Typo in man page for git-merge

Typo in man page for git-merge

[Fabian Kratz]

[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 878 bytes --]

Hi, I just read the git man page git-merge and believe that I found a typo/error in an example. I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but this is the section:

> Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "master":
>
>               A---B---C topic
>              /
>         D---E---F---G master
>
> Then "git merge topic" will replay the changes made on the topic branch since it diverged from master (i.e.,
> E) until its current commit (C) on top of master, and record the result in a new commit along with the names
> of the two parent commits and a log message from the user describing the changes. Before the operation,
> ORIG_HEAD is set to the tip of the current branch (C).

I believe ORIG_HEAD is actually set to G here, not C. My own experiments support this and it's what I would expect after reading the explanation.

[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 343 bytes --]

Re: Typo in man page for git-merge

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

Hi Fabian

On Sat, Sep 5, 2026, at 18:29, Fabian Kratz wrote:
> Hi, I just read the git man page git-merge and believe that I found a
> typo/error in an example. I don't know if this is the right place to
> post this, but this is the section:
>
>> Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "master":
>>
>>               A---B---C topic
>>              /
>>         D---E---F---G master
>>
>> Then "git merge topic" will replay the changes made on the topic branch since it diverged from master (i.e.,
>> E) until its current commit (C) on top of master, and record the result in a new commit along with the names
>> of the two parent commits and a log message from the user describing the changes. Before the operation,
>> ORIG_HEAD is set to the tip of the current branch (C).
>
> I believe ORIG_HEAD is actually set to G here, not C. My own
> experiments support this and it's what I would expect after reading the
> explanation.

This was fixed in Git 2.51.0. Specifically in 953049ee (docs: correct
ORIG_HEAD example in "git merge" documentation, 2025-07-05).