Solving the Error - "fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories"

Umesh Sharma — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 06:48:22 +0000

This is an error that I encountered while I was trying to merge the two branches main and master.
So what happened, and why did this message appear, and how did I resolve the issue?

Let's understand what happened-

I created a repository on GitHub with a README.md file for my project. And in my local machine, I created a project which was independent of my GitHub repository, and started committing to that independent repository locally.

After adding all the commits to my local repository, I wanted to push the code to the repo on GitHub, which had the README.md file. I added the remote repo by using the command,

git remote add <remote-name> <remote-url>

Now, in order to push the commit, I had to pull the GitHub repo (that I created earlier), which had the README.md file in it, using the command,
git pull origin main
After pulling the file, I had to make that ultimate push to the repo, where I encountered the Error

In simple words, what I did was I initialized a local repository, made some commits to it, and later added a remote that already contained different commits.

Why did this Error occur? let's understand it -

This Error occurred when I tried to merge two repositories( local and remote) that do not share any common history. It likely occurred while interacting with the remote repo when I tried to git pull, git push, and even git merge.
Git was not able to find the shared base to apply and combine changes. So, it refused to merge by default as a safety measure, by throwing an Error.

So Lastly, How did I fix the Error

As I really wanted to combine these repositories, I used a git command to allow the merge with a git option --allow-unrelated-histories

git merge origin main --allow-unrelated-histories

and resolved the merge conflicts that came my way. While running the above command, you will be redirected to the Vim editor. Don't worry if you don't understand it, just follow the brief guide below, and you will be good to go.

Navigating Vim Guide

After saving and exiting the Vim, you just have to push the commit to the branch
git push origin main

Note: Only use this flag if you are certain that the repositories or branches are meant to be combined, as merging unrelated histories can lead to a complicated commit graph if not handled carefully.

A small tip if you are working with a team:
Always verify with your team or repository owner before merging unrelated histories to avoid unintentional conflicts or messy project history.

With that, we can solve this error. Hope this helps you.

Navigating Vim as a Beginner

Umesh Sharma — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 06:39:10 +0000

As a Beginner, the word Vim might sound scary in the tech world, but hey, I am here to rescue. Below is the quick guide for navigating the scary Vim world. Let's get started.

Creating our first file using Vim

Go to your Bash terminal and run the command below to create a newfile
vim newfile.txt

It will open an interface like this

Vim has different modes, with Normal mode and Insert mode being the most important. Normal mode is used for navigation and commands, while Insert mode is used for editing text.

Let's see how we can switch between different modes-

You can press i key on your keyboard to go into the Insert mode where we can edit the text. To return to Normal mode, we can click the Esc key.

Editing, saving files, and exiting the Vim environment-

So, previously we have created the file newtext.txt, now we are going to edit the file.
Press the i key (yes, on your keyboard) to enter the Insert mode. Enter the text you want that file to contain. You can use the arrow keys (↑ ↓ ← →) to move around the editor.

If you are not able to edit the text, check if you are in Insert mode by looking at the bottom of your editor.

After entering the text, we got to save the file. Press the Esc key to return to the Normal mode. When you are in Normal mode, type the :w command in your editor to save the file.

Lastly, we need to exit our Vim environment, type the :q command to exit.

If you want to save and quit the editor, just type :wq or :x, and if you want to quit without saving, you can type :q! in Normal Mode.

Dealing with Git commit message with the following steps

Press i to ensure you are in Insert mode and enter the commit message.
Then, press the Esc key to make sure you are in Normal mode.
Type :wq and press Enter to save the message and exit.
If you want to abort the merge, type :ql! then Enter.

Command Table

So this is a quick way to create, edit, navigate, save, and exit the almighty Vim. Hope this guide helps you.

DEV Community: Umesh Sharma