pulling, fetching, pushing, merging, rebase

[oceanblue42]

A teacher create a template. I created a repo from that template and then a codingspace from that repo. The teacher updated the template. I am unable to pull the updates into coding spaces. I keep getting: From https://github.com/oceanblue42/python_class

• branch master -> FETCH_HEAD
  hint: You have divergent branches and need to specify how to reconcile them.
  hint: You can do so by running one of the following commands sometime before
  hint: your next pull:
  hint:
  hint: git config pull.rebase false # merge
  hint: git config pull.rebase true # rebase
  hint: git config pull.ff only # fast-forward only
  hint:
  hint: You can replace "git config" with "git config --global" to set a default
  hint: preference for all repositories. You can also pass --rebase, --no-rebase,
  hint: or --ff-only on the command line to override the configured default per
  hint: invocation.
  fatal: Need to specify how to reconcile divergent branches.

no matter what I do nothing seems to work.

could someone provide step by step instructions, on what to do to be able to pull the updates down from the template?

[DilipKhunti]

You are facing a divergence issue because the repository you created from the template is not automatically linked to the template's updates. Here's how you can pull the latest changes from the template into your repository step by step:

---

Step 1: Add the Template Repository as an Upstream

Since your repo is created from a template, it doesn’t track the original template repo as an upstream. You need to manually add it:

git remote add upstream https://github.com/oceanblue42/python_class.git

Check if the upstream was added correctly:

git remote -v

You should see something like:

origin    https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git (fetch)
origin    https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git (push)
upstream  https://github.com/oceanblue42/python_class.git (fetch)
upstream  https://github.com/oceanblue42/python_class.git (push)

---

Step 2: Fetch the Latest Updates from the Template Repo

Now, fetch the latest changes from the template:

git fetch upstream

This downloads the updates but does not merge them yet.

---

Step 3: Merge the Changes into Your Repo

Since your local repo has diverged, you need to merge the upstream changes into your current branch. Run:

git merge upstream/master

If there are merge conflicts, Git will show them, and you will need to resolve them manually.

---

Step 4: Push the Merged Changes to Your GitHub Repo

Once merged successfully, push the updated branch to your GitHub repository:

git push origin master

---

Alternative: Rebase Instead of Merge (Optional)

If you want to keep a cleaner history, you can rebase instead of merging:

git rebase upstream/master

If conflicts occur, resolve them, then continue rebasing:

git rebase --continue

Finally, force push the changes:

git push origin master --force

---

Final Note

If you keep getting errors, check your current branch status:

git status

If you have uncommitted changes, commit or stash them before merging or rebasing.