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 v3: * Shorten the leading paragraph, as suggested by Junio (and Eric). Documentation/merge-options.txt | 28 ++++++++++++++++------------ 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/merge-options.txt b/Documentation/merge-options.txt index 79a00d2a4a..94be34f941 100644 --- a/Documentation/merge-options.txt +++ b/Documentation/merge-options.txt @@ -40,20 +40,24 @@ 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. + Specifies how a merge is handled when the merged-in history is + already a descendant of the current history. `--ff` is the + default unless 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`, when possible resolve the merge as a fast-forward (only +update the branch pointer to match the merged branch; do not create a +merge commit). When not possible (when the merged-in history is not a +descendant of the current history), 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>]:: -- 2.23.0.39.gf92d9de5c3
