Bits of .NET

🔀 Diverged Branches ≠ Lost Commits

“Your branch and ‘origin/main’ have diverged, and have 3 and 2 different commits each” looks alarming, but it just means both you and someone else committed since your last sync — nothing is lost, and Git is only waiting for you to choose how to combine them.

🔍 What This Message Actually Means

You have 3 commits git pull hasn't seen from origin.
Origin has 2 commits you don't have locally yet.
Both sets of commits exist and are completely safe - Git is
just refusing to auto-guess how you want them combined.

✅ Option 1: Merge (Preserves Both Histories Exactly)

• Creates a merge commit joining both branches — nothing is rewritten, safest default for shared branches.
• Best when you’re not sure, or when the branch is shared with others who already pulled it.

🔀 Merge

git pull  # equivalent to: git fetch && git merge origin/main
# Resolve any conflicts if prompted, then:
git add .
git commit

✅ Option 2: Rebase (Cleaner, Linear History)

• Replays your 3 local commits on top of origin’s 2, as if you’d started from the latest code.
• Only do this on branches you haven’t shared/pushed yet, or where your team has agreed rebasing is fine — rebasing rewrites commit hashes.

📏 Rebase

git pull --rebase
# Resolve any conflicts if prompted, then:
git add .
git rebase --continue

⚠️ Before You Choose Either

• Nothing is lost just because branches diverged — both sets of commits already exist safely in your local repo and on origin.
• If you’re genuinely unsure, merge is the safer default: it never rewrites commits you or others already have.