Troubleshooting Common Git Errors During Rust Contribution

6. [Push your changes](#standard-process). ### I see "error: cannot rebase" when I try to rebase These are two common errors to see when rebasing: ```console error: cannot rebase: Your index contains uncommitted changes. error: Please commit or stash them. ``` ```console error: cannot rebase: You have unstaged changes. error: Please commit or stash them. ``` (See <https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-What-is-Git%3F#_the_three_states> for the difference between the two.) This means you have made changes since the last time you made a commit. To be able to rebase, either commit your changes, or make a temporary commit called a "stash" to have them still not be committed when you finish rebasing. You may want to configure git to make this "stash" automatically, which will prevent the "cannot rebase" error in nearly all cases: ```console git config --global rebase.autostash true ``` See <https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Stashing-and-Cleaning> for more info about stashing. ### I see 'Untracked Files: src/stdarch'? This is left over from the move to the `library/` directory. Unfortunately, `git rebase` does not follow renames for submodules, so you have to delete the directory yourself: ```console rm -r src/stdarch ``` ### I see `<<< HEAD`? You were probably in the middle of a rebase or merge conflict. See [Conflicts](#rebasing-and-conflicts) for how to fix the conflict. If you don't care about the changes and just want to get a clean copy of the repository back, you can use `git reset`: ```console # WARNING: this throws out any local changes you've made! Consider resolving the conflicts instead. git reset --hard master ``` ### failed to push some refs `git push` will not work properly and say something like this: ```console ! [rejected] issue-xxxxx -> issue-xxxxx (non-fast-forward) error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/username/rust.git' hint: Updates were rejected because the tip of your current branch is behind hint: its remote counterpart. Integrate the remote changes (e.g. hint: 'git pull ...') before pushing again. hint: See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details. ``` The advice this gives is incorrect! Because of Rust's ["no-merge" policy](#no-merge-policy) the merge commit created by `git pull` will not be allowed in the final PR, in addition to defeating the point of the rebase! Use `git push --force-with-lease` instead. ### Git is trying to rebase commits I didn't write? If you see many commits in your rebase list, or merge commits, or commits by other people that you didn't write, it likely means you're trying to rebase over the wrong branch. For example, you may have a `rust-lang/rust` remote `upstream`, but ran `git rebase origin/master` instead of `git rebase upstream/master`. The fix is to abort the rebase and use the correct branch instead: ```console git rebase --abort git rebase -i upstream/master ``` <details><summary>Click here to see an example of rebasing over the wrong branch</summary>

This section outlines solutions to common Git issues encountered when contributing to the Rust project. It includes instructions for handling untracked files by removing the `src/stdarch` directory, resolving conflicts indicated by `<<< HEAD` using the Conflicts documentation, and addressing `failed to push some refs` errors by using `git push --force-with-lease`. It also guides users on how to fix situations where Git is trying to rebase commits written by others, which typically indicates rebasing over the wrong branch, by aborting and rebasing using the correct `upstream/master` branch.