merge-options.txt

--commit::
--no-commit::
Perform the merge and commit the result. This option can
be used to override --no-commit.
+
With --no-commit perform the merge and stop just before creating
a merge commit, to give the user a chance to inspect and further
tweak the merge result before committing.
+
Note that fast-forward updates do not create a merge commit and
therefore there is no way to stop those merges with --no-commit.
Thus, if you want to ensure your branch is not changed or updated
by the merge command, use --no-ff with --no-commit.

--edit::
-e::
--no-edit::
Invoke an editor before committing successful mechanical merge to
further edit the auto-generated merge message, so that the user
can explain and justify the merge. The `--no-edit` option can be
used to accept the auto-generated message (this is generally
discouraged).
ifndef::git-pull[]
The `--edit` (or `-e`) option is still useful if you are
giving a draft message with the `-m` option from the command line
and want to edit it in the editor.
endif::git-pull[]
+
Older scripts may depend on the historical behaviour of not allowing the
user to edit the merge log message. They will see an editor opened when
they run `git merge`. To make it easier to adjust such scripts to the
updated behaviour, the environment variable `GIT_MERGE_AUTOEDIT` can be
set to `no` at the beginning of them.

--cleanup=<mode>::
This option determines how the merge message will be cleaned up before
committing. See linkgit:git-commit[1] for more details. In addition, if
the '<mode>' is given a value of `scissors`, scissors will be appended
to `MERGE_MSG` before being passed on to the commit machinery in the
case of a merge conflict.

--ff::
--no-ff::
--ff-only::
Specifies how a merge is handled when the merged-in history is
already a descendant of the current history. `--ff` is the
default unless merging an annotated (and possibly signed) tag
that is not stored in its natural place in the `refs/tags/`
hierarchy, in which case `--no-ff` is assumed.
+
With `--ff`, when possible resolve the merge as a fast-forward (only
update the branch pointer to match the merged branch; do not create a
merge commit). When not possible (when the merged-in history is not a
descendant of the current history), create a merge commit.
+
With `--no-ff`, create a merge commit in all cases, even when the merge
could instead be resolved as a fast-forward.
+
With `--ff-only`, resolve the merge as a fast-forward when possible.
When not possible, refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status.

-S[<keyid>]::
--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
--no-gpg-sign::
GPG-sign the resulting merge commit. The `keyid` argument is
optional and defaults to the committer identity; if specified,
it must be stuck to the option without a space. `--no-gpg-sign`
is useful to countermand both `commit.gpgSign` configuration variable,
and earlier `--gpg-sign`.

--log[=<n>]::
--no-log::
In addition to branch names, populate the log message with
one-line descriptions from at most <n> actual commits that are being
merged. See also linkgit:git-fmt-merge-msg[1].
+
With --no-log do not list one-line descriptions from the
actual commits being merged.

--signoff::
--no-signoff::
Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
log message. The meaning of a signoff depends on the project,
but it typically certifies that committer has
the rights to submit this work under the same license and
agrees to a Developer Certificate of Origin
(see http://developercertificate.org/ for more information).
+
With --no-signoff do not add a Signed-off-by line.

--stat::
-n::
--no-stat::
Show a diffstat at the end of the merge. The diffstat is also
controlled by the configuration option merge.stat.
+
With -n or --no-stat do not show a diffstat at the end of the
merge.

--squash::
--no-squash::
Produce the working tree and index state as if a real merge
happened (except for the merge information), but do not actually
make a commit, move the `HEAD`, or record `$GIT_DIR/MERGE_HEAD`
(to cause the next `git commit` command to create a merge
commit). This allows you to create a single commit on top of
the current branch whose effect is the same as merging another
branch (or more in case of an octopus).
+
With --no-squash perform the merge and commit the result. This
option can be used to override --squash.
+
With --squash, --commit is not allowed, and will fail.

--no-verify::
This option bypasses the pre-merge and commit-msg hooks.
See also linkgit:githooks[5].

-s <strategy>::
--strategy=<strategy>::
Use the given merge strategy; can be supplied more than
once to specify them in the order they should be tried.
If there is no `-s` option, a built-in list of strategies
is used instead ('git merge-recursive' when merging a single
head, 'git merge-octopus' otherwise).

-X <option>::
--strategy-option=<option>::
Pass merge strategy specific option through to the merge
strategy.

--verify-signatures::
--no-verify-signatures::
Verify that the tip commit of the side branch being merged is
signed with a valid key, i.e. a key that has a valid uid: in the
default trust model, this means the signing key has been signed by
a trusted key. If the tip commit of the side branch is not signed
with a valid key, the merge is aborted.

--summary::
--no-summary::
Synonyms to --stat and --no-stat; these are deprecated and will be
removed in the future.

ifndef::git-pull[]
-q::
--quiet::
Operate quietly. Implies --no-progress.

-v::
--verbose::
Be verbose.

--progress::
--no-progress::
Turn progress on/off explicitly. If neither is specified,
progress is shown if standard error is connected to a terminal.
Note that not all merge strategies may support progress
reporting.

endif::git-pull[]

--autostash::
--no-autostash::
Automatically create a temporary stash entry before the operation
begins, and apply it after the operation ends. This means
that you can run the operation on a dirty worktree. However, use
with care: the final stash application after a successful
merge might result in non-trivial conflicts.

--allow-unrelated-histories::
By default, `git merge` command refuses to merge histories
that do not share a common ancestor. This option can be
used to override this safety when merging histories of two
projects that started their lives independently. As that is
a very rare occasion, no configuration variable to enable
this by default exists and will not be added.