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Incremental merge for git
doc/presentations/GitMerge-2013 | ||
t | ||
.gitignore | ||
COPYING | ||
git-imerge | ||
Makefile | ||
README.rst | ||
TODO.rst |
================================================== git-imerge -- incremental merge and rebase for git ================================================== Perform the merge between two branches incrementally. If conflicts are encountered, figure out exactly which pairs of commits conflict, and present the user with one pairwise conflict at a time for resolution. ``git-imerge`` has two primary design goals: * Reduce the pain of resolving merge conflicts to its unavoidable minimum, by finding and presenting the smallest possible conflicts: those between the changes introduced by one commit from each branch. * Allow a merge to be saved, tested, interrupted, published, and collaborated on while it is in progress. The theory and benefits of incremental merging are described in minute detail in a series of blog posts [1]_, as are the benefits of retaining history when doing a rebase [2]_. Multiple incremental merges can be in progress at the same time. Each incremental merge has a name, and its progress is recorded in the Git repository as references under ``refs/imerge/NAME``. The current state of an incremental merge can (crudely) be visualized using the ``diagram`` command. An incremental merge can be interrupted and resumed arbitrarily, or even pushed to a server to allow somebody else to work on it. **git-imerge is experimental! If it breaks, you get to keep the pieces. For example, it is strongly recommended that you make a clone of your git repository and run the script on the clone rather than the original. Feedback and bug reports are welcome!** Using results ============= When an incremental merge is finished, you can discard the intermediate merge commits and create a simpler history to record permanently in your project repository using either the ``finish`` or ``simplify`` command. The incremental merge can be simplified in one of three ways: ``merge`` keep only a simple merge of the second branch into the first branch, discarding all intermediate merges. The result is similar to what you would get from :: git checkout BRANCH1 git merge BRANCH2 ``rebase`` keep the versions of the commits from the second branch rebased onto the first branch. The result is similar to what you would get from :: git checkout BRANCH2 git rebase BRANCH1 ``rebase-with-history`` like rebase, except that each of the rebased commits is recorded as a merge from its original version to its rebased predecessor. This is a style of rebasing that does not discard the old version of the branch, and allows an already-published branch to be rebased. See [2]_ for more information. Simple operation ================ For basic operation, you only need to know three ``git-imerge`` commands. To merge ``BRANCH`` into ``MASTER`` or rebase ``BRANCH`` onto ``MASTER``, :: git checkout MASTER git-imerge start --name=NAME --goal=GOAL --first-parent BRANCH while not done: <fix conflict presented to you> git commit git-imerge continue git-imerge finish where ``NAME`` is the name for this merge (and also the default name of the branch to which the results will be saved) ``GOAL`` describes how you want to simplify the results: * ``merge`` for a simple merge * ``rebase`` for a simple rebase * ``rebase-with-history`` for a rebase that retains history. This is equivalent to merging the commits from BRANCH into MASTER, one commit at a time. In other words, it transforms this:: o---o---o---o MASTER \ A---B---C---D BRANCH into this:: o---o---o---o---A'--B'--C'--D' MASTER \ / / / / --------A---B---C---D BRANCH This is like a rebase, except that it retains the history of individual merges. See [2]_ for more information. License ======= git-imerge is released as open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2 or later. .. [1] * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-conflict-frontier-of-nightmare-merge.html * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/2012/12/mapping-merge-conflict-frontier.html * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/2012/12/real-world-conflict-diagrams.html * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/ * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/ .. [2] * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/truce-in-merge-vs-rebase-war.html * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/2009/08/upstream-rebase-just-works-if-history.html * http://softwareswirl.blogspot.com/2009/08/rebase-with-history-implementation.html