git-annex/doc/git-annex-resolvemerge.mdwn

# NAME

git-annex resolvemerge - resolve merge conflicts

# SYNOPSIS

git annex resolvemerge

# DESCRIPTION

Automatically resolves a conflicted merge. This is done
automatically when using `git annex sync` or `git annex merge`.

When two trees being merged contain conflicting versions of an annexed
file, the merge conflict will be resolved by adding both versions to the
tree, using variants of the filename.

When one tree modified the file, and the other tree deleted the file,
the merge conflict will be resolved by adding the modified file using a
variant of the filename, leaving the original filename deleted.

When the merge conflict involves a file that is annexed in one
tree, but is not annexed in the other tree, it is
resolved by keeping the non-annexed file as-is, and adding the annexed
version using a variant of the filename.

Note that only merge conflicts that involve one or more annexed files
are resolved. Merge conflicts between two files that are not annexed
will not be automatically resolved.

# EXAMPLES

Suppose Alice commits a change to annexed file `foo`, and Bob commits
a different change to the same file `foo`. 

Merging between them will then fail, and git will present the
merge conflict as a file `foo` pointing to one version of the
git-annex symlink, with `git status` indicating that `foo` has an
unresolved conflict.

Running `git annex resolvemerge` in this situation will resolve the merge
conflict, by replacing the file `foo` with files named like
`foo.variant-c696` and `foo.variant-f16a`. One of the files has the content
that Alice committed, and the other has the content that Bob committed.

The user can then examine the two variants of the file, and either merge
the two changes into a single file, or rename one of them back to `foo`
and delete the other.

Now suppose Alice commits a change to annexed file `bar`, while Bob commits
a deletion of the same file `bar`. Merging will fail. Running 
`git annex resolvemerge` in this situation will resolve the merge conflict
by making a file with a name like `bar.variant-421f` containing Alice's
version. The `bar` file remains deleted. The user can later examine the
variant of the file and either rename it back to `bar`, or decide to delete
it too.

# OPTIONS

* The [[git-annex-common-options]](1) can be used.

# SEE ALSO

[[git-annex]](1)

# AUTHOR

Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

Warning: Automatically converted into a man page by mdwn2man. Edit with care.