGE_HEAD
# and try again.
#

Why doesn't this work?

Solution 1

Okay, so this doesn't technically solve the original problem, but it does get around it. What I did was I backed up my changes to style.css and then reset my local dev branch to origin/dev. This resolved whatever it thought the conflict was, since local and origin were now identical, but also put my local dev branch one commit behind in the process.

So then I just diffed my backup style.css (which had my most recent changes) against my now-current local version, merged my changes in, and committed.

Solution 2

I'll explain what basically happened here:

Your pull initiated a merge of the remote branch (because you did not do a rebase using the '-r' flag which would have done a rebase). The merge itself had a conflict and aborted (which also means your pull didn't finish). Now after you resolved the conflict you will have to add the conflicted file(s) and do a "git commit" to actually complete your pull (and the merge required for that). This will remove the file ".git/MERGE_HEAD" mentioned in your commit message which shows that you are currently in the middle of a merge.

After this you are in a clean state and everything should be fine.

Solution 3

I just had this myself and found this question while looking for a solution. The "Conflicts" message came up in my default text editor. Closing the text editor with gitshell still open allowed the commit to complete.

Comments

[bill-x]

what does it show when you try git status?

[daGUY]

It lists style.css as modified. However, I even tried discarding the changes entirely (they're minor), and git commit still says style.css is conflicting!

[vergenzt]

That may just be the commit message. The default message lists files that had conflicts at the end just like that. Does git log show a merge?

[bill-x]

hmm...have you tried to remove the file through explorer/file browser and then using git rm <file> (make sure you back it up in a non repo folder if you want it keep it). Commit again and push then re add the deleted file and commit/push?

[daGUY]

@vergenzt git log shows my last commit, but doesn't indicate it was a merge in any way.

[daGUY]

@BillX even if I delete the file and use git rm, it still tells me it's conflicting when I do git commit.

[vergenzt]

So the git commit has no side-effect whatsoever? You could run it multiple times and nothing changes?

[bill-x]

Did you remove the file .git/MERGE_HEAD also?

[daGUY]

That sounds logical, but as you can see in my question, I did add the conflicting file but it still wouldn't let me commit. Unless you're saying I should have manually removed the .git/MERGE_HEAD file?