git merge branch overwriting destination

Question

My repository have a master and dev branch.

At this time I wish merge the dev with the master, or better, not a merge, but total replacement the content of the master branch with the dev.

Is it possible, and how you would do it with git commands?

Sorry for the downvote, and for the two vote for closing that question as off topic. Don't worry: it is perfectly on topic on Stack Overflow. — VonC, Jul 18 '13 at 15:35

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

5

This is a "merge" with a "theirs" strategy, which doesn't exist natively.

But you can simulate it through a number a way, as in "git command for making one branch like another"

The one I like is through the creation of an extra branch:

git checkout dev
git checkout -b tmp
git merge -s ours master         # ignoring all changes from master
git checkout master
git merge tmp                    # fast-forward master to tmp HEAD
git branch -D tmp

edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

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answered Jul 17 '13 at 07:44

VonC

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thanks, and this I need to do starting from my **dev** branch right? – ghiboz Jul 17 '13 at 07:57
2

@ghiboz yes. I have edited the answer. Do it on a clone for testing. – VonC Jul 17 '13 at 07:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 15:03

Let's say you started with master...and sometime later you created a dev branch (from master HEAD or some previous commit of master).
You can also do the following.

# find common ancestor

git merge-base master dev

# This will give you SHA-1 of ancestor like this: `4de51ba41fba357ac9ce63f098451cd1fc2dacbe`
# A hard reset master to this commit
git checkout master

git reset --hard 4de51ba41f

git rebase master dev

# After successful completion you will find yourself checked out on `dev`
# checkout master again and merge dev to get your final result

git checkout master

git merge dev

# Now your master will be same as dev

git merge branch overwriting destination

2 Answers2