SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-merge' [-n] [--no-commit] [-s <strategy>]... <msg> <head> <remote> <remote>...
-
+[verse]
+'git-merge' [-n] [--no-commit] [--squash] [-s <strategy>]...
+ [--reflog-action=<action>]
+ -m=<msg> <remote> <remote>...
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-This is the top-level user interface to the merge machinery
+This is the top-level interface to the merge machinery
which drives multiple merge strategy scripts.
to give a good default for automated `git-merge` invocations.
<head>::
- our branch head commit.
+ Our branch head commit. This has to be `HEAD`, so new
+ syntax does not require it
<remote>::
- other branch head merged into our branch. You need at
+ Other branch head merged into our branch. You need at
least one <remote>. Specifying more than one <remote>
obviously means you are trying an Octopus.
+--reflog-action=<action>::
+ This is used internally when `git-pull` calls this command
+ to record that the merge was created by `pull` command
+ in the `ref-log` entry that results from the merge.
+
include::merge-strategies.txt[]
+If you tried a merge which resulted in a complex conflicts and
+would want to start over, you can recover with
+gitlink:git-reset[1].
+
+
HOW MERGE WORKS
---------------
stops before touching anything.
So in the above two "failed merge" case, you do not have to
-worry about lossage of data --- you simply were not ready to do
+worry about loss of data --- you simply were not ready to do
a merge, so no merge happened at all. You may want to finish
whatever you were in the middle of doing, and retry the same
pull after you are done and ready.
2. Cleanly merged paths are updated both in the index file and
in your working tree.
-3. For conflicting paths, the index file records the version
- from `HEAD`. The working tree files have the result of
- "merge" program; i.e. 3-way merge result with familiar
- conflict markers `<<< === >>>`.
+3. For conflicting paths, the index file records up to three
+ versions; stage1 stores the version from the common ancestor,
+ stage2 from `HEAD`, and stage3 from the remote branch (you
+ can inspect the stages with `git-ls-files -u`). The working
+ tree files have the result of "merge" program; i.e. 3-way
+ merge result with familiar conflict markers `<<< === >>>`.
4. No other changes are done. In particular, the local
modifications you had before you started merge will stay the