[PATCH v2 1/2] Documentation: update to git-merge-base --octopus
1) Unlike plain merge-base, merge-base --octopus only requires at least one commit
argument, and this patch updates the synopsis to reflect that.
2) Add a sentence to the discussion that when --octopus is used, we do expect '2'
as the result.
Signed-off-by: Vincent van Ravesteijn <vfr@lyx.org>
Reviewed-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
---
Documentation/git-merge-base.txt | 6 +++++-
builtin/merge-base.c | 3 ++-
2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-merge-base.txt b/Documentation/git-merge-base.txt
index eedef1b..a9f677b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-merge-base.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-merge-base.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ git-merge-base - Find as good common ancestors as possible for a merge
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git merge-base' [-a|--all] [--octopus] <commit> <commit>...
+'git merge-base' [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...
+'git merge-base' [-a|--all] --octopus <commit>...
'git merge-base' --independent <commit>...
DESCRIPTION
@@ -89,6 +90,9 @@ and the result of `git merge-base A M` is '1'. Commit '2' is also a
common ancestor between 'A' and 'M', but '1' is a better common ancestor,
because '2' is an ancestor of '1'. Hence, '2' is not a merge base.
+The result of `git merge-base --octopus A B C` is '2', because '2' is
+the best common ancestor of all commits.
+
When the history involves criss-cross merges, there can be more than one
'best' common ancestor for two commits. For example, with this topology:
diff --git a/builtin/merge-base.c b/builtin/merge-base.c
index 96dd160..4f30f1b 100644
--- a/builtin/merge-base.c
+++ b/builtin/merge-base.c
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ static int show_merge_base(struct commit **rev, int rev_nr, int show_all)
}
static const char * const merge_base_usage[] = {
- "git merge-base [-a|--all] [--octopus] <commit> <commit>...",
+ "git merge-base [-a|--all] <commit> <commit>...",
+ "git merge-base [-a|--all] --octopus <commit>...",
"git merge-base --independent <commit>...",
NULL
};
--
1.7.3.1.msysgit.0
Vincent van Ravesteijn <vfr@lyx.org>