Re: git newbie problems

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Dec 6, 2006, 01:35 UTC
Message-ID: <7v4ps9byca.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <457611B9.9020907@gmail.com>

Graham Percival <gpermus@gmail.com> writes:

> Trying really trivial in-index merge...
> Documentation/user/advanced-notation.itely: needs merge
> fatal: you need to resolve your current index first

You got from a "git pull", which means you were already in another merge (perhaps failed). That is a no-no.

The error messages need to be cleaned up and be more helpful. There is no question about it.

Show 10 quoted lines

> Nope.
> Merging HEAD with c21d3f3e1c77722e50d994763442e6f994b03ac2
> Merging:
> 038b7fc Misc small updates (trying to make git work).
> c21d3f3 Merge branch 'master' of
> ssh+git://hanwen@git.sv.gnu.org/srv/git/lilypond
> found 1 common ancestor(s):
> 84219bb don't have input/templates/ any longer.
> fatal: Entry '.gitignore' would be overwritten by merge. Cannot merge.
> No merge strategy handled the merge.

So the question is what you did _before_ initiating this "git pull".

For new people, we recommend to:

 * make sure you were on a right branch (I think you are.  You
   are on your 'master' branch and may not even have any other
   branches, which is fine.)

 * make sure all your changes are committed.

before initiating a "git pull". And after a conflicted "git pull", if you choose to punt,

	$ git reset --hard

would take you back to the state before you started the pull.

Show 10 quoted lines

> SUGGESTIONS
>
> The "tutorial introduction to git" looks like a nice document, but it
> assumes that you are in control of the project.  For users who aren't in
> control (ie me) this is a problem, because it starts me skimming.
> "Importing a project"... nah, that's not me.  "Merging branches"... I
> don't care; I'm going to shove everything into the main branch.  "Using
> git for collaboration"... hmm, maybe this is the stuff I need to read.
> But by this point, I've already skimmed through five screens of info, so
> I'm not reading very carefully.

Yes, git caters to too many classes of people.

I've heard people talk about "everyday" document as a good table-of-contents, primarily because it first breaks down the userbase into roles and talks about common commands for each role of the user. I am not in the position to judge the quality of the document, though.