[PATCH v3 1/2] Documentation/git-merge.txt: fix reference to synopsis

From: Michael Lohmann <mial.lohmann@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 20, 2023, 21:35 UTC
Message-ID: <20231220213534.18947-1-mi.al.lohmann@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqy1dor3t5.fsf@gitster.g>

437591a9d738 combined the synopsis of "The second syntax" (meaning `git merge --abort`) and "The third syntax" (for `git merge --continue`) into this single line:

       git merge (--continue | --abort | --quit)

but it was still referred to when describing the preconditions that have to be fulfilled to run the respective actions. In other words: References by number are no longer valid after a merge of some of the synopses.

Also the previous version of the documentation did not acknowledge that `--no-commit` would result in the precondition being fulfilled (thanks to Elijah Newren and Junio C Hamano for pointing that out).

This change also groups `--abort` and `--continue` together when explaining the prerequisites in order to avoid duplication.

Helped-by: René Scharfe <l.s.r@web.de>
Signed-off-by: Michael Lohmann <mi.al.lohmann@gmail.com>
---

@Junio My sentence was ambiguous. I wanted to refer to the upstream version of the docs, since that also has the faulty prerequisites, so I changed it to "the previous version of the documentation" for clarification. If you think that this paragraph is not needed nevertheless I am perfectly happy to remove it.

@Elijah Thanks!

 Documentation/git-merge.txt | 20 ++++++++++----------
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-merge.txt b/Documentation/git-merge.txt
index e8ab340319..33ec5c6b19 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-merge.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-merge.txt
@@ -46,21 +46,21 @@ a log message from the user describing the changes. Before the operation,
     D---E---F---G---H master
 ------------
 
-The second syntax ("`git merge --abort`") can only be run after the
-merge has resulted in conflicts. 'git merge --abort' will abort the
-merge process and try to reconstruct the pre-merge state. However,
-if there were uncommitted changes when the merge started (and
-especially if those changes were further modified after the merge
-was started), 'git merge --abort' will in some cases be unable to
-reconstruct the original (pre-merge) changes. Therefore:
+A merge stops if there's a conflict that cannot be resolved
+automatically or if `--no-commit` was provided when initiating the
+merge. At that point you can run `git merge --abort` or `git merge
+--continue`.
+
+`git merge --abort` will abort the merge process and try to reconstruct
+the pre-merge state. However, if there were uncommitted changes when the
+merge started (and especially if those changes were further modified
+after the merge was started), `git merge --abort` will in some cases be
+unable to reconstruct the original (pre-merge) changes. Therefore:
 
 *Warning*: Running 'git merge' with non-trivial uncommitted changes is
 discouraged: while possible, it may leave you in a state that is hard to
 back out of in the case of a conflict.
 
-The third syntax ("`git merge --continue`") can only be run after the
-merge has resulted in conflicts.
-
 OPTIONS
 -------
 :git-merge: 1

-- 
2.39.3 (Apple Git-145)