resolve conflicts on git merge octopus

Question

Octopus merge means to merge more than 2 heads.

How should the user to compare files using ordinal 3-way merge tools?

3 files are passed to the merge tool: BASE, LOCAL, REMOTE

How many and what combinations required for 3 heads?

Answer 1

You should not use an octopus merge in this situation. Octopus merges should only be used in cases where there are no merge conflicts or the conflicts are so simple that you can resolve them manually without merge tools.

In your situation you should just do 2 normal merges, which will have exactly the same effect as an octopus merge, but will allow your to use your merging tools.

You could just check out the different branch-heads’ versions manually and run your 3-way merge tool twice to get your octopus merge working. But that would be exactly the same process as doing two normal merges – just more complicated.

If you want to do an octopus merge, so that your history looks nicer, just do two merges and rewrite your history afterwards.