title: How do I change a commit message after a 'git-pull' auto-merge?
body: <p>Occasionally, my collaborators will "panic" when there is an automatic merge generated as the result a <code>git-pull</code>, and just accept the default commit message. Before this commit gets pushed, I want to be sure the message gets fixed, but <code>--amend</code> seems not to work. What is the best way to fix the message that's generated in this scenario. The best instructions I can come up with for them are</p>
  
  <pre><code>git reset --soft HEAD~
  git merge -m &lt;message&gt; &lt;the tracked remote branch&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but that seems a bit scary (<code>reset</code>) and error prone (the remote tracked branch has to be entered explicitly).</p>
  
  <p>Is there a simple way to change the commit message that was just generated by merging with a remote tracking repo? Why doesn't <code>--amend</code> work?</p>