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[PATCH 7/5] merge-ll: report an error when reading external merge results fails

From
Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date
Sep 29, 2026, 20:44 UTC
Message-ID
<20260929204421.GB1734030@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To
<20260929204157.GA1733321@coredump.intra.peff.net>

If we can't read an external merge driver's output, ll_ext_merge() leaves the result buffer as NULL but returns a status based only on the driver's exit code. So a driver which exits successfully can cause us to return LL_MERGE_OK without a result.

Most callers of ll_merge() check for a NULL buffer in addition to an error return, so they're fine. But rerere's merge() checks only the return value, and may write out the (incorrect) empty result as the recorded resolution.

Let's return LL_MERGE_ERROR when read_mmfile() fails, regardless of the driver's exit status, to make it clear that the returned value is not valid.

Our test is a little funny; the bad case happens when reading back the file happens to fail. That can happen randomly due to system errors, but of course we want it to be deterministic. We can make that happen by breaking the permissions on the result file. But if we configure a driver that always does that, we'd never record a rerere result in the first place! So we instead create a driver that "breaks" the read only when we instruct it do so, simulating a flaky system.

Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
---
 merge-ll.c        |  4 ++--
 t/t4200-rerere.sh | 51 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/merge-ll.c b/merge-ll.c
index 4d82836bc5..3b5327e7df 100644
--- a/merge-ll.c
+++ b/merge-ll.c
@@ -248,8 +248,8 @@ static enum ll_merge_result ll_ext_merge(const struct ll_merge_driver *fn,
 		/* died due to a signal: WTERMSIG(status) + 128 */
 		ret = LL_MERGE_ERROR;
 
-	/* We can ignore errors; result is left NULL/0 in that case. */
-	read_mmfile(result, temp[1]);
+	if (read_mmfile(result, temp[1]) < 0)
+		ret = LL_MERGE_ERROR;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < 3; i++)
 		unlink_or_warn(temp[i]);
diff --git a/t/t4200-rerere.sh b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
index 7bb601e117..74945a4e3c 100755
--- a/t/t4200-rerere.sh
+++ b/t/t4200-rerere.sh
@@ -734,4 +734,55 @@ test_expect_success 'rerere does not crash with unmatched conflict marker' '
 	test_must_fail git rebase --continue
 '
 
+test_expect_success SANITY 'rerere preserves conflicts when driver output is unreadable' '
+	test_create_repo unreadable-output &&
+	(
+		cd unreadable-output &&
+		git config rerere.enabled true &&
+		git config rerere.autoupdate true &&
+		write_script merge-driver <<-\EOF &&
+		git merge-file "$@"
+		status=$?
+		if test -f fail-read
+		then
+			chmod 0 "$1" || exit 1
+		fi
+		exit "$status"
+		EOF
+		git config merge.unreadable.driver "./merge-driver %A %O %B" &&
+		echo "file merge=unreadable" >.gitattributes &&
+		test_commit base file base &&
+		git checkout -b one &&
+		test_commit --no-tag one file one &&
+		git checkout -b two base &&
+		test_commit --no-tag two file two &&
+
+		# Teach rerere a resolution while the driver works normally.
+		test_must_fail git merge one &&
+		echo resolved >file &&
+		git rerere &&
+		git merge --abort &&
+
+		# Recreate the conflict without replaying the resolution yet.
+		test_must_fail git -c rerere.enabled=false merge one &&
+
+		# We will expect the same conflicted content after rerere fails
+		# below.
+		cp file expect &&
+		git ls-files -u >expect-index &&
+		test_file_not_empty expect-index &&
+
+		# Now we try rerere again, but the merge driver will cause the
+		# read to fail.
+		>fail-read &&
+		git rerere 2>err &&
+		test_grep "Could not open" err &&
+
+		# And we expect the conflicted state.
+		test_cmp expect file &&
+		git ls-files -u >actual-index &&
+		test_cmp expect-index actual-index
+	)
+'
+
 test_done
-- 
2.56.0.325.g545d7e68bc
Previous: Jeff KingNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 14 of 37 in “use size_t for xdiff mmfile_t”
  1. 0/5 use size_t for xdiff mmfile_tJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  2. 1/5 xdiff: clean up read_mmfile() allocations on errorJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  3. 2/5 xdiff: replace mmbuffer_t with mmfile_tJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  4. 3/5 xdiff: use size_t for buffer sizesJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  5. 4/5 merge-ll: use read_mmfile() to read external merge resultsJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  6. 5/5 xdiff: NUL-terminate buffers read by read_mmfile()Jeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  7. D. Ben KnobleSep 29, 2026
  8. Junio C HamanoSep 29, 2026
  9. Junio C HamanoSep 29, 2026
  10. Junio C HamanoSep 29, 2026
  11. Jeff KingSep 29, 2026
  12. Jeff KingSep 29, 2026
  13. 6/5 merge-ll: handle external driver status before reading resultJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  14. 7/5 merge-ll: report an error when reading external merge results failsJeff King, Sep 29, 2026
  15. Junio C HamanoSep 29, 2026
  16. Jeff KingSep 29, 2026
  17. Patrick SteinhardtSep 30, 2026
  18. Patrick SteinhardtSep 30, 2026
  19. Patrick SteinhardtSep 30, 2026
  20. Junio C HamanoSep 30, 2026
  21. Junio C HamanoSep 30, 2026
  22. Jeff KingSep 30, 2026
  23. Jeff KingSep 30, 2026
  24. Jeff KingSep 30, 2026
  25. Jeff KingSep 30, 2026
  26. 0/7 use size_t for xdiff mmfile_tJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  27. 1/7 xdiff: clean up read_mmfile() allocations on errorJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  28. 2/7 xdiff: replace mmbuffer_t with mmfile_tJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  29. 3/7 xdiff: use size_t for buffer sizesJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  30. 4/7 xdiff: NUL-terminate buffers read by read_mmfile()Jeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  31. 5/7 merge-ll: use read_mmfile() to read external merge resultsJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  32. 6/7 merge-ll: handle external driver status before reading resultJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  33. 7/7 merge-ll: report an error when reading external merge results failsJeff King, Sep 30, 2026
  34. Patrick SteinhardtOct 1, 2026
  35. Patrick SteinhardtOct 1, 2026
  36. Junio C HamanoOct 1, 2026
  37. Junio C HamanoOct 1, 2026

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