Undo git stash pop that results in merge conflict
GitGit StashGit Problem Overview
I began making changes to my codebase, not realizing I was on an old topic branch. To transfer them, I wanted to stash them and then apply them to a new branch off of master. I used git stash pop to transfer work-in-progress changes to this new branch, forgetting that I hadn't pulled new changes into master before creating the new branch. This resulted in a bunch of merge conflicts and loss of a clean stash of my changes (since I used pop).
Once I recreate the new branch correctly, how I can I recover my stashed changes to apply them properly?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
As it turns out, Git is smart enough not to drop a stash if it doesn't apply cleanly. I was able to get to the desired state with the following steps:
- To unstage the merge conflicts:
git reset HEAD .(note the trailing dot) - To save the conflicted merge (just in case):
git stash - To return to master:
git checkout master - To pull latest changes:
git fetch upstream; git merge upstream/master - To correct my new branch:
git checkout new-branch; git rebase master - To apply the correct stashed changes (now 2nd on the stack):
git stash apply stash@{1}
Solution 2 - Git
Luckily git stash pop does not change the stash in the case of a conflict!
So nothing, to worry about, just clean up your code and try it again.
Say your codebase was clean before, you could go back to that state with: git checkout -f
Then do the stuff you forgot, e.g. git merge missing-branch
After that just fire git stash pop again and you get the same stash, that conflicted before.
Keep in mind: The stash is safe, however, uncommitted changes in the working directory are of course not. They can get messed up.
Solution 3 - Git
git reset --merge
Simplest command & works everywhere incl. git stash pop.
Careful! You'll lose all changes on untracked files.
Solution 4 - Git
Instructions here are a little complicated so I'm going to offer something more straightforward:
-
git reset HEAD --hardAbandon all changes to the current branch -
...Perform intermediary work as necessary -
git stash popRe-pop the stash again at a later date when you're ready
Solution 5 - Git
git checkout -f
must work, if your previous state is clean.