Practical Git: In-Depth Branching/ Merging and Conflicts!

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We recently had a super sized show where we talked about Git. We discussed Chris's "sticky notes" concept, where he insists that all branches and tags are "just sticky notes" on commits.

After a discussion on the "commit graph" and how powerful git reset is to move sticky notes around without fear, we started to lean in on merging and head towards conflicts, but we already had an over two- hour show so we're back for more with this episode.

The goal in this episode is to discuss merges. What does Git do when you merge? Did you know there is more than one type of merge? And furthermore, the type that will be used might depend on whether you are at the command line, the settings in your Git IDE or maybe even the settings at your favorite remote host (GitHub for example).

Wait, why did Chris just call it a "remote host"? Why does he use strange terms and why does he think that makes the mental model of content tracking easier? (Wait, did he just call version control by the name "content tracking?")

Finally, let's get to what is a major problem for us everyday... CONFLICTS. There is no way around it, sometimes two people (or more) need to change the same file, or maybe the same part of a file. Git has a way of handling this, but the way you might be presented with them depends greatly on whether you are using "just the Git Command Line" or using your favorite Git GUI tool, integration in your favorite editor, or browsing online at GitHub, Azure Repos, or anywhere else.

If you understand what Git really wants from you to resolve a commit, you will have a mental model to help you out no matter what tool you use, and it should reduce the times you get so frustrated that you want to copy your changes aside and start over. There are ways to avoid this frustration and join the Zen-like state of the masters.