1Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 20:17:40 -0500 2From: Sean <seanlkml@sympatico.ca> 3To: Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@frugalware.org> 4Cc: git@vger.kernel.org 5Subject: how to use git merge -s subtree? 6Abstract: In this article, Sean demonstrates how one can use the subtree merge 7 strategy. 8Content-type: text/asciidoc 9Message-ID: <BAYC1-PASMTP12374B54BA370A1E1C6E78AE4E0@CEZ.ICE> 10 11How to use the subtree merge strategy 12===================================== 13 14There are situations where you want to include contents in your project 15from an independently developed project. You can just pull from the 16other project as long as there are no conflicting paths. 17 18The problematic case is when there are conflicting files. Potential 19candidates are Makefiles and other standard filenames. You could merge 20these files but probably you do not want to. A better solution for this 21problem can be to merge the project as its own subdirectory. This is not 22supported by the 'recursive' merge strategy, so just pulling won't work. 23 24What you want is the 'subtree' merge strategy, which helps you in such a 25situation. 26 27In this example, let's say you have the repository at `/path/to/B` (but 28it can be an URL as well, if you want). You want to merge the 'master' 29branch of that repository to the `dir-B` subdirectory in your current 30branch. 31 32Here is the command sequence you need: 33 34---------------- 35$ git remote add -f Bproject /path/to/B <1> 36$ git merge -s ours --no-commit Bproject/master <2> 37$ git read-tree --prefix=dir-B/ -u Bproject/master <3> 38$ git commit -m "Merge B project as our subdirectory" <4> 39 40$ git pull -s subtree Bproject master <5> 41---------------- 42<1> name the other project "Bproject", and fetch. 43<2> prepare for the later step to record the result as a merge. 44<3> read "master" branch of Bproject to the subdirectory "dir-B". 45<4> record the merge result. 46<5> maintain the result with subsequent merges using "subtree" 47 48The first four commands are used for the initial merge, while the last 49one is to merge updates from 'B project'. 50 51Comparing 'subtree' merge with submodules 52----------------------------------------- 53 54- The benefit of using subtree merge is that it requires less 55 administrative burden from the users of your repository. It works with 56 older (before Git v1.5.2) clients and you have the code right after 57 clone. 58 59- However if you use submodules then you can choose not to transfer the 60 submodule objects. This may be a problem with the subtree merge. 61 62- Also, in case you make changes to the other project, it is easier to 63 submit changes if you just use submodules. 64 65Additional tips 66--------------- 67 68- If you made changes to the other project in your repository, they may 69 want to merge from your project. This is possible using subtree -- it 70 can shift up the paths in your tree and then they can merge only the 71 relevant parts of your tree. 72 73- Please note that if the other project merges from you, then it will 74 connect its history to yours, which can be something they don't want 75 to.