Re: git smudge filter fails

Stephen Morton [off-list ref] writes:

It's perhaps beyond the scope of my original question, but for
situations where I need a "last change date" embedded in a file (e.g.
because a protocol standard requires it), is there any recommended way
to do so? We've the hard way that hardcoding makes
merging/cherry-picking a bit of a nightmare and should be avoided.

Does that "last change date" have to be embedded in a file with
other stuff in there, or can it be a standalone file by itself
(which may be used by other things via linking or inclusion)?

If it can be a standalone file, a custom ll-merge driver that knows
how yoru datestring looks like and takes the later of the versions
in the two branches being merged would not be too hard to write to
eliminate the "nightmare", I would think.