Is there a git merge dry run option?

6.1K Asked by Ayushigupta in Devops , Asked on Jul 1, 2021

I'm merging in a remote branch that may have a lot of conflicts. How can I tell if it will have conflicts or not?

I don't see anything like a --dry-run on git-merge.`

Answered by Daniel BAKER

First, pass in the --no-commit flag, but to avoid a fast-forward commit, the following is also recommended:

  $ git merge --no-commit --no-ff $BRANCH

Now in order to examine the staged changes:

  $ git diff --cached

To undo the merge, even if it is a fast-forward merge:

  $ git merge --abort

Note: Git merge will combine multiple sequences of commits into one unified history. In the most frequent use cases, git merge is used to combine two branches.

git merge dry run is used to obtain a summary of what is included by any of the above for the next commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths). If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after that, you can recover from it with git reset.

Your Answer

Answer (1)

Ranjana

As of my last update in January 2022, Git itself doesn't have a built-in option for a dry run of a merge operation. However, there are alternative methods you can use to simulate a merge without actually committing any changes:

Use git merge --no-commit: The --no-commit option prevents Git from automatically committing the merge. After running the merge command with this option, you can inspect the changes and decide whether to proceed with the merge or abort it.

  git merge --no-commit

Create a Temporary Branch: Instead of merging directly into your current branch, create a temporary branch and perform the merge operation there. This allows you to review the merge result without affecting your main branch.

git checkout -b temp-merge 

git merge

Use git merge --squash: The --squash option merges changes from the specified branch but doesn't create a merge commit. Instead, it applies the changes as a single commit on your current branch. This allows you to review the changes before committing them.

git merge --squash

Create a Stash: Stash your current changes, perform the merge, and then apply the stash to restore your changes. This allows you to see the result of the merge without committing anything.

git stash

git merge 

git stash apply

Each of these methods provides a way to simulate a merge operation in Git without committing any changes immediately. Choose the method that best fits your workflow and preferences.

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