Re: Merging to and from non-current branches.

Daniel Barkalow [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

As I said, I understand what is being said, but in IMHO it would seem that a
merge of that nature would be immediately desirable.  Think of it more as a
local "push".

You mean like "git push . dev:master"? That does work in the case where a 
content merge is not required (although not otherwise).

Just to clarify.

It works _only_ when the push is a fast forward, i.e. where a merge is not
required.

That is different from working in a case "where a content merge is not
required".

The word "content merge" is often used in contrast to "tree level merge",
meaning the latter can be finished by flipping stages inside the index by
the three-way read-tree (--aggressive) while the former needs to call out
to "merge-one-file".

But the push will be rejected if you need _any_ kind of merge.