Mercurial Log Graph Complications <p>Okay - I'm definitely learning a lot about Mercurial and version control systems more and more as I use them, but I'm really confused about why my local copies of one of my repositories (call it project-alpha) on three machines I use (machine 1, machine 2, and machine 3) are different. Notably, they do not share the same tip.</p> <p>I was hoping somebody could explain this to me, and in addition offer some explanation as to how I may avoid having to "merge" branches altogether (which is how this complication came up in the first place). It would be awesome if somebody could provide an example of how certain circumstances will force me to "merge" on one machine, whereas on another it is perfectly fine without.</p> <p>For clarification, I am including the </p> <pre><code>hg log --graph </code></pre> <p>commands for each of the three machines I am using (but only where they begin to differ, since it's a long project I'm working on). </p> <p><strong>Machine 1</strong></p> <pre><code>@ changeset: 88:e8aafce5753a | tag: tip | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Jan 06 15:30:15 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 87:5d76250aad71 | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Jan 06 11:32:53 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 86:4788926f4dc9 |\ parent: 84:caf2a2a127e0 | | parent: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:52:17 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | | o changeset: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | parent: 83:bde4e46678d8 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:38:45 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | o | changeset: 84:caf2a2a127e0 | | parent: 82:729da698a926 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Tue Dec 17 15:44:17 2013 -0500 | | summary: | | | o changeset: 83:bde4e46678d8 |/ user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Wed Jan 01 22:20:54 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 82:729da698a926 | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Dec 16 12:41:54 2013 -0500 | summary: </code></pre> <p><strong>Machine 2</strong></p> <pre><code>@ changeset: 88:e8aafce5753a | tag: tip | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Jan 06 15:30:15 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 87:5d76250aad71 | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Jan 06 11:32:53 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 86:4788926f4dc9 |\ parent: 83:caf2a2a127e0 | | parent: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:52:17 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | | o changeset: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:38:45 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | | o changeset: 84:bde4e46678d8 | | parent: 82:729da698a926 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Wed Jan 01 22:20:54 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | o | changeset: 83:caf2a2a127e0 |/ user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Tue Dec 17 15:44:17 2013 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 82:729da698a926 | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Dec 16 12:41:54 2013 -0500 | summary: </code></pre> <p><strong>Machine 3</strong></p> <pre><code>o changeset: 89:e8aafce5753a | tag: tip | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Jan 06 15:30:15 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 88:5d76250aad71 | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Jan 06 11:32:53 2014 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 87:4788926f4dc9 |\ parent: 83:caf2a2a127e0 | | parent: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:52:17 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | +---@ changeset: 86:eab05f7f7ab6 | |/ parent: 83:caf2a2a127e0 | | parent: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:52:31 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | | o changeset: 85:682beb5c2a22 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Thu Jan 02 12:38:45 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | | o changeset: 84:bde4e46678d8 | | parent: 82:729da698a926 | | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | | date: Wed Jan 01 22:20:54 2014 -0500 | | summary: | | o | changeset: 83:caf2a2a127e0 |/ user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Tue Dec 17 15:44:17 2013 -0500 | summary: | o changeset: 82:729da698a926 | user: Your Name &lt;&gt; | date: Mon Dec 16 12:41:54 2013 -0500 | summary: </code></pre> <p>Let me first start off by saying that I understand there are some differences simply due to the fact that some changes were pushed on some machines and pulled on others. Machine 1 and 2 are the primary ones I use, and it clearly doesn't differ too much. What I'm concerned about is Machine 3, which currently has 3 heads, and an additional changeset (89 instead of 88). I'm a bit confused as to what is happening, how I can fix this, and I would appreciate knowing exactly what I did to cause this so that I may avoid this type of behavior next time. Thanks in advance!</p>