diff --git a/src/commands/CmdMerge.cpp b/src/commands/CmdMerge.cpp
index f3dea0b8a..b530ae669 100644
--- a/src/commands/CmdMerge.cpp
+++ b/src/commands/CmdMerge.cpp
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ CmdMerge::CmdMerge ()
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 int CmdMerge::execute (std::string& output)
 {
+  // invoke gc before merging in order to update data files
+  context.tdb.gc ();
+  context.tdb2.gc ();
+
   std::vector <std::string> words = context.a3.extract_words ();
   std::string file;
   if (words.size ())
@@ -92,6 +96,7 @@ int CmdMerge::execute (std::string& output)
     if ( ((sAutopush == "ask") && (confirm ("Would you like to push the merged changes to \'" + uri._data + "\'?")) )
        || (bAutopush) )
     {
+      // TODO derive autopush uri from merge.default.uri? otherwise: change prompt above
 //      context.task.set ("description", uri._data);
 
       std::string out;
diff --git a/test/merge.t b/test/merge.t
index 6b3240d1b..1964d0701 100755
--- a/test/merge.t
+++ b/test/merge.t
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ my $report_r = qx{../src/task rc:remote.rc list};
 like   ($report_l,   qr/left_added/,                    "local-merge: left_added is present");
 like   ($report_l,   qr/right_added/,                   "local-merge: right_added is present");
 like   ($report_l,   qr/H.*left_modified/,              "local-merge: left_modified ok");
-like   ($report_l,   qr/\*.*left_newer.*stay/,          "local-merge: left_newer ok");
+like   ($report_l,   qr/\*.*left_newer.*stay/,          "local-merge: left_newer ok, undo-completed");
 like   ($report_l,   qr/realProject.*right_newer.*gym/, "local-merge: right_newer ok");
 
 $report_l = qx{../src/task rc:local.rc export};