Your Branch and Origin Master Have Diverged: Detailed Guide (2023)

The your branch and origin master have diverged error message occurs due to simple reasons, such as syntax and structural errors.

This article will explain to the readers all the possible reasons behind this error and what methods they can use to resolve it. Let’s begin with the causes.

Why Does the Branch and Origin Master Have Diverged Error Occur?

The reason why your branch and origin master have diverged error message occurs is because of the wrong syntax, locating the branches in the wrong way. Another reason for this error is structural and syntax errors in the code of your program.

– Syntax Error

This is a major reason why programmers receive error messages. The programmers accidentally write a wrong function or make typo mistakes, due to which syntax errors occur.

When something is not identified by the compiler during the execution process of the program and it shows an error message in the output, it means there was a syntax error. Some common examples are:

• Your branch and ‘origin/master’ have diverged after rebase.
• Your branch and ‘origin/branch’ have diverged.
• Your branch is ahead of ‘origin/master’ by 1 commit.

– Wrong Location of the Master Branch

Another reason why this error message occurs is that the programmer located the master branch after the “git checkout master” branch. The Master branch should always be located on top of any other branch declaration. Without this, the error cannot be resolved.

– Structural Error

Sometimes, during coding, the programmer ends up making the wrong structure of the program, which does not give the desired outcome. Therefore, structural errors can cause the your branch and origin master have diverged error message to arise.

If the structure of a program is wrong, the compiler will not compile the entire program of that specific structure and will instead show an error message.

How To Resolve the Branch and Origin Master Have Diverged Error?

In order to resolve the your branch and origin master have diverged error message, the programmer has to use two major commands and settle for the one that works for them; they are: merge and rebase commands, correct syntax errors and many others.

– Use the Merge Method for Diverged Branch

In order to resolve this error message, the programmer should first try to use the git merge command for the diverged branch. Git merge combines multiple sequences of commits into one package.

Moreover, git merge is frequently used to combine two branches in a program. The only thing that git does in the master branch is that it changes the HEAD pointer to point to the most recent commit from the “dev” branch. Do a git push to send the changes to the remote repository as soon as the merge is complete.

Command Example:

Explanation:

This command informs Git to integrate the changes from the origin/main into their work and create a merge commit. The graph of history for this command looks something like the diagram shown below.

Commit M, the new merge includes two parents, each of which represents a different development path that resulted in the content contained in that commit. Be mindful that M’s past is no longer linear.

– Use the Rebase Method

Another method to use in order to get rid of this error message is by using the git rebase command.

Git rebase makes it appear as though the developer has built their branch from a different commit by switching the base of their branch from one commit to another. When a base is supplied, Git internally creates a new commit and applies it to that base.

Command:

Explanation:

This informs Git to replay commit C (the programmer’s work) as if the programmer had based it on commit B instead of A. CVS and Subversion users, before updating their commit, frequently rebase their local changes on top of upstream work.

Additionally, git adds explicit separation between the commit and rebase steps. The graph of history has a structure similar to the graph given below.

In the above graph, the commit C’ is a new commit git created by using the git rebase command. However, it differs from a simple “C”. The differences are listed below.

1. The commit C’ has a different history; it becomes B instead of A.
2. This commit’s content accounts for changes in both B and C. However, it is the same as “M” from the merge example above.

Notice how the history behind the C’ commit is still linear. Additionally, the programmer chose to allow only linear history in cmake.org/cmake.git for now. This strategy keeps the prior CVS-based workflow in place and might make the transfer easier.

The error will be removed if the programmer tries to push C’ into their repository (assuming the programmer has permissions and no one has pushed while they were rebasing).

To quickly fetch from the origin and rebase local work on it, use the git pull command given below:

Command:

$ git pull –rebase

This combines the fetch and rebase commands from earlier into a single command.

– Use the Correct Command

Using the correct command is a must if the user wants to eliminate your branch and origin master have diverged: A Detailed Guide for You” error message.

Sometimes, only small and normal commands can solve big errors. For some programmers, using the following command will eliminate the error easily.

Command:

git reset –hard origin/master

Explanation:

By using this command, the programmer’s local copy of the master branch will be reset on its own to the correct point as represented by (remote) origin/master. Given below is another command that will also help in resolving this error message.

Command:

git pull –rebase origin/master

Explanation:

This command is a single command that can help programmers with their errors most of the time. It pulls the commits from the origin/master and applies the programmer’s changes to the newly pulled branch history.

– Make a Replica of the Master Branch

Sometimes, making a replica/duplicate of the master branch will help resolve this error message. A programmer should opt for this solution only if the following command did not help them resolve this issue: git reset –hard origin/master.

Upon using this command, the programmer may have received the same error message and as soon as they pull the changes from the remote branch, the conflicts happen.

Therefore, the programmers who are sure that they do not need the existing local branch and only need a replica of the master branch from remote can follow the various solutions given below.

• Try checking out a new branch. For instance, git checkout -b placeholder-branch. Moreover, this new branch can be deleted later by the programmer.
• Use the Git branch -D master command when the programmer is sure that their local branch is all messed up and they don’t need it. Therefore, the programmer should make a fresh copy from the remote instance.
• Finally, use the Git checkout –track origin/master command in the end, and the programmer should be free from the error message.
• Once the process is complete, the programmer can delete the placeholder branch by using the git branch -D command.

FAQs

1. What Is Git Diverged Meaning?

Git diverged meaning there is a git branch divergence that consists of the difference between the current state of the branches and the list of commits performed in each branch from the common state in order to get the current divergence.

2. What Should a Programmer Do if the Branch Has Diverged?

The programmer should type in a few commands in a sequence if the branch has diverged. First, use the command git reset –soft HEAD~1 to undo the local commit, then proceed to use the git stash function to stash changes from the local commit.

Now, use the git pull command to get all the remote changes. Finally, use the git stash pop or git stash apply() function to apply the last stashed changes which will be followed by another new commit, if needed.

Conclusion

After reading this guide, the reader will be able to understand all the causes and fixes of this error message. Some of the important key takeaways from this article are:

• Do not use the main branch after declaring any other branch first. The error will occur.
• If the git reset –hard origin/master command does not work for you, make a replica of the master branch.
• Avoid making syntax errors, as they are major reasons behind such error messages.

The reader can now resolve their own similar programming errors by using this guide. Thank you for reading!