How to Resolve Git Merge Conflicts

If you’ve ever worked with Git for a while, chances are you've run into a merge conflict. It usually happens when your code and the upstream repository (the original project you forked from) don't agree on what should happen with a file.

Let’s walk through a real-world example where I had to resolve a "modify/delete" conflict, that's when the upstream project updates a file while you’ve deleted it in your branch.

TL;DR – Quick Fix for a Modify/Delete Conflict

git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/master
# Fix conflict (file deleted locally, modified upstream)
git rm config/app.yml
git rebase --continue
git push origin rm-config --force-with-lease

Fixing a merge conflict

Step 1: Fetch the latest changes

git fetch upstream

This grabs the latest updates from the upstream repository without touching your local work. Think of it as just checking what's new before deciding what to do with it. Why not origin? Because origin is your fork which might be outdated, and we want to sync with the main source (upstream).

Step 2: Rebase onto upstream/master

git rebase upstream/master

Rebase basically takes your commits and replays them on top of the latest upstream version. The nice thing: you get a clean, linear history without those noisy merge commits. At this point, Git noticed a problem:

Upstream: The file config/app.yml was modified
Your branch: That same file was deleted

Git couldn't decide which version should win. That’s where you step in.

Step 3: Tell Git what you want

git rm config/app.yml

This command says: "Yes, I want this file gone, no matter what upstream did with it." Git then stages that deletion, resolving the conflict.

Step 4: Continue the rebase

git rebase --continue

Since rebase pauses whenever there's a conflict, you need to tell it when you are done fixing things. This continues the process until your branch is fully rebased.

Step 5: Push your changes

git push origin rm-config --force-with-lease

We are now pushing our changes back into our branch rm-config. --force-with-lease is nice to have as, safely overwrites your branch, but only if nobody else has pushed new changes in the meantime After a rebase, your commit history has changed. A normal push will fail this is why we need to push with force.