git tpl merge¶

Merge refs/tpl/<id> into the current branch.

git tpl merge [--no-commit] [-m <msg>]
git tpl merge --abort

It is a normal merge¶

git merge refs/tpl/github-com-noirbizarre-rust-library-template

That is the operation. git tpl merge looks up the ref name and uses a conventional message; everything else is libgit2's merge, which is Git's merge.

Which means:

• three-way merge, with the previous rendering as the base
• ordinary conflict markers in ordinary files
• git merge --abort works
• git rerere works
• your merge.tool works
• .gitattributes merge drivers work

git-tpl implements no conflict resolution of its own. Not a custom three-way merge, not patch replay, not rename detection, not heuristics. Those exist in Git, they are better than anything this project would write, and reimplementing them is the mistake this design exists to avoid.

Success¶

$ git tpl merge
Merged refs/tpl/github-com-noirbizarre-rust-library-template into the current branch
Merge commit 2fff441.

Fast-forwards when it can, and says so:

$ git tpl merge
Fast-forwarded refs/tpl/github-com-noirbizarre-rust-library-template into the current branch
Now at 15b50a5.

With --no-commit, the merge is staged and left for you to commit.

Conflicts¶

$ git tpl merge

CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in README.md

warning: automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

  git status              see what conflicted
  git mergetool           resolve interactively
  git commit              finish
  git merge --abort       start over

The index is left exactly as Git leaves it. Every tool you already use applies, because nothing here is special.

git tpl show <path> prints the template's version of a conflicted file, which is often the quickest way to see what it was trying to say.

Why conflicts are rarer than you expect¶

The merge base is your previous rendering. So a file the template did not change in this update is not part of the merge at all, however much you edited it — Git sees no change on one side.

A conflict means what it always means: you and the template both changed the same region of the same file since the last time you agreed. Which is genuinely ambiguous, and genuinely wants a human.

Options¶