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[PATCH v4 2/2] mergetools/p4merge: create a base if none available

From
Kevin Bracey <kevin@bracey.fi>
Date
Mar 24, 2013, 11:54 UTC
Message-ID
<1364126098-10788-2-git-send-email-kevin@bracey.fi>
In-Reply-To
<1364126098-10788-1-git-send-email-kevin@bracey.fi>
Originally, with no base, Git gave P4Merge $LOCAL as a dummy base:
   p4merge "$LOCAL" "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" "$MERGED"
Commit 0a0ec7bd changed this to:
   p4merge "empty file" "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" "$MERGED"

to avoid the problem of being unable to save in some circumstances with similar inputs.

Unfortunately this approach produces much worse results on differing inputs. P4Merge really regards the blank file as the base, and once you have just a couple of differences between the two branches you end up with one a massive full-file conflict. The 3-way diff is not readable, and you have to invoke "difftool MERGE_HEAD HEAD" manually to get a useful view.

The original approach appears to have invoked special 2-way merge behaviour in P4Merge that occurs only if the base filename is "" or equal to the left input. You get a good visual comparison, and it does not auto-resolve differences. (Normally if one branch matched the base, it would autoresolve to the other branch).

But there appears to be no way of getting this 2-way behaviour and being able to reliably save. Having base==left appears to be triggering other assumptions. There are tricks the user can use to force the save icon on, but it's not intuitive.

So we now follow a suggestion given in the original patch's discussion: generate a virtual base, consisting of the lines common to the two branches. This is the same as the technique used in resolve and octopus merges, so we relocate that code to a shared function.

Note that if there are no differences at the same location, this technique can lead to automatic resolution without conflict, combining everything from the 2 files. As with the other merges using this technique, we assume the user will inspect the result before saving.

Signed-off-by: Kevin Bracey <kevin@bracey.fi>
Reviewed-by: David Aguilar <davvid@gmail.com>
---
Minor change from v3: that version moved initialisation of src1 higher up,
detaching it from its associated comment. This move was only required by
earlier versions, so v4 leaves src1 in its original position.
Added Reviewed-by footer.
 Documentation/git-sh-setup.txt |  6 ++++++
 git-merge-one-file.sh          | 18 +++++-------------
 git-sh-setup.sh                | 12 ++++++++++++
 mergetools/p4merge             |  6 +++++-
 4 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-sh-setup.txt b/Documentation/git-sh-setup.txt
index 6a9f66d..5d709d0 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-sh-setup.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-sh-setup.txt
@@ -82,6 +82,12 @@ get_author_ident_from_commit::
 	outputs code for use with eval to set the GIT_AUTHOR_NAME,
 	GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL and GIT_AUTHOR_DATE variables for a given commit.
 
+create_virtual_base::
+	modifies the first file so only lines in common with the
+	second file remain. If there is insufficient common material,
+	then the first file is left empty. The result is suitable
+	as a virtual base input for a 3-way merge.
+
 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
diff --git a/git-merge-one-file.sh b/git-merge-one-file.sh
index 3373c04..255c07a 100755
--- a/git-merge-one-file.sh
+++ b/git-merge-one-file.sh
@@ -104,30 +104,22 @@ case "${1:-.}${2:-.}${3:-.}" in
 		;;
 	esac
 
-	src2=`git-unpack-file $3`
+	src2=$(git-unpack-file $3)
 	case "$1" in
 	'')
 		echo "Added $4 in both, but differently."
-		# This extracts OUR file in $orig, and uses git apply to
-		# remove lines that are unique to ours.
-		orig=`git-unpack-file $2`
-		sz0=`wc -c <"$orig"`
-		@@DIFF@@ -u -La/$orig -Lb/$orig $orig $src2 | git apply --no-add
-		sz1=`wc -c <"$orig"`
-
-		# If we do not have enough common material, it is not
-		# worth trying two-file merge using common subsections.
-		expr $sz0 \< $sz1 \* 2 >/dev/null || : >$orig
+		orig=$(git-unpack-file $2)
+		create_virtual_base "$orig" "$src2"
 		;;
 	*)
 		echo "Auto-merging $4"
-		orig=`git-unpack-file $1`
+		orig=$(git-unpack-file $1)
 		;;
 	esac
 
 	# Be careful for funny filename such as "-L" in "$4", which
 	# would confuse "merge" greatly.
-	src1=`git-unpack-file $2`
+	src1=$(git-unpack-file $2)
 	git merge-file "$src1" "$orig" "$src2"
 	ret=$?
 	msg=
diff --git a/git-sh-setup.sh b/git-sh-setup.sh
index 9cfbe7f..2f78359 100644
--- a/git-sh-setup.sh
+++ b/git-sh-setup.sh
@@ -249,6 +249,18 @@ clear_local_git_env() {
 	unset $(git rev-parse --local-env-vars)
 }
 
+# Generate a virtual base file for a two-file merge. Uses git apply to
+# remove lines from $1 that are not in $2, leaving only common lines.
+create_virtual_base() {
+	sz0=$(wc -c <"$1")
+	@@DIFF@@ -u -La/"$1" -Lb/"$1" "$1" "$2" | git apply --no-add
+	sz1=$(wc -c <"$1")
+
+	# If we do not have enough common material, it is not
+	# worth trying two-file merge using common subsections.
+	expr $sz0 \< $sz1 \* 2 >/dev/null || : >"$1"
+}
+
 
 # Platform specific tweaks to work around some commands
 case $(uname -s) in
diff --git a/mergetools/p4merge b/mergetools/p4merge
index 46b3a5a..5a608ab 100644
--- a/mergetools/p4merge
+++ b/mergetools/p4merge
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ diff_cmd () {
 
 merge_cmd () {
 	touch "$BACKUP"
-	$base_present || >"$BASE"
+	if ! $base_present
+	then
+		cp -- "$LOCAL" "$BASE"
+		create_virtual_base "$BASE" "$REMOTE"
+	fi
 	"$merge_tool_path" "$BASE" "$REMOTE" "$LOCAL" "$MERGED"
 	check_unchanged
 }
-- 
1.8.2.rc3.21.g744ac65
Previous: Kevin BraceyNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 39 of 40 in “Improve P4Merge mergetool invocation”
  1. 0/2 Improve P4Merge mergetool invocationKevin Bracey, Mar 6, 2013
  2. 1/2 p4merge: swap LOCAL and REMOTE for mergetoolKevin Bracey, Mar 6, 2013
  3. Junio C HamanoMar 7, 2013
  4. Kevin BraceyMar 7, 2013
  5. Junio C HamanoMar 7, 2013
  6. Kevin BraceyMar 7, 2013
  7. Junio C HamanoMar 7, 2013
  8. David AguilarMar 7, 2013
  9. Junio C HamanoMar 7, 2013
  10. 2/2 p4merge: create a virtual base if none availableKevin Bracey, Mar 6, 2013
  11. David AguilarMar 7, 2013
  12. Kevin BraceyMar 7, 2013
  13. Junio C HamanoMar 7, 2013
  14. David AguilarMar 7, 2013
  15. 0/3 Improve P4Merge mergetool invocationKevin Bracey, Mar 9, 2013
  16. 1/3 mergetools/p4merge: swap LOCAL and REMOTEKevin Bracey, Mar 9, 2013
  17. 2/3 mergetools/p4merge: create a base if none availableKevin Bracey, Mar 9, 2013
  18. Junio C HamanoMar 10, 2013
  19. 3/3 git-merge-one-file: revise merge error reportingKevin Bracey, Mar 9, 2013
  20. 1/3 mergetools/p4merge: swap LOCAL and REMOTEKevin Bracey, Mar 13, 2013
  21. 2/3 mergetools/p4merge: create a base if none availableKevin Bracey, Mar 13, 2013
  22. 3/3 git-merge-one-file: revise merge error reportingKevin Bracey, Mar 13, 2013
  23. David AguilarMar 13, 2013
  24. 0/3 git-merge-one-file error reportingKevin Bracey, Mar 24, 2013
  25. 1/3 git-merge-one-file: style cleanupKevin Bracey, Mar 24, 2013
  26. 2/3 git-merge-one-file: send "ERROR:" messages to stderrKevin Bracey, Mar 24, 2013
  27. 3/3 git-merge-one-file: revise merge error reportingKevin Bracey, Mar 24, 2013
  28. Junio C HamanoMar 25, 2013
  29. Junio C HamanoMar 25, 2013
  30. Junio C HamanoMar 25, 2013
  31. Eric SunshineMar 25, 2013
  32. Junio C HamanoMar 13, 2013
  33. Kevin BraceyMar 14, 2013
  34. Junio C HamanoMar 14, 2013
  35. Kevin BraceyMar 14, 2013
  36. Kevin BraceyMar 14, 2013
  37. David AguilarMar 13, 2013
  38. 1/2 mergetools/p4merge: swap LOCAL and REMOTEKevin Bracey, Mar 24, 2013
  39. 2/2 mergetools/p4merge: create a base if none availableKevin Bracey, Mar 24, 2013
  40. Junio C HamanoMar 25, 2013

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