ERROR fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting

SOLUTION — git merge origin/<branch-name>

The error message fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting. occurs when Git tries to perform a pull or merge but cannot apply a fast-forward merge. This typically happens in two scenarios:

1. Conflicting Changes: If the branch you’re pulling from has changes that conflict with the current branch, Git will abort the fast-forward operation.
2. Merge Commit Required: If there are diverging commits between your branch and the remote branch, Git cannot fast-forward and requires a merge commit.

Possible Solutions:

1. Perform a Merge Instead of Fast-Forward:

When you can’t fast-forward, you can perform a merge instead. A merge will combine changes from both branches and create a merge commit if necessary.

git pull --no-ff

This will pull the changes and create a merge commit, even if a fast-forward isn’t possible.

2. Resolve Conflicts Manually (If There Are Conflicts):

If there are merge conflicts, you’ll need to resolve them manually. Here’s how:

1. Start the merge process:

git merge origin/<branch-name>

This will attempt to merge the remote branch into your current branch.

2. Resolve Conflicts:

• Git will stop and mark the files with conflicts.
• Open the conflicting files, and look for conflict markers (<<<<<< and >>>>>>).
• Edit the files to resolve the conflicts, then stage them with:

git add <conflicting-file>

3. Commit the Merge:

After resolving all conflicts, you can complete the merge by committing:

git commit