From: "Julia Evans" <julia@jvns.ca>
To: "Junio C Hamano" <gitster@pobox.com>
Cc: "D. Ben Knoble" <ben.knoble@gmail.com>,
"Julia Evans" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>,
git@vger.kernel.org, "Patrick Steinhardt" <ps@pks.im>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/7] [doc] git-merge: link to new merge conflicts guide
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:53:19 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <7861e492-6fa4-4768-afdd-65cd346b85be@app.fastmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <xmqqh5j4vvor.fsf@gitster.g>
>> WHAT IS A MERGE CONFLICT?
>> -------------------------
>>
>> When Git merges two commits together, it looks at the changes that
>> each side has made and combines those changes. For example, if one side
>> edited lines 1-5 of `hello.py` and the other side edited lines 20-25 of
>> `hello.py`, then it can easily combine them.
>
> Some immediate reactions.
Thanks, incorporated a few of these ("it marks them as conflicted",
"since there's no overlap", "the same file")
>> But if both sides edited overlapping lines of the same file (for example
>> one side edited lines 1-5 and the other edited lines 3-6), Git will
>> not try to guess how to combine those changes. This is called a "merge
>> conflict".
>
> - "cannot guess" would be more direct than "will not try to guess".
The way I think about it as a user is that Git takes an intentionally conservative
approach and I appreciate the conservatism. Compared to a more aggressive
syntax-aware merge system like `mergiraf` which has done merges I don't
agree with.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-10-02 18:53 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 68+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-09-24 14:44 [PATCH 0/7] [doc] Add new page on merge conflicts Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 1/7] [doc] Add new gitmergeconflicts man page Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-24 20:36 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-24 22:04 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-30 13:19 ` Patrick Steinhardt
2026-09-30 19:53 ` Julia Evans
2026-09-30 20:37 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-01 5:14 ` Patrick Steinhardt
2026-10-01 12:10 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-02 17:58 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-05 16:54 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-05 17:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-05 19:11 ` Julia Evans
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 2/7] [doc] git-merge: link to new merge conflicts guide Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-25 16:36 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-09-25 16:59 ` Julia Evans
2026-09-25 18:19 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-25 19:32 ` Ben Knoble
2026-09-25 21:49 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-25 19:34 ` Ben Knoble
2026-10-02 17:01 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-02 17:50 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-02 18:53 ` Julia Evans [this message]
2026-10-02 21:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-03 2:25 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-10-03 4:12 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-30 13:19 ` Patrick Steinhardt
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 3/7] [doc] git-rebase: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 4/7] [doc] git-revert: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 5/7] [doc] git-cherry-pick: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-25 17:17 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-28 20:58 ` Julia Evans
2026-09-28 21:25 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 6/7] [doc] git-pull: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-09-24 14:44 ` [PATCH 7/7] [doc] ignore conflict markers in gitmergeconflicts.adoc Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-07 21:21 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 12:06 ` Julia Evans
2026-09-24 22:20 ` [PATCH 0/7] [doc] Add new page on merge conflicts Junio C Hamano
2026-09-24 23:37 ` Jeff King
2026-09-28 20:41 ` Julia Evans
2026-09-29 1:32 ` Jeff King
2026-09-29 1:56 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-09-25 16:25 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-10-02 17:39 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-03 2:29 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-10-05 18:49 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-06 16:53 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-10-06 17:09 ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 0/6] " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 1/6] doc: add new gitmergeconflicts man page Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 17:58 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 18:53 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-09 21:54 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 2/6] doc: git-merge: link to new merge conflicts guide Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 18:20 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 3/6] doc: git-rebase: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 18:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 4/6] doc: git-revert: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 18:24 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 5/6] doc: git-cherry-pick: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 18:26 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 20:12 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-09 12:00 ` [PATCH v2 6/6] doc: git-pull: " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2026-10-09 18:27 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 15:41 ` [PATCH v2 0/6] [doc] Add new page on merge conflicts Junio C Hamano
2026-10-09 15:53 ` Julia Evans
2026-10-09 22:10 ` Ben Knoble
2026-10-09 18:36 ` Junio C Hamano
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