Re: [RFC PATCH 01/35] merge: improve fatal fast-forward message

> "Randall S. Becker" <rsbecker@nexbridge.com> writes:
> 
> >>If you do:
> >>
> >>  % git merge --ff-only
> >>  fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting.
> >>
> >>That "aborting" part is redundant; we know `git merge` should abort
> > if the fast-forward is not possible, we explicitely told git to do
> > that.
> >
> > `git merge` is a special operation where errors (conflicts, for one)
> > may leave the repository in a merge pending state where you
> > subsequently may have to use `git merge --abort` to reset the
> > situation or `git add` to continue. The `aborting` output makes it
> > clear that you do not have to do the `--abort` and *cannot* do the
> > `add` because there was an implicit `--abort` done resulting from the
> > failure. This is important information for the user.
> 
> If so, adding ", aborting" to the end is misleading.  In this
> particular failure mode, the command pretends that the merge did not
> even start.