Please enter a commit message to explain why this merge is necessary, especially if it merges an updated upstream into a topic branch
MacosGit MergeGit CommitGitMacos Problem Overview
I am using Git. I did a pull from a remote repo and got an error message:
> Please enter a commit message to explain why this merge is necessary,
> especially if it merges an updated upstream into a topic branch.
I try to type a message and press Enter but nothing happens.
How do I tell Git/Terminal I am done typing in my message?
I am using Terminal on OS X.
Macos Solutions
Solution 1 - Macos
It's not a Git error message, it's the editor as git uses your default editor.
To solve this:
- press "i" (i for insert)
- write your merge message
- press "esc" (escape)
- write ":wq" (write & quit)
- then press enter
Solution 2 - Macos
Actually it's not an error! It means you should enter some message to mark this merge.
My OS is Ubuntu 14.04
. If you use the same OS, you just need to do this as follows:
-
Type some message
-
CtrlCO
-
Type the file name (such as "Merge_feature01") and press Enter
-
CtrlX to exit
Now if you go to .git and you will find the file "Merge_feature01", that's the merge log actually.
Solution 3 - Macos
tl;dr ✨ Use an $EDITOR that you like! ✨
The fix is not to memorize cryptic commands, like in the accepted answer, but configuring Git to use an editor that you like and understand!
The underlying problem is that Git by default uses an editor that is too unintuitive to use for most people: Vim. This is because Vim is present everywhere, not because it is user friendly Now, don't get me wrong, I ❤️ Vim, and while you could set some time aside to learn Vim and try to understand why some people think Vim is the greatest editor in existence, there is a quicker way of fixing this problem :-)
It's really as simple as configuring either of these options
- the git config setting
core.editor
(per project, or globally) - the
VISUAL
orEDITOR
environment variable (this works for other programs as well). Typically stuffingexport VISUAL="vscode --wait"
into your.bashrc
or similar config.
I'll cover the first option for a couple of popular editors, but GitHub has an excellent guide on this for many editors as well.
To use Atom
Straight from its docs, enter this in a terminal:
git config --global core.editor "atom --wait"
Git normally wait for the editor command to finish before progressing, but since Atom forks to a background process immediately, this won't work, unless you give it the --wait
option. This makes it stay as a foreground process, just as we want.
濾 To use Sublime Text
For the same reasons as in the Atom case, you need a special flag to signal to the process that it shouldn't fork to the background:
git config --global core.editor "subl -n -w"
邏 To use Visual Studio Code
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
Solution 4 - Macos
Just Do,
CTRL + X
CTRL + C
It will ask you to save file, Press Y, then you are done.
Solution 5 - Macos
Instead, you could git CtrlZ and retry the commit but this time add " -m " with a message in quotes after it, then it will commit without prompting you with that page.
Solution 6 - Macos
Since your local repository is few commits ahead, git tries to merge your remote to your local repo. This can be handled via merge, but in your case, perhaps you are looking for rebase, i.e. add your commit to the top. You can do this with
git rebase
or git pull --rebase
Here is a good article explaining the difference between git pull
& git pull --rebase
.
https://www.derekgourlay.com/blog/git-when-to-merge-vs-when-to-rebase/
Solution 7 - Macos
In my case i got this message after merge. Decision: press esc, after this type :qa!