Merge branch 'bg/maint-remote-update-default' into maint

[git.git] / Documentation / user-manual.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt
index 269ec475e6a822c671af994d13693cfc89e5983f..b169836684a56aae176875effa5cc4e6a619de80 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt
+++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt
@@ -1183,7 +1183,23 @@ $ git merge branchname
 -------------------------------------------------
 
 merges the development in the branch "branchname" into the current
-branch.  If there are conflicts--for example, if the same file is
+branch.
+
+A merge is made by combining the changes made in "branchname" and the
+changes made up to the latest commit in your current branch since
+their histories forked. The work tree is overwritten by the result of
+the merge when this combining is done cleanly, or overwritten by a
+half-merged results when this combining results in conflicts.
+Therefore, if you have uncommitted changes touching the same files as
+the ones impacted by the merge, Git will refuse to proceed. Most of
+the time, you will want to commit your changes before you can merge,
+and if you don't, then linkgit:git-stash[1] can take these changes
+away while you're doing the merge, and reapply them afterwards.
+
+If the changes are independant enough, Git will automatically complete
+the merge and commit the result (or reuse an existing commit in case
+of <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>>, see below). On the other hand,
+if there are conflicts--for example, if the same file is
 modified in two different ways in the remote branch and the local
 branch--then you are warned; the output may look something like this:
 
@@ -1679,7 +1695,7 @@ Sharing development with others
 Getting updates with git pull
 -----------------------------
 
-After you clone a repository and make a few changes of your own, you
+After you clone a repository and commit a few changes of your own, you
 may wish to check the original repository for updates and merge them
 into your own work.
 
@@ -2569,7 +2585,7 @@ them again with linkgit:git-am[1].
 Other tools
 -----------
 
-There are numerous other tools, such as StGIT, which exist for the
+There are numerous other tools, such as StGit, which exist for the
 purpose of maintaining a patch series.  These are outside of the scope of
 this manual.
 
@@ -4275,7 +4291,7 @@ You see, Git is actually the best tool to find out about the source of Git
 itself!
 
 [[glossary]]
-GIT Glossary
+Git Glossary
 ============
 
 include::glossary-content.txt[]