git merge/rebase ref -P ref

The inverted meaning of {ours,theirs} for rebase could be very confusing to some, especially to new uses, for me every time I merge/rebase I need to think about it to make sure I've made it right.

What about making it more intuitive?

We can and a new option (like '-P') for people to specify the preferred branch/ref by it's name.

E.g. assume I have two branches, namely 'dev' and 'exp', and I prefer the changeset on the 'dev' branch when I merge or rebase, so that I can do it with

# using merge git checkout dev git merge exp -P dev

OR

# using rebase git checkout exp git rebase dev -P dev

ryenus <ryenus@gmail.com> writes:

The key point to remember is "git rebase origin master" is *not* about integrating other people's changes to your work. It is a way to replay your work on top of others' work.

When I try to rebase a topic, e.g.

    git checkout jc/format-patch
    git rebase 8ee3860
    
The conflicts in pretty.c looks like this:

    <<<<<<< HEAD
    static const char *show_ident_date(const struct ident_split *ident,
                                       enum date_mode mode)
    {
    ...
            return show_date(date, tz, mode);
    =======
    static int is_current_user(const struct pretty_print_context *pp,
                               const char *email, size_t emaillen,
                               const char *name, size_t namelen)
    {
    ...
                    !memcmp(myname, name, namelen));
    >>>>>>> format-patch: --inline-single
    }

We are replaying the commits on "jc/format-patch" topic on a history that leads to 8ee3860, and the line ">>>>>" shows what commit we are replaying

    $ git log --oneline 8ee3860..jc/format-patch
    be1a07f format-patch: --inline-single
    47d6c5f format-patch: rename "no_inline" field

On the other hand, when I try to do the same integration with a merge, e.g.

    git checkout 8ee3860
    git merge jc/format-patch

We would see the same conflicts like this:

    <<<<<<< HEAD
    static const char *show_ident_date(const struct ident_split *ident,
                                       enum date_mode mode)
    {
    ...
            return show_date(date, tz, mode);
    =======
    static int is_current_user(const struct pretty_print_context *pp,
                               const char *email, size_t emaillen,
                               const char *name, size_t namelen)
    {
    ...
                    !memcmp(myname, name, namelen));
    >>>>>>> jc/format-patch
    }

Again, the name of the branch that is merged appears on ">>>>>" line.