Final answer:
Cherry-picking allows selecting individual commits for merging, but it cannot be done for merge commits. Merge commits represent the combination of branches and include all changes from both branches.
Step-by-step explanation:
When merging branches in version control systems like Git, cherry picking allows you to select individual commits from one branch and apply them to another branch. However, cherry-picking a merge commit is not possible because a merge commit represents the combination of two or more branches and cannot be broken down into individual commits. It includes all the changes from both branches, so cherry-picking specific commits from a merge would result in conflicts.
For example, let's say you have Branch A and Branch B, and you merge them into Branch C. The resulting merge commit in Branch C contains all the changes from both Branch A and Branch B. If you try to cherry-pick a specific commit from the merge, it would conflict with the changes introduced by the merge commit. Therefore, cherry-picking a merge is not supported.
To incorporate changes from a merge into another branch, it's recommended to merge the entire branch or use alternative approaches like rebasing or applying patches.