Is there a way to create a local branch, or modify an existing local branch, in such a way that it cannot be dcommit'ed to the svn repo? Here's a description of the scenario. git checkout -b local.farBranch remotes/farBranch git checkout -b patched.local.farBranch git merge local.patches <work on patched branch && test> <do not commit onto patched.local.farBranch> git checkout local.farBranch git commit -am "some changes" git rebase local.farBranch patched.local.farBranch <another work test cycle> git checkout local.farBranch git commit -am "last changes" git svn dcommit Now, I never want to dcommit patched.local.farBranch (which is tracking remotes/farBranch) because that would put my local patches into the SVN repository. This is not a fatal problem but it is a pain in the keester because the patch has to be removed when the SVN farBranch is eventally (SVN) merged onto the trunk. So what I am looking for is a way to prevent this git checkout patched.local.farBranch git svn dcommit <<== ERROR git checkout local.farBranch git svn dcommit <<== OK