Do not strip innocent children. See https://bitbucket.org/facebook/hg-experimental/issues/6/hg-absorb-merges-diverged-commits $ cat >> $HGRCPATH << EOF > [extensions] > absorb= > drawdag=$RUNTESTDIR/drawdag.py > EOF $ hg init $ hg debugdrawdag << EOF > E > | > D F > |/ > C > | > B > | > A > EOF $ hg up E -q $ echo 1 >> B $ echo 2 >> D $ hg absorb saved backup bundle to * (glob) 2 of 2 chunk(s) applied $ hg log -G -T '{desc}' @ E | o D | o C | o B | | o F | | | o C | | | o B |/ o A