threads / discuss / 31205

merging confusion and question

Subject: merging confusion and question

## tl;dr

5 messages between Aug 8, 2012 and Aug 10, 2012.

replies: 4people: 3as markdown or json

Rich Pixley· Aug 8, 2012, 00:25 UTC · lore

I'm confused.

What is the intended work flow here? Ie, aside from trashing my repository and starting over, what does one do to recover?

rich@cobra> git clone /home/rich/repos/webos webos
Cloning into 'webos'...
done.
rich@cobra> cd webos
rich@cobra> git remote add central git@github.com:openwebos/webos.git
rich@cobra> git co master
Already on 'master'
rich@cobra> git pull central master
X11 forwarding request failed on channel 0
remote: Counting objects: 22, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
remote: Total 21 (delta 12), reused 11 (delta 2)
Unpacking objects: 100% (21/21), done.
 From github.com:openwebos/webos
  * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
warning: Failed to merge submodule meta-webos (not checked out)
Auto-merging meta-webos
CONFLICT (submodule): Merge conflict in meta-webos
Auto-merging README.md
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
rich@cobra> git commit -a
error: unable to index file meta-webos
fatal: updating files failed
rich@cobra> git add meta-webos
error: unable to index file meta-webos
fatal: updating files failed
rich@cobra> git rm meta-webos
meta-webos: needs merge
rm 'meta-webos'
fatal: git rm: 'meta-webos': Is a directory
rich@cobra> git merge meta-webos
error: 'merge' is not possible because you have unmerged files.
hint: Fix them up in the work tree,
hint: and then use 'git add/rm <file>' as
hint: appropriate to mark resolution and make a commit,
hint: or use 'git commit -a'.
fatal: Exiting because of an unresolved conflict.

--rich

Junio C Hamano· Aug 8, 2012, 01:43 UTC · re: Rich Pixley · lore

Re: merging confusion and question

Rich Pixley <rich.pixley@palm.com> writes:

Show 26 quoted lines

> I'm confused.
>
> What is the intended work flow here?  Ie, aside from trashing my
> repository and starting over, what does one do to recover?
>
> rich@cobra> git clone /home/rich/repos/webos webos
> Cloning into 'webos'...
> done.
> rich@cobra> cd webos
> rich@cobra> git remote add central git@github.com:openwebos/webos.git
> rich@cobra> git co master
> Already on 'master'
> rich@cobra> git pull central master
> X11 forwarding request failed on channel 0
> remote: Counting objects: 22, done.
> remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
> remote: Total 21 (delta 12), reused 11 (delta 2)
> Unpacking objects: 100% (21/21), done.
> From github.com:openwebos/webos
>  * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
> warning: Failed to merge submodule meta-webos (not checked out)
> Auto-merging meta-webos
> CONFLICT (submodule): Merge conflict in meta-webos
> Auto-merging README.md
> Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
> rich@cobra> git commit -a

Why isn't there any "fix conflicts and then" step between this line and the friendly insn message on the previous line?

Show 16 quoted lines

> error: unable to index file meta-webos
> fatal: updating files failed
> rich@cobra> git add meta-webos
> error: unable to index file meta-webos
> fatal: updating files failed
> rich@cobra> git rm meta-webos
> meta-webos: needs merge
> rm 'meta-webos'
> fatal: git rm: 'meta-webos': Is a directory
> rich@cobra> git merge meta-webos
> error: 'merge' is not possible because you have unmerged files.
> hint: Fix them up in the work tree,
> hint: and then use 'git add/rm <file>' as
> hint: appropriate to mark resolution and make a commit,
> hint: or use 'git commit -a'.
> fatal: Exiting because of an unresolved conflict.

If you are not interested in mucking with meta-webos with this merge, you would resolve meta-webos by taking either your (i.e. the one that came from /home/rich/repos/webos) version or their (i.e. the one that came from openwebos/webos.git) version. Go back to the state before "git pull central master" with "reset --hard", init and update webos submodule, try the "pull" again and then "git add webos" to resolve to your version, perhaps?

Rich Pixley· Aug 8, 2012, 17:50 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: merging confusion and question

Thank you.

I think the work flow here needs some work, but reset --hard gets me running again. That should probably be mentioned in the error message.

--rich

On 8/7/12 18:43 , Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 54 quoted lines

> Rich Pixley <rich.pixley@palm.com> writes:
>
>> I'm confused.
>>
>> What is the intended work flow here?  Ie, aside from trashing my
>> repository and starting over, what does one do to recover?
>>
>> rich@cobra> git clone /home/rich/repos/webos webos
>> Cloning into 'webos'...
>> done.
>> rich@cobra> cd webos
>> rich@cobra> git remote add central git@github.com:openwebos/webos.git
>> rich@cobra> git co master
>> Already on 'master'
>> rich@cobra> git pull central master
>> X11 forwarding request failed on channel 0
>> remote: Counting objects: 22, done.
>> remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
>> remote: Total 21 (delta 12), reused 11 (delta 2)
>> Unpacking objects: 100% (21/21), done.
>>  From github.com:openwebos/webos
>>   * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
>> warning: Failed to merge submodule meta-webos (not checked out)
>> Auto-merging meta-webos
>> CONFLICT (submodule): Merge conflict in meta-webos
>> Auto-merging README.md
>> Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
>> rich@cobra> git commit -a
> Why isn't there any "fix conflicts and then" step between this line
> and the friendly insn message on the previous line?
>
>> error: unable to index file meta-webos
>> fatal: updating files failed
>> rich@cobra> git add meta-webos
>> error: unable to index file meta-webos
>> fatal: updating files failed
>> rich@cobra> git rm meta-webos
>> meta-webos: needs merge
>> rm 'meta-webos'
>> fatal: git rm: 'meta-webos': Is a directory
>> rich@cobra> git merge meta-webos
>> error: 'merge' is not possible because you have unmerged files.
>> hint: Fix them up in the work tree,
>> hint: and then use 'git add/rm <file>' as
>> hint: appropriate to mark resolution and make a commit,
>> hint: or use 'git commit -a'.
>> fatal: Exiting because of an unresolved conflict.
> If you are not interested in mucking with meta-webos with this
> merge, you would resolve meta-webos by taking either your (i.e. the
> one that came from /home/rich/repos/webos) version or their
> (i.e. the one that came from openwebos/webos.git) version.  Go back
> to the state before "git pull central master" with "reset --hard",
> init and update webos submodule, try the "pull" again and then "git
> add webos" to resolve to your version, perhaps?

Phil Hord· Aug 10, 2012, 19:37 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: merging confusion and question

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 9:43 PM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 31 quoted lines

> Rich Pixley <rich.pixley@palm.com> writes:
>
>> I'm confused.
>>
>> What is the intended work flow here?  Ie, aside from trashing my
>> repository and starting over, what does one do to recover?
>>
>> rich@cobra> git clone /home/rich/repos/webos webos
>> Cloning into 'webos'...
>> done.
>> rich@cobra> cd webos
>> rich@cobra> git remote add central git@github.com:openwebos/webos.git
>> rich@cobra> git co master
>> Already on 'master'
>> rich@cobra> git pull central master
>> X11 forwarding request failed on channel 0
>> remote: Counting objects: 22, done.
>> remote: Compressing objects: 100% (19/19), done.
>> remote: Total 21 (delta 12), reused 11 (delta 2)
>> Unpacking objects: 100% (21/21), done.
>> From github.com:openwebos/webos
>>  * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
>> warning: Failed to merge submodule meta-webos (not checked out)
>> Auto-merging meta-webos
>> CONFLICT (submodule): Merge conflict in meta-webos
>> Auto-merging README.md
>> Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
>> rich@cobra> git commit -a
>
> Why isn't there any "fix conflicts and then" step between this line
> and the friendly insn message on the previous line?

I think I know the answer.  I remember it from my newbie days.

The reason is that "fix conflicts" is confusing to new users. The new user didn't really want to merge here, perhaps, which is why there were so many conflicts. Git "helpfully" points out each one of the conflicts, but he doesn't explain what happened as a result (change markers in the file, etc.). For the newbie, this is not intuitive; the barrage of conflict details is intimidating.

"Fix conflicts"? If I do not know how the conflicts are represented yet, I also do not know how to fix them.

"Commit the result"?  Result of what?  Commit how?

Adding insult to injury, newbies can find no obvious way to "undo and try again." Each command they think should move forward or "do over" is met with "cannot do that. conflicts exist. fix this mess and try again."

Imagine your mom on the web for the first time encountering a "404". Now imagine that once this happens her browser refuses to work insisting she "fix the web" first.

I do not know a better description which would not rub the gurus the wrong way. When I try to think of one, the hint always involves something called "git undo". So I guess the status quo is good for now, which is "google git merge conflict"

I agree that 'git reset --hard' should be mentioned in the hint for newbies, but this conflicts with my desire to avoid giving chainsaws to toddlers.

Phil

Junio C Hamano· Aug 10, 2012, 20:16 UTC · re: Phil Hord · lore

Re: merging confusion and question

Phil Hord <phil.hord@gmail.com> writes:

> I agree that 'git reset --hard' should be mentioned in the hint for
> newbies, but this conflicts with my desire to avoid giving chainsaws
> to toddlers.

Exactly.  So what are you suggesting?

Perhaps force the user to go through a series of quiz when "git merge" was run by the user for the first time to make sure she at least read the sections on merges and conflict resolutions in the documentation to understand the fundamentals, and refuse to proceed until the user passes?

I personally do not see a good way out. Even telling new users not to do merges, rebases, or resets but to only build a straight linear history is not a fix, as the user will never gain the necessary understanding by doing only limited and simple things.