Merge Conflicts
A merge conflict in Git occurs when the same file has been changed in two separate branches, and Git is unable to automatically determine which changes should be incorporated into the final merged version of the file. This results in a conflict that must be resolved manually.
When a merge conflict occurs, Git will mark the conflicting lines in the file and pause the merge process. The user must then edit the file to resolve the conflict and tell Git which changes should be kept and which should be discarded.
For example, consider the following scenario:
A file example.txt has been changed in branch dev1 and branch main
When you try to merge branch main into branch dev1, a merge conflict occurs in example.txt
Git will mark the conflicting lines in the file, which will look something like this:
<<<<<<<HEAD This is the original line in branch dev1 ======== This is the changes line in branch main >>>>>>> mainTo resolve the conflict, the user must edit the file and remove the conflict markers. The final version of the file should reflect the desired changes:
This is the resolved line in the final merged version.
Once the conflict has been resolved, the user must run the git add command to stage the resolved file and the git commit command to finalize the merge.
Merge conflicts can be a challenge to resolve, but they provide an opportunity to carefully review and validate changes before incorporating them into the final version of the code.