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[PATCH 1/2] mergetool: do not enable hideResolved by default

From
Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date
Mar 13, 2021, 08:38 UTC
Message-ID
<YEx6GNybrU5mrlNi@google.com>
In-Reply-To
<YEx5hM/HWby3FBJv@google.com>

When 98ea309b3f (mergetool: add hideResolved configuration, 2021-02-09) introduced the mergetool.hideResolved setting to reduce the clutter in viewing non-conflicted sections of files in a mergetool, it enabled it by default, explaining:

    No adverse effects were noted in a small survey of popular mergetools[1]
    so this behavior defaults to `true`.
In practice, alas, adverse effects do appear.  A few issues:
1. No indication is shown in the UI that the base, local, and remote
   versions shown have been modified by additional resolution.  This
   is inherent in the design: the idea of mergetool.hideResolved is to
   convince a mergetool that expects pristine local, base, and remote
   files to show partially resolved verisons of those files instead;
   there is no additional source of information accessible to the
   mergetool to see where the resolution has happened.
   (By contrast, a mergetool generating the partial resolution from
   conflict markers for itself would be able to hilight the resolved
   sections with a different color.)
   A user accustomed to seeing the files without partial resolution
   gets no indication that this behavior has changed when they upgrade
   Git.
2. If the computed merge did not line up the files correctly (for
   example due to repeated sections in the file), the partially
   resolved files can be misleading and do not have enough information
   to reconstruct what happened and compute the correct merge result.
3. Resolving a conflict can involve information beyond the textual
   conflict.  For example, if the local and remote versions added
   overlapping functionality in different ways, seeing the full
   unresolved versions of each alongside the base gives information
   about each side's intent that makes it possible to come up with a
   resolution that combines those two intents.  By contrast, when
   starting with partially resolved versions of those files, one can
   produce a subtly wrong resolution that includes redundant extra
   code added by one side that is not needed in the approach taken
   on the other.

All that said, a user wanting to focus on textual conflicts with reduced clutter can still benefit from mergetool.hideResolved=true as a way to deemphasize sections of the code that resolve cleanly without requiring any changes to the invoked mergetool. The caveats described above are reduced when the user has explicitly turned this on, because then the user is aware of them.

Flip the default to 'false'.
Reported-by: Dana Dahlstrom <dahlstrom@google.com>
Helped-by: Seth House <seth@eseth.com>
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
---
Only difference from v1 is the commit message.
 Documentation/config/mergetool.txt | 2 +-
 git-mergetool.sh                   | 9 ++-------
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/config/mergetool.txt b/Documentation/config/mergetool.txt
index 90f76f5b9ba..cafbbef46ae 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/mergetool.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/mergetool.txt
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ mergetool.hideResolved::
 	resolution. This flag causes 'LOCAL' and 'REMOTE' to be overwriten so
 	that only the unresolved conflicts are presented to the merge tool. Can
 	be configured per-tool via the `mergetool.<tool>.hideResolved`
-	configuration variable. Defaults to `true`.
+	configuration variable. Defaults to `false`.
 
 mergetool.keepBackup::
 	After performing a merge, the original file with conflict markers
diff --git a/git-mergetool.sh b/git-mergetool.sh
index 911470a5b2c..f751d9cfe20 100755
--- a/git-mergetool.sh
+++ b/git-mergetool.sh
@@ -358,13 +358,8 @@ merge_file () {
 		    enabled=false
 		fi
 	else
-		# The user does not have a preference. Ask the tool.
-		if hide_resolved_enabled
-		then
-		    enabled=true
-		else
-		    enabled=false
-		fi
+		# The user does not have a preference. Default to disabled.
+		enabled=false
 	fi
 
 	if test "$enabled" = true
-- 
2.31.0.rc2.261.g7f71774620
Previous: Jonathan NiederNext: Jonathan Nieder
Message 71 of 80 in “mergetool: remove unconflicted lines”
  1. 0/1 mergetool: remove unconflicted linesFelipe Contreras, Dec 23, 2020
  2. 1/1 mergetool: add automerge configurationFelipe Contreras, Dec 23, 2020
  3. Junio C HamanoDec 23, 2020
  4. Felipe ContrerasDec 23, 2020
  5. Junio C HamanoDec 23, 2020
  6. Felipe ContrerasDec 24, 2020
  7. Junio C HamanoDec 24, 2020
  8. Felipe ContrerasDec 24, 2020
  9. Junio C HamanoDec 24, 2020
  10. Felipe ContrerasDec 24, 2020
  11. Junio C HamanoDec 24, 2020
  12. Felipe ContrerasDec 27, 2020
  13. Junio C HamanoDec 24, 2020
  14. Felipe ContrerasDec 24, 2020
  15. Johannes SchindelinDec 30, 2020
  16. Felipe ContrerasDec 30, 2020
  17. 0/1 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 27, 2020
  18. 2/2 mergetool: Add per-tool support for the autoMerge flagSeth House, Dec 27, 2020
  19. Junio C HamanoDec 27, 2020
  20. 1/2 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 27, 2020
  21. Junio C HamanoDec 27, 2020
  22. Seth HouseDec 27, 2020
  23. Junio C HamanoDec 27, 2020
  24. 0/2 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  25. 2/2 mergetool: Add per-tool support for the autoMerge flagSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  26. Felipe ContrerasDec 28, 2020
  27. 1/2 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  28. 0/4 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  29. 1/4 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  30. Johannes SixtDec 28, 2020
  31. 2/4 mergetool: Add per-tool support for the autoMerge flagSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  32. Junio C HamanoDec 28, 2020
  33. 4/4 mergetool: Add automerge_enabled tool-specific override functionSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  34. Johannes SixtDec 28, 2020
  35. Junio C HamanoDec 28, 2020
  36. 3/4 mergetool: Break setup_tool out into separate initialization functionSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  37. Johannes SixtDec 28, 2020
  38. 0/5 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  39. 5/5 mergetool: add automerge_enabled tool-specific override functionSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  40. Felipe ContrerasDec 29, 2020
  41. Junio C HamanoJan 6, 2021
  42. Seth HouseJan 7, 2021
  43. Junio C HamanoJan 7, 2021
  44. Seth HouseJan 7, 2021
  45. Junio C HamanoJan 7, 2021
  46. Johannes SchindelinJan 8, 2021
  47. 3/5 mergetool: add per-tool support for the autoMerge flagSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  48. 4/5 mergetool: break setup_tool out into separate initialization functionSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  49. Johannes SixtDec 29, 2020
  50. Seth HouseDec 29, 2020
  51. 2/5 mergetool: alphabetize the mergetool config docsSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  52. 1/5 mergetool: add automerge configurationSeth House, Dec 28, 2020
  53. 0/3 mergetool: add hideResolved configuration (was automerge)Seth House, Jan 30, 2021
  54. 3/3 mergetool: add per-tool support and overrides for the hideResolved flagSeth House, Jan 30, 2021
  55. Junio C HamanoJan 30, 2021
  56. 2/3 mergetool: break setup_tool out into separate initialization functionSeth House, Jan 30, 2021
  57. 1/3 mergetool: add hideResolved configurationSeth House, Jan 30, 2021
  58. Junio C HamanoJan 30, 2021
  59. 0/3 mergetool: add hideResolved configuration (was automerge)Seth House, Feb 9, 2021
  60. 2/3 mergetool: break setup_tool out into separate initialization functionSeth House, Feb 9, 2021
  61. 1/3 mergetool: add hideResolved configurationSeth House, Feb 9, 2021
  62. mergetool: do not enable hideResolved by defaultJonathan Nieder, Mar 9, 2021
  63. Seth HouseMar 9, 2021
  64. Jonathan NiederMar 10, 2021
  65. Junio C HamanoMar 10, 2021
  66. Junio C HamanoMar 11, 2021
  67. Junio C HamanoMar 12, 2021
  68. Jonathan NiederMar 12, 2021
  69. Junio C HamanoMar 12, 2021
  70. 0/2 mergetool: do not enable hideResolved by defaultJonathan Nieder, Mar 13, 2021
  71. 1/2 mergetool: do not enable hideResolved by defaultJonathan Nieder, Mar 13, 2021
  72. 2/2 doc: describe mergetool configuration in git-mergetool(1)Jonathan Nieder, Mar 13, 2021
  73. Junio C HamanoMar 13, 2021
  74. Junio C HamanoMar 13, 2021
  75. 3/3 mergetool: add per-tool support and overrides for the hideResolved flagSeth House, Feb 9, 2021
  76. Junio C HamanoFeb 9, 2021
  77. Seth HouseFeb 9, 2021
  78. Junio C HamanoDec 28, 2020
  79. Felipe ContrerasDec 28, 2020
  80. Felipe ContrerasDec 28, 2020

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