A look into git merge conflicts

Here’s an example. I  made a couple of changes to my README file. These changes were done twice. In the first commit, I wrote the message that these were README changes. In the second edit, I made some formatting chnages to the README. Obviously I didnt want the kernel source to have two commits just for README. So I wanted to amend the last commit to take care of the new changes too and push to last commit.

So I tried that:

First push:

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git commit -a
[master df5f8a1] Android README info A few more .gitignore files
 2 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 376 deletions(-)
 rewrite README (99%)
[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git push origin master
Counting objects: 7, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 935 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: bb/acl: droidzone is allowed. accepted payload.
To ssh:[email protected]/droidzone/kernel_android_n7100_v1.git
   11aa64f..df5f8a1  master -> master

Now I made the changes I wanted.

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$emacs README

Now changing the last commit message:

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git commit --all --amend
[master 8b34f1d] Android README info A few more .gitignore files
 2 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 376 deletions(-)
 rewrite README (99%)

Now I try to push. I get a failed message because the same commit exists on remote and is different.

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git push origin master
To ssh:[email protected]/droidzone/kernel_android_n7100_v1.git
 ! [rejected]        master -> master (non-fast-forward)
error: failed to push some refs to 'ssh:[email protected]/droidzone/kernel_android_n7100_v1.git'
hint: Updates were rejected because the tip of your current branch is behind
hint: its remote counterpart. Merge the remote changes (e.g. 'git pull')
hint: before pushing again.
hint: See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.

So it asked me to pull. I try that. Obviously there’s a conflict again.

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git pull
Auto-merging README
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in README
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

Fine. So I need to merge the conflicts manually.

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git mergetool
merge tool candidates: opendiff kdiff3 tkdiff xxdiff meld tortoisemerge gvimdiff diffuse ecmerge p4merge araxis bc3 emerge vimdiff
Merging:
README

Normal merge conflict for 'README':
  {local}: modified file
  {remote}: modified file
Hit return to start merge resolution tool (kdiff3):

Now it opened the nice GUI where I’m able to compare the three files and edit each one, then choose one of them.

I chose to use File B for all.

On closing the tool, this happened.

Next I have to commit afresh:

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git commit -a
[master 0ee33d2] Merge branch 'master' of ssh://bitbucket.org/droidzone/kernel_android_n7100_v1

It automatically added the commit message as a merge conflict resolution commit.

Now I can push the changes.

[[email protected] kernel_IN]$git push
Counting objects: 8, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 577 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: bb/acl: droidzone is allowed. accepted payload.
To ssh:[email protected]/droidzone/kernel_android_n7100_v1.git
   df5f8a1..0ee33d2  master -> master

In the end I suppose it didnt really offer advantages to amend changes and then make this additional commit. I know I’m missing a git command.