Is there a git merge dry run option?

Question

I'm merging in a remote branch that may have a lot of conflicts. How can I tell if it will have conflicts or not?

I don't see anything like a --dry-run on git-merge.

Answer 1

First, pass in the --no-commit flag, but to avoid a fast-forward commit, the following is also recommended:

$ git merge --no-commit --no-ff $BRANCH

Now in order to examine the staged changes:

$ git diff --cached

To undo the merge, even if it is a fast-forward merge:

$ git merge --abort