[PATCH 3/8] merge-ort: enable diff-algorithms other than histogram

From: Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 31, 2025, 15:51 UTC
Message-ID: <3945c471b0c40b49e9a48feaba6dae2afc96fa6a.1743436280.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <pull.1898.git.1743436279.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>

The ort merge strategy has always used the histogram diff algorithm. The recursive merge strategy, in contrast, defaults to the myers diff algorithm, while allowing it to be changed.

Change the ort merge strategy to allow different diff algorithms, by removing the hard coded value in merge_start() and instead just making it a default in init_merge_options(). Technically, this also changes the default diff algorithm for the recursive backend too, but we're going to remove the final callers of the recursive backend in the next two commits.

Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc | 29 +++++++++++++++--------------
 merge-ort.c                         |  3 ---
 merge-recursive.c                   |  1 +
 3 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc b/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc
index 59f5ae36ccb..8c87dd70210 100644
--- a/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc
@@ -87,6 +87,20 @@ no-renames;;
 	configuration variable.
 	See also linkgit:git-diff[1] `--no-renames`.
 
+histogram;;
+	Deprecated synonym for `diff-algorithm=histogram`.
+
+patience;;
+	Deprecated synonym for `diff-algorithm=patience`.
+
+diff-algorithm=[histogram|minimal|myers|patience];;
+	Use a different diff algorithm while merging, which can help
+	avoid mismerges that occur due to unimportant matching lines
+	(such as braces from distinct functions).  See also
+	linkgit:git-diff[1] `--diff-algorithm`.  Note that `ort`
+	defaults to `diff-algorithm=histogram`, while regular diffs
+	currently default to the `diff.algorithm` config setting.
+
 subtree[=<path>];;
 	This option is a more advanced form of 'subtree' strategy, where
 	the strategy makes a guess on how two trees must be shifted to
@@ -111,20 +125,7 @@ recursive::
 For a path that is a submodule, the same caution as 'ort' applies to this
 strategy.
 +
-The 'recursive' strategy takes the same options as 'ort'.  However,
-there are two additional options that 'ort' ignores (not documented
-above) that are potentially useful with the 'recursive' strategy:
-
-patience;;
-	Deprecated synonym for `diff-algorithm=patience`.
-
-diff-algorithm=[patience|minimal|histogram|myers];;
-	Use a different diff algorithm while merging, which can help
-	avoid mismerges that occur due to unimportant matching lines
-	(such as braces from distinct functions).  See also
-	linkgit:git-diff[1] `--diff-algorithm`.  Note that `ort`
-	specifically uses `diff-algorithm=histogram`, while `recursive`
-	defaults to the `diff.algorithm` config setting.
+The 'recursive' strategy takes the same options as 'ort'.
 
 resolve::
 	This can only resolve two heads (i.e. the current branch
diff --git a/merge-ort.c b/merge-ort.c
index 2b7d86aa4ec..14a7ae4a6bf 100644
--- a/merge-ort.c
+++ b/merge-ort.c
@@ -4957,9 +4957,6 @@ static void merge_start(struct merge_options *opt, struct merge_result *result)
 	}
 	trace2_region_leave("merge", "sanity checks", opt->repo);
 
-	/* Default to histogram diff.  Actually, just hardcode it...for now. */
-	opt->xdl_opts = DIFF_WITH_ALG(opt, HISTOGRAM_DIFF);
-
 	/* Handle attr direction stuff for renormalization */
 	if (opt->renormalize)
 		git_attr_set_direction(GIT_ATTR_CHECKOUT);
diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index 884ccf99a58..f3df127ad9b 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -3981,6 +3981,7 @@ static void init_merge_options(struct merge_options *opt,
 	opt->renormalize = 0;
 
 	opt->conflict_style = -1;
+	opt->xdl_opts = DIFF_WITH_ALG(opt, HISTOGRAM_DIFF);
 
 	merge_recursive_config(opt, ui);
 	merge_verbosity = getenv("GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY");

-- 
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