As discovered on the mailing list, some of the descriptions of the
ff-related options were unclear. Try to be more precise with what these
options do.
Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes since v2:
* reordered the options
* typeset the option flags differently to ensure they are monospace in
the rendered documentation
Documentation/merge-options.txt | 30 ++++++++++++++++++------------
1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/merge-options.txt b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
index 79a00d2a4a..ed3804650b 100644
--- a/Documentation/merge-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
@@ -40,20 +40,26 @@ set to `no` at the beginning of them.
case of a merge conflict.
--ff::
- When the merge resolves as a fast-forward, only update the branch
- pointer, without creating a merge commit. This is the default
- behavior.
-
--no-ff::
- Create a merge commit even when the merge resolves as a
- fast-forward. This is the default behaviour when merging an
- annotated (and possibly signed) tag that is not stored in
- its natural place in 'refs/tags/' hierarchy.
-
--ff-only::
- Refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status unless the
- current `HEAD` is already up to date or the merge can be
- resolved as a fast-forward.
+ Whether to prefer resolving the merge as a fast forward (only
+ updating the branch pointer to match the merged branch and not
+ creating a merge commit), to never allow it (always creating a
+ merge commit), or to only allow fast forward updates. The
+ default is `--ff`, except when merging an annotated (and
+ possibly signed) tag that is not stored in its natural place
+ in the `refs/tags/` hierarchy (in which case `--no-ff` is
+ assumed).
++
+With `--ff`, resolve the merge as a fast-forward when possible (when the
+merged branch contains the current branch in its history). When not
+possible, create a merge commit.
++
+With `--no-ff`, create a merge commit in all cases, even when the merge
+could instead be resolved as a fast-forward.
++
+With `--ff-only`, resolve the merge as a fast-forward when possible.
+When not possible, refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status.
-S[<keyid>]::
--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
--
2.23.0.3.g93492fb5e6.dirty
