From: J. Bruce Fields Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 20:34:27 +0000 (-0500) Subject: user-manual: more detailed merge discussion X-Git-Tag: v1.5.0.3~2 X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=ef561ac7380cae589549237c804ad88e8dd449ef;p=git.git user-manual: more detailed merge discussion Add more details on conflict, including brief discussion of file stages. Signed-off-by: "J. Bruce Fields" Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt index b80300e37..a5e7b536f 100644 --- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt +++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt @@ -1168,18 +1168,46 @@ the working tree in a special state that gives you all the information you need to help resolve the merge. Files with conflicts are marked specially in the index, so until you -resolve the problem and update the index, git commit will fail: +resolve the problem and update the index, gitlink:git-commit[1] will +fail: ------------------------------------------------- $ git commit file.txt: needs merge ------------------------------------------------- -Also, git status will list those files as "unmerged". +Also, gitlink:git-status[1] will list those files as "unmerged", and the +files with conflicts will have conflict markers added, like this: + +------------------------------------------------- +<<<<<<< HEAD:file.txt +Hello world +======= +Goodbye +>>>>>>> 77976da35a11db4580b80ae27e8d65caf5208086:file.txt +------------------------------------------------- + +All you need to do is edit the files to resolve the conflicts, and then + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git add file.txt +$ git commit +------------------------------------------------- + +Note that the commit message will already be filled in for you with +some information about the merge. Normally you can just use this +default message unchanged, but you may add additional commentary of +your own if desired. + +The above is all you need to know to resolve a simple merge. But git +also provides more information to help resolve conflicts: + +Getting conflict-resolution help during a merge +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the changes that git was able to merge automatically are already added to the index file, so gitlink:git-diff[1] shows only -the conflicts. Also, it uses a somewhat unusual syntax: +the conflicts. It uses an unusual syntax: ------------------------------------------------- $ git diff @@ -1200,14 +1228,32 @@ conflict will have two parents instead of the usual one: one parent will be HEAD, the tip of the current branch; the other will be the tip of the other branch, which is stored temporarily in MERGE_HEAD. -The diff above shows the differences between the working-tree version -of file.txt and two previous versions: one version from HEAD, and one -from MERGE_HEAD. So instead of preceding each line by a single "+" -or "-", it now uses two columns: the first column is used for -differences between the first parent and the working directory copy, -and the second for differences between the second parent and the -working directory copy. Thus after resolving the conflict in the -obvious way, the diff will look like: +During the merge, the index holds three versions of each file. Each of +these three "file stages" represents a different version of the file: + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git show :1:file.txt # the file in a common ancestor of both branches +$ git show :2:file.txt # the version from HEAD, but including any + # nonconflicting changes from MERGE_HEAD +$ git show :3:file.txt # the version from MERGE_HEAD, but including any + # nonconflicting changes from HEAD. +------------------------------------------------- + +Since the stage 2 and stage 3 versions have already been updated with +nonconflicting changes, the only remaining differences between them are +the important ones; thus gitlink:git-diff[1] can use the information in +the index to show only those conflicts. + +The diff above shows the differences between the working-tree version of +file.txt and the stage 2 and stage 3 versions. So instead of preceding +each line by a single "+" or "-", it now uses two columns: the first +column is used for differences between the first parent and the working +directory copy, and the second for differences between the second parent +and the working directory copy. (See the "COMBINED DIFF FORMAT" section +of gitlink:git-diff-files[1] for a details of the format.) + +After resolving the conflict in the obvious way (but before updating the +index), the diff will look like: ------------------------------------------------- $ git diff @@ -1225,26 +1271,37 @@ This shows that our resolved version deleted "Hello world" from the first parent, deleted "Goodbye" from the second parent, and added "Goodbye world", which was previously absent from both. -The gitlink:git-log[1] command also provides special help for merges: +Some special diff options allow diffing the working directory against +any of these stages: + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git diff -1 file.txt # diff against stage 1 +$ git diff --base file.txt # same as the above +$ git diff -2 file.txt # diff against stage 2 +$ git diff --ours file.txt # same as the above +$ git diff -3 file.txt # diff against stage 3 +$ git diff --theirs file.txt # same as the above. +------------------------------------------------- + +The gitlink:git-log[1] and gitk[1] commands also provide special help +for merges: ------------------------------------------------- $ git log --merge +$ gitk --merge ------------------------------------------------- -This will list all commits which exist only on HEAD or on MERGE_HEAD, -and which touch an unmerged file. +These will display all commits which exist only on HEAD or on +MERGE_HEAD, and which touch an unmerged file. -We can now add the resolved version to the index and commit: +Each time you resolve the conflicts in a file and update the index: ------------------------------------------------- $ git add file.txt -$ git commit ------------------------------------------------- -Note that the commit message will already be filled in for you with -some information about the merge. Normally you can just use this -default message unchanged, but you may add additional commentary of -your own if desired. +the different stages of that file will be "collapsed", after which +git-diff will (by default) no longer show diffs for that file. [[undoing-a-merge]] undoing a merge @@ -2988,11 +3045,6 @@ provides. Simplify beginning by suggesting disconnected head instead of temporary branch creation? -Explain how to refer to file stages in the "how to resolve a merge" -section: diff -1, -2, -3, --ours, --theirs :1:/path notation. The -"git ls-files --unmerged --stage" thing is sorta useful too, -actually. And note gitk --merge. - Add more good examples. Entire sections of just cookbook examples might be a good idea; maybe make an "advanced examples" section a standard end-of-chapter section?