I'm trying to update my repo from a remote branch and keep getting this error when I do a "git pull". I haven't made any local changes, and even if I have I don't need to keep them. I've tried: git reset --hard and I get the same problem The only thing that seems to work is deleting the offending file and try a git pull again. I've also tried "git stash" followed by a "git pull". No go. edit: using PortableGit-1.6.4-preview20090729 so any previous bugs with spurious errors should be fixed.