We compile with alwaysStrict so these directives are not needed

This reverts commit a4885690.

fixes #52787

fixes #56463

I didn't notice the preservation should be put under a condition

This handles the case when no local branch exists. You will get an error
if a local branch with the same name already exists. Better behavior for
this case can be implemented later.

Fixes #54601

fix the issue #53465