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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.

  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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