Re: [PATCH] Document what the stage numbers in the :$n:path syntax mean.

> Steven Grimm <koreth@midwinter.com> writes:
> 
> > Junio C Hamano wrote:
> >> People should learn this command.  Really.
> >>
> >>       $ git cat-file -p :$n:path
> >>
> >> where $n == 2 is ours, $n == 1 is common ancestor, and $n == 3
> >> is theirs.
> >
> > The git-rev-parse manpage talks about the :$n:path notation (buried deep in
> > a list of other syntax) but it just says $n is a "stage number" -- someone
> > who is not familiar with the internals of git's merge implementation is
> > never going to be able to figure out that "1", "2", and "3" mean what Junio
> > said.
> 
> The patch makes sense.  Thanks.
> 
> Just to give historical background to new readers, this is
> primarily because the really core level of the plumbing started
> as not caring between stages 2 and 3 (iow, as far as the merge
> is concerned, both heads are equal), and the description in the
> manual was written back then.
> 
> These days, all the merge strategies and other non-merge
> programs such as "git am" that can record conflicts as
> multi-stage index entries consistently use stage #2 as our
> version, and stages #2 and #3 are not equals anymore.