Chapter 3: Branching, Merge and GitHub PRs
3.4 Merge types in plain English
When you run git merge, Git tries to combine histories.
| Situation | What Git does | What you see |
|---|---|---|
Feature branched and main did not move |
Often a fast-forward — main simply moves forward |
Linear history, no merge commit |
| Both sides added commits | Three-way merge — may create a merge commit | Graph shows a join |
| Same lines changed differently | Conflict — Git stops and asks you to edit | Conflict markers in files |
You do not need every flag yet. Know: merge joins branches; conflict means humans must choose the final text.
git switch main
git merge feature/health
If Git reports a conflict, do not panic. Section 3.6 walks through a fix.