title: Subversion has --record-only for merges, how do I do the same in Git?
body: <p>I have a repo where 'master' is going in a certain direction, and a second branch 'foo' is going to be divergent for a couple of commits, then track all subsequent changes to 'master' after that.  This is all by choice of course.</p>
  
  <p>In Subversion you could do a --record-only merge to mark things as "merge has happened" even though no actual changes were committed.  i.e. this change the merge-tracking numbers in properties attached to directories in the target branch.</p>
  
  <p>I have had a play with..</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>git merge --no-commit master</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>.. as something I may be able to tinker with before I do the commit, but it is making a hell of a mess of the target branch for part of the change in question (rename followed by delete). </p>
  
  <p>There must be an easier way.. ?</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Paul</li>
  </ul>