How to resolve "Git - fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting"

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2 min read

When you encounter the error message "fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting", it’s important to first understand why this happens. This error typically occurs when you are trying to pull changes from one branch (like main) into your current branch (e.g., feature), but the changes in both branches conflict with each other.

In Git, a fast-forward merge can only be done if the changes in the source branch can be applied directly on top of the target branch without any conflicts. However, if there are conflicting changes, Git cannot fast-forward and will instead prompt you to resolve the conflicts manually.

How to Resolve This Issue

To fix this error, you can follow these steps:

  1. Switch to your feature branch (or whichever branch you're working on):

     git checkout feature
    
  1. Merge changes from the main branch: Instead of using a fast-forward merge, force Git to perform a standard merge:

     git merge origin/main
    
  2. Resolve any conflicts: If there are conflicts between the branches, Git will flag the conflicting files. You will need to manually resolve these by editing the files, choosing which changes to keep, and then staging the resolved files:

     git add <file_name>
    
  3. Complete the merge: After resolving the conflicts, complete the merge by committing the changes:

     git commit
    
  4. Push the changes to your branch: Finally, push the updated branch to the remote repository:

     git push origin feature
    

After resolving the conflicts and pushing the changes, your branch will be updated with both sets of changes, and you can continue working without any issues.