"Safe" or otherwise, it's (IMO) never a good idea to merge uncommitted files. You're losing history that way: If the merge doesn't actually work, then you've g

"Safe" or otherwise, it's (IMO) never a good idea to merge uncommitted files. You're losing history that way: If the merge doesn't actually work, then you've got a screwed up file and no way to roll it back. It's one of the great strengths of git that you can commit files even if someone else has changed them. It's a bad idea to merge when you have anything significant checked out (I'll leave temporary debugging changes checked out, or very small changes, but that's it). Heck, it's a good idea to check in every few hours, to track changes your making.