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== General Usage ==
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The merge process is simple. Usually you will want to merge the tip
into your working directory. Thus you run {{{hg merge}}} and Mercurial
will incorporate the changes from tip into your local changes.

The first step of this process is tracing back through the history of
changesets and finding the 'common ancestor' of the two versions that
are being merged. This is done on a project-wide and a file by file
basis.

For files that have been changed in both projects, a three-way merge
is attempted to add the changes made remotely into the changes made
locally. If there are conflicts between these changes, the user is
prompted to interactively resolve them.

Mercurial uses a helper tool for this, which is usually found by the
hgmerge script. Example tools include tkdiff, kdiff3, and the classic
RCS merge.

After you've completed the merge and you're satisfied that the results
are correct, it's a good idea to commit your changes. Mercurial won't
allow you to perform another merge until you've done this commit as
that would lose important history that will be needed for future
merges.
See [:Merge:merge]
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First, merge often! This makes merging easier for everyone and you
find out about conflicts (which are often rooted in incompatible
design decisions) earlier.

Second, don't hesitate to use multiple trees locally. Mercurial makes
this fast and light-weight. Typical usage is to have an incoming tree,
an outgoing tree, and a separate tree for each area being worked on.

The incoming tree is best maintained as a pristine copy of the
upstream repository. This works as a cache so that you don't have to
pull multiple copies over the network. No need to check files out here
as you won't be changing them.

The outgoing tree contains all the changes you intend for merge into
upsteam. Publish this tree with {{{hg serve}}} or hgweb.cgi or use
{{{hg push}}}
to push it to another publicly availabe repository.

Then, for each feature you work on, create a new tree. Commit early
and commit often, merge with incoming regularly, and once you're
satisfied with your feature, pull the changes into your outgoing tree.
See [:WorkingPractices]
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See ConvertingRepositories for various tips. See [:ConvertingRepositories] for various tips.
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See WindowsInstall for getting started using Windows. See [:WindowsInstall] for getting started using Windows.
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See ["GUIClients"] for information on graphical merge tools and other front-ends. See [:OtherTools] for information on graphical merge tools and other front-ends.

How does merging work?

See [:Merge:merge]

What are some best practices for distributed development with Mercurial?

See [:WorkingPractices]

How do I import from a repository created in a different SCM?

See [:ConvertingRepositories] for various tips.

What about Windows support?

See [:WindowsInstall] for getting started using Windows.

Is there a GUI front-end?

See [:OtherTools] for information on graphical merge tools and other front-ends.

FAQ/GeneralUsage (last edited 2012-11-06 15:04:49 by abuehl)