Error pushing to GitHub using Git for Windows

Question

I have created a Git repository on GitHub, and a local repository too. First I pulled the remote repository into the local one. Then I added a file, staged the file, committed i

Answer 1

The remote repo is not empty; it contains a README that you probably created through the GitHub web interface. You have to pull it before you can push to it:

git pull --rebase origin master
git push

(The --rebase is not strictly necessary but avoids an ugly merge commit.)

Answer 2

A non-fast-forward push means the remote master is not an ancestor of your local master. Git is refusing the push as a safety mechanism to prevent destroying work.

The output of git log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit --all will give you a graphical depiction of your repository’s history. If you are sure you don’t mind replacing or destroying what is in GitHub, run

$ git push --force origin master

The --force option is documented as (with added emphasis)

-f, --force
Usually, the command refuses to update a remote ref that is not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it. This flag disables the check. This can cause the remote repository to lose commits; use it with care.

To keep what is there, you will need to rebase your local master on top of the one on GitHub and then push the result.

$ git fetch
$ git rebase origin/master master
$ git push origin master

or just

$ git checkout master
$ git pull --rebase

The sequence above is the sunny-day case. You may need to resolve conflicts, but that seems unlikely given your description.