Re: [PATCH/v2] Remove filename from conflict markers

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jul 1, 2009, 20:57 UTC
Message-ID: <7vljn8f7e5.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20090701201804.GA16876@old.homeip.net>

Martin Renold <martinxyz@gmx.ch> writes:

> Put filenames into the conflict markers only when they are different.
> Otherwise they are redundant information clutter.
>
> Print the filename explicitely when warning about a binary conflict.

I think we are getting closer.

> -	grep "Cannot merge binary files: HEAD:binary-file vs. F:binary-file" \
> -		merge.err
> +	grep "Cannot merge binary files: binary-file (HEAD vs. F)" merge.err

In the original code, if you are not in "merge renamed" situation, you would see something like this.

    "Cannot merge binary files: HEAD:porn.jpg vs F:porn.jpg"

And the patch changes it to

    "Cannot merge binary files: porn.jpg (HEAD vs F)"

which is an improvement. I have to wonder, if it even necessary to say HEAD vs F when no rename is involved, though. Probably it is, as this is about binary files, and the user may need to extract the contents with something like "git cat-file blob HEAD:porn.jpg >tmp1.jpg".

When you are indeed in "merge renamed" situation, it gets a bit more interesting. The original said

    "Cannot merge binary files: HEAD:porn.jpg vs F:porn112.jpg"

which makes it clear that what is merged with what, but did not say where the resulting merge will go. The updated output would say something like this

    "Cannot merge binary files: porn.jpg (HEAD:porn.jpg vs F:porn112.jpg)"

which adds information and is probably better.

So overall, I like what the change does, but I'd probably wait for a few more days just in case there are objections from different corners, primarily because I am somewhat concerned that this change might affect users of mergetool (which I do not use myself) in some negative way.