title: Git rebase: conflicts keep blocking progress
body: <p>I have a git branch (called v4), that was made from master just yesterday.  There were a couple of changes to master, that I want to get into v4.  So, in v4, I tried to do a rebase from master, and one file keeps screwing things up: a one-line text file, that contains the version number.  This file is <code>app/views/common/version.txt</code>, which before rebasing contains this text:</p>
  
  <pre><code>v1.4-alpha-02
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here's what I'm doing:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; git rebase master
  First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
  Applying: new version, new branch
  error: patch failed: app/views/common/version.txt:1
  error: app/views/common/version.txt: patch does not apply
  Using index info to reconstruct a base tree...
  Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge...
  Auto-merging app/views/common/version.txt
  CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in app/views/common/version.txt
  Failed to merge in the changes.
  Patch failed at 0001 new version, new branch
  
  When you have resolved this problem run "git rebase --continue".
  If you would prefer to skip this patch, instead run "git rebase --skip".
  To restore the original branch and stop rebasing run "git rebase --abort".
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The <code>version.txt</code> now looks like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt; HEAD:app/views/common/version.txt
  v1.4-alpha-02
  =======
  v1.4-alpha-01
  &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; new version, new branch:app/views/common/version.txt
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, I tidy it up and it looks like this now:</p>
  
  <pre><code>v1.4-alpha-02
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and then I tried to carry on: at first I try a commit:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; git commit -a -m "merged"
  # Not currently on any branch.
  nothing to commit (working directory clean)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>No luck there.  So, I was trying to add the file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>git add app/views/common/version.txt
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>No response.  No news is good news, I guess.  So, I try to continue:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; git rebase --continue
  Applying: new version, new branch
  No changes - did you forget to use 'git add'?
  
  When you have resolved this problem run "git rebase --continue".
  If you would prefer to skip this patch, instead run "git rebase --skip".
  To restore the original branch and stop rebasing run "git rebase --abort".
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It's at this point, after going round and round with this, that I'm banging my head off the desk.  </p>
  
  <p>What's going on here?  What am I doing wrong?  Can anyone set me straight?</p>
  
  <p>EDIT - for unutbu</p>
  
  <p>I changed the file as you suggested and get the same error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; git rebase master
  First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
  Applying: new version, new branch
  error: patch failed: app/views/common/version.txt:1
  error: app/views/common/version.txt: patch does not apply
  Using index info to reconstruct a base tree...
  Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge...
  Auto-merging app/views/common/version.txt
  CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in app/views/common/version.txt
  Failed to merge in the changes.
  Patch failed at 0001 new version, new branch
  
  When you have resolved this problem run "git rebase --continue".
  If you would prefer to skip this patch, instead run "git rebase --skip".
  To restore the original branch and stop rebasing run "git rebase --abort".
  </code></pre>