I would first make the to-be-merged branch as clean as possible. Run your tests, make sure the state is as you want it. Clean up the new commits by git squash.
Besides KingCrunches answer, I suggest to use
git checkout master
git pull origin master
git merge --squash test
git commit
git push origin master
You might have made many commits in the other branch, which should only be one commit in the master branch. To keep the commit history as clean as possible, you might want to squash all your commits from the test branch into one commit in the master branch (see also: Git: To squash or not to squash?). Then you can also rewrite the commit message to something very expressive. Something that is easy to read and understand, without digging into the code.
edit: You might be interested in
- In git, what is the difference between merge --squash and rebase?
- Merging vs. Rebasing
- How to Rebase a Pull Request
So on GitHub, I end up doing the following for a feature branch mybranch:
Get the latest from origin
$ git checkout master
$ git pull origin master
Find the merge base hash:
$ git merge-base mybranch master
c193ea5e11f5699ae1f58b5b7029d1097395196f
$ git checkout mybranch
$ git rebase -i c193ea5e11f5699ae1f58b5b7029d1097395196f
Now make sure only the first is pick, the rest is s:
pick 00f1e76 Add first draft of the Pflichtenheft
s d1c84b6 Update to two class problem
s 7486cd8 Explain steps better
Next choose a very good commit message and push to GitHub. Make the pull request then.
After the merge of the pull request, you can delete it locally:
$ git branch -d mybranch
and on GitHub
$ git push origin :mybranch
