Why can't I merge when there are uncommitted outstanding changes?

[Paul Boddie]

Mads Kiilerich wrote:
> Mercurial always tracks whole repositories and doesn't encourage 
> workflows where you have many different changes in your working 
> directory at once. For example, when you merge then Mercurial will use 
> the working directory to resolve conflicts,  and after the merge the 
> working directory contains exactly how the changeset will look when 
> you commit the merge. There can thus not be other changes in the 
> working directory.

This is a good explanation. I've tried to add a suitable FAQ (since I'm 
sure this affects everyone at some point), but the wording is arguably a 
bit clumsy. Feel free to improve it!

http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/FAQ/CommonProblems#Why_won.27t_Mercurial_let_me_merge_because_I_have_uncommitted_changes.3F

Paul