Minnie Shi <minnie.shi@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > in summary the sentence should be read as > > Before the operation, ORIG_HEAD is set to the tip of the current branch (H). > instead of > Before the operation, ORIG_HEAD is set to the tip of the current branch (C). Not C but G (i.e. the tip _before_ the history is updated). I notice that we overuse "current" there. One is to refer to the most recent commit on a branch, the other is to refer to the branch that is checked out. For the former, we say "the tip" in the other sentence, and it probably will make it less ambiguous if used that phrase. Then "`git merge topic`" will replay the changes made on the `topic` branch since it diverged from `master` (i.e., `E`) until the commit at the tip of the `topic` (`C`) on top of `master`, and record the result in a new commit along with the names of the two parent commits and a log message from the user describing the changes. Before the operation, `ORIG_HEAD` is set to the tip of the current branch (`G`). My reading also hiccupped with "replay"; the first sentence to explain the command says "incorporate the changes", and that may be a less confusing expression; "replay" somehow makes me imagine that the changes are cherry-picked one by one---it may be only me, so I left it as-is in the suggestion above. Thanks.