The “Merge head exists” error in Git typically occurs when there is an incomplete merge operation. This means that Git has started a merge process, but it has not been completed due to unresolved conflicts or other issues. When you initiate a merge operation in Git, it creates a special reference called MERGE_HEAD to track the state of the merge. If this reference exists in your repository, Git interprets it as a signal that a merge is in progress but has not been concluded.

• In practical terms, encountering the “Merge head exists” error means that Git is in a conflicted state and is waiting for you to resolve any conflicts or issues that arose during the merge process before it can proceed further.

Description

When working with version control systems like Git, the error message “You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists)” indicates that there was an incomplete merge operation, and Git is in a conflicted state where it’s waiting for you to resolve the merge conflicts before proceeding further.

Understanding how to handle the “Merge head exists” error is essential for maintaining a clean and consistent version control history in your Git repository.

Possible approaches for resolving the error

Approach 1: Resolve Merge conflicts and Complete the Merge

When a merge conflict occurs, Git pauses the merge process, allowing you to manually resolve the conflicts.

Steps:

1. Open the conflicted files.

2. Manually resolve the conflicts.

3. Add the resolved files to the staging area.

4. Complete the merge

Syntax:

Resolving merge conflicts

Example:

Example of Solving Merge Conflicts

Output: Once you commit, the merge will be completed, and the error will no longer appear.

Approach 2: Abort the merge

If you decide not to proceed with the merge, you can abort the merge process, which will revert the repository to its state before the merge starts.

Syntax :

Aborting the merge

Output: The merge will be aborted, and your working directory will be restored to the state it was in before the merge began.

Approach 3: Continue the Merge

If you have already resolved the conflicts and staged the changes, but forgot to commit, you can continue the merge process.

Syntax:

Committing the merge

Output: The merge will be completed, and the repository will update to reflect the merged changes.

Examples

1. Creating a conflict

• Create a new directory named git-merge-test, change to that directory, and initialize it as a new Git repo.
• Create a new text file merge.txt with some content in it.
• Add merge.txt to the repo and commit it.

Creating the Conflicts

• Create and check out a new branch named new_branch_to_merge_later.
• Overwrite the content in merge.txt .
• Commit the new content.

How to Fix error:”You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists)”

This chain of commands checks out the main branch, appends content to merge.txt, and commits it. This now puts our example repo in a state where we have 2 new commits. One in the main branch and one in the new_branch_to_merge_later branch.

How to Fix error:”You have not concluded your merge (MERGE_HEAD exists)”

Conflict Arises

2. Resolving a Conflict:

The most direct way to resolve a merge conflict is to edit the conflicted file. Open the merge.txt file in your favorite editor. Simply remove all the conflict dividers like “======= “(center of the conflict),<<<<<<< HEAD,>>>>>>> new_branch_to_merge_later.

Conflicted text

The modified merge.txt content should then look like:

this is some content to mess with

content to append

totally different content to merge later

Once the file has been edited use git add merge.txt to stage the new merged content. To finalize the merge create a new commit by executing:

Conflict resolved