--edit::
--no-edit::
- Invoke editor before committing successful merge to further
- edit the default merge message. The `--no-edit` option can be
+ Invoke an editor before committing successful mechanical merge to
+ further edit the auto-generated merge message, so that the user
+ can explain and justify the merge. The `--no-edit` option can be
used to accept the auto-generated message (this is generally
- discouraged) when merging an annotated tag, in which case
- `git merge` automatically spawns the editor so that the result
- of the GPG verification of the tag can be seen.
+ discouraged). The `--edit` option is still useful if you are
+ giving a draft message with the `-m` option from the command line
+ and want to edit it in the editor.
+
Older scripts may depend on the historical behaviour of not allowing the
user to edit the merge log message. They will see an editor opened when
-they run `git merge` to merge an annotated tag. To make it easier to adjust
-such scripts to the updated behaviour, the environment variable
-`GIT_MERGE_AUTOEDIT` can be set to `no` at the beginning of them.
+they run `git merge`. To make it easier to adjust such scripts to the
+updated behaviour, the environment variable `GIT_MERGE_AUTOEDIT` can be
+set to `no` at the beginning of them.
--ff::
When the merge resolves as a fast-forward, only update the branch
--no-ff::
Create a merge commit even when the merge resolves as a
- fast-forward.
+ fast-forward. This is the default behaviour when merging an
+ annotated (and possibly signed) tag.
--ff-only::
Refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status unless the
Pass merge strategy specific option through to the merge
strategy.
+--verify-signatures::
+--no-verify-signatures::
+ Verify that the commits being merged have good and trusted GPG signatures
+ and abort the merge in case they do not.
+
--summary::
--no-summary::
Synonyms to --stat and --no-stat; these are deprecated and will be