merge-options.txt: clarify meaning of various ff-related options
As discovered on the mailing list, some of the descriptions of the ff-related options were unclear. Try to be more precise with what these options do. Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Elijah Newren committed
Aug 30, 2019 at 17:23 UTC
27fd1e4ea70f3787c016f3b7ab75c52aa11a753d
1 file changed
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Documentation/merge-options.txt
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@@ -40,20 +40,24 @@ set to `no` at the beginning of them.
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case of a merge conflict.
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--ff::
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- When the merge resolves as a fast-forward, only update the branch
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- pointer, without creating a merge commit. This is the default
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- behavior.
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-
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--no-ff::
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- Create a merge commit even when the merge resolves as a
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- fast-forward. This is the default behaviour when merging an
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- annotated (and possibly signed) tag that is not stored in
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- its natural place in 'refs/tags/' hierarchy.
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-
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--ff-only::
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- Refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status unless the
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- current `HEAD` is already up to date or the merge can be
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- resolved as a fast-forward.
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+ Specifies how a merge is handled when the merged-in history is
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+ already a descendant of the current history. `--ff` is the
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+ default unless merging an annotated (and possibly signed) tag
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+ that is not stored in its natural place in the `refs/tags/`
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+ hierarchy, in which case `--no-ff` is assumed.
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++
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+With `--ff`, when possible resolve the merge as a fast-forward (only
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+update the branch pointer to match the merged branch; do not create a
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+merge commit). When not possible (when the merged-in history is not a
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+descendant of the current history), create a merge commit.
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++
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+With `--no-ff`, create a merge commit in all cases, even when the merge
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+could instead be resolved as a fast-forward.
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++
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+With `--ff-only`, resolve the merge as a fast-forward when possible.
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+When not possible, refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status.
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-S[<keyid>]::
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--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::