NAME
----
-git-merge - Grand Unified Merge Driver
+git-merge - Join two or more development histories together
SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-merge' [-n] [--no-commit] [-s <strategy>]... <msg> <head> <remote> <remote>...
-
+[verse]
+'git-merge' [-n] [--summary] [--no-commit] [--squash] [-s <strategy>]...
+ [-m <msg>] <remote> <remote>...
+'git-merge' <msg> HEAD <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.
+The second syntax (<msg> `HEAD` <remote>) is supported for
+historical reasons. Do not use it from the command line or in
+new scripts. It is the same as `git merge -m <msg> <remote>`.
+
OPTIONS
-------
include::merge-options.txt[]
-<msg>::
+-m <msg>::
The commit message to be used for the merge commit (in case
it is created). The `git-fmt-merge-msg` script can be used
to give a good default for automated `git-merge` invocations.
-<head>::
- our branch head commit.
-
<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.
would want to start over, you can recover with
gitlink:git-reset[1].
+CONFIGURATION
+-------------
+
+merge.summary::
+ Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly
+ created merge commit. False by default.
+
+merge.verbosity::
+ Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
+ strategy. Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
+ message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
+ conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes. Level 5 and
+ above outputs debugging information. The default is level 2.
+ Can be overridden by 'GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY' environment variable.
+
+branch.<name>.mergeoptions::
+ Sets default options for merging into branch <name>. The syntax and
+ supported options are equal to that of git-merge, but option values
+ containing whitespace characters are currently not supported.
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.
When things cleanly merge, these things happen:
-1. the results are updated both in the index file and in your
- working tree,
-2. index file is written out as a tree,
-3. the tree gets committed, and
-4. the `HEAD` pointer gets advanced.
+1. The results are updated both in the index file and in your
+ working tree;
+2. Index file is written out as a tree;
+3. The tree gets committed; and
+4. The `HEAD` pointer gets advanced.
Because of 2., we require that the original state of the index
file to match exactly the current `HEAD` commit; otherwise we
* Resolve the conflicts. `git-diff` would report only the
conflicting paths because of the above 2. and 3.. Edit the
- working tree files into a desirable shape, `git-update-index`
+ working tree files into a desirable shape, `git-add` or `git-rm`
them, to make the index file contain what the merge result
should be, and run `git-commit` to commit the result.