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5 messages, 4 authors, 2016-08-11 · open the first message on its own page

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From: Johannes Schindelin <hidden>
Date: 2016-08-11 20:00:12

[PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge()

This new function implements the functionality of RCS merge, but
in-memory. It returns < 0 on error, otherwise the number of conflicts.

Finding the conflicting lines can be a very expensive task. You can
control the eagerness of this algorithm:

- a level value of 0 means that all overlapping changes are treated
  as conflicts,
- a value of 1 means that if the overlapping changes are identical,
  it is not treated as a conflict.
- If you set level to 2, overlapping changes will be analyzed, so that
  almost identical changes will not result in huge conflicts. Rather,
  only the conflicting lines will be shown inside conflict markers.

With each increasing level, the algorithm gets slower, but more accurate.
Note that the code for level 2 depends on the simple definition of
mmfile_t specific to git, and therefore it will be harder to port that
to LibXDiff.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <redacted>

---

	This code is only lightly tested, but I am tired and hungry.

	My hopes are that when I wake up in the morning, all bugs are
	fixed, git-merge-one-file is rewritten as a builtin,
	git-merge-index defaults to calling xdl_merge() directly when
	no program is passed with "-o", and git-merge-recursive also
	avoids fork()ing RCS' merge.

	A funny side effect is that you can merge with white space
	corruption by setting the xpparam flags to ignore whitespace.
	The file passed as mf1 wins over mf2 in that case.

	Oh, and maybe I did not need to use xdl_change_compact() (and
	thus could have left that static to xdiffi.c)? Davide, if you 
	could enlighten me, I will take the time next weekend to port this 
	to LibXDiff ;-)

	BTW if anybody wonders why these diffstats do not look correct:
	"git apply --stat" does not yet have our new scaling...

 Makefile       |    3 
 xdiff/xdiff.h  |    7 +
 xdiff/xdiffi.c |    3 
 xdiff/xdiffi.h |    1 
 xdiff/xmerge.c |  433 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 5 files changed, 444 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4c3f87f..b10d65e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -769,7 +769,8 @@ $(DIFF_OBJS): diffcore.h
 $(LIB_FILE): $(LIB_OBJS)
 	rm -f $@ && $(AR) rcs $@ $(LIB_OBJS)
 
-XDIFF_OBJS=xdiff/xdiffi.o xdiff/xprepare.o xdiff/xutils.o xdiff/xemit.o
+XDIFF_OBJS=xdiff/xdiffi.o xdiff/xprepare.o xdiff/xutils.o xdiff/xemit.o \
+	xdiff/xmerge.o
 $(XDIFF_OBJS): xdiff/xinclude.h xdiff/xmacros.h xdiff/xdiff.h xdiff/xtypes.h \
 	xdiff/xutils.h xdiff/xprepare.h xdiff/xdiffi.h xdiff/xemit.h
 
diff --git a/xdiff/xdiff.h b/xdiff/xdiff.h
index c9f8178..fa409d5 100644
--- a/xdiff/xdiff.h
+++ b/xdiff/xdiff.h
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ extern "C" {
 #define XDL_BDOP_CPY 2
 #define XDL_BDOP_INSB 3
 
+#define XDL_MERGE_MINIMAL 0
+#define XDL_MERGE_EAGER 1
+#define XDL_MERGE_ZEALOUS 2
 
 typedef struct s_mmfile {
 	char *ptr;
@@ -90,6 +93,10 @@ long xdl_mmfile_size(mmfile_t *mmf);
 int xdl_diff(mmfile_t *mf1, mmfile_t *mf2, xpparam_t const *xpp,
 	     xdemitconf_t const *xecfg, xdemitcb_t *ecb);
 
+int xdl_merge(mmfile_t *orig, mmfile_t *mf1, const char *name1,
+		mmfile_t *mf2, const char *name2,
+		xpparam_t const *xpp, int level, mmbuffer_t *result);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif /* #ifdef __cplusplus */
diff --git a/xdiff/xdiffi.c b/xdiff/xdiffi.c
index d76e76a..9aeebc4 100644
--- a/xdiff/xdiffi.c
+++ b/xdiff/xdiffi.c
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ static long xdl_split(unsigned long cons
 		      long *kvdf, long *kvdb, int need_min, xdpsplit_t *spl,
 		      xdalgoenv_t *xenv);
 static xdchange_t *xdl_add_change(xdchange_t *xscr, long i1, long i2, long chg1, long chg2);
-static int xdl_change_compact(xdfile_t *xdf, xdfile_t *xdfo, long flags);
 
 
 
@@ -397,7 +396,7 @@ static xdchange_t *xdl_add_change(xdchan
 }
 
 
-static int xdl_change_compact(xdfile_t *xdf, xdfile_t *xdfo, long flags) {
+int xdl_change_compact(xdfile_t *xdf, xdfile_t *xdfo, long flags) {
 	long ix, ixo, ixs, ixref, grpsiz, nrec = xdf->nrec;
 	char *rchg = xdf->rchg, *rchgo = xdfo->rchg;
 	xrecord_t **recs = xdf->recs;
diff --git a/xdiff/xdiffi.h b/xdiff/xdiffi.h
index d3b7271..472aeae 100644
--- a/xdiff/xdiffi.h
+++ b/xdiff/xdiffi.h
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ int xdl_recs_cmp(diffdata_t *dd1, long o
 		 long *kvdf, long *kvdb, int need_min, xdalgoenv_t *xenv);
 int xdl_do_diff(mmfile_t *mf1, mmfile_t *mf2, xpparam_t const *xpp,
 		xdfenv_t *xe);
+int xdl_change_compact(xdfile_t *xdf, xdfile_t *xdfo, long flags);
 int xdl_build_script(xdfenv_t *xe, xdchange_t **xscr);
 void xdl_free_script(xdchange_t *xscr);
 int xdl_emit_diff(xdfenv_t *xe, xdchange_t *xscr, xdemitcb_t *ecb,
diff --git a/xdiff/xmerge.c b/xdiff/xmerge.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b85aa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xdiff/xmerge.c
@@ -0,0 +1,433 @@
+/*
+ *  LibXDiff by Davide Libenzi ( File Differential Library )
+ *  Copyright (C) 2003-2006 Davide Libenzi, Johannes E. Schindelin
+ *
+ *  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ *  modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ *  License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ *  version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *  This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ *  Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ *  License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+ *  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
+ *
+ *  Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
+ *
+ */
+
+#include "xinclude.h"
+
+typedef struct s_xdmerge {
+	struct s_xdmerge *next;
+	/*
+	 * 0 = conflict,
+	 * 1 = no conflict, take first,
+	 * 2 = no conflict, take second.
+	 */
+	int mode;
+	long i1, i2;
+	long chg1, chg2;
+} xdmerge_t;
+
+static int xdl_append_merge(xdmerge_t **merge, int mode,
+		long i1, long chg1, long i2, long chg2)
+{
+	xdmerge_t *m = *merge;
+	if (m && mode == m->mode &&
+			(i1 == m->i1 + m->chg1 || i2 == m->i2 + m->chg2)) {
+		m->chg1 = i1 + chg1 - m->i1;
+		m->chg2 = i2 + chg2 - m->i2;
+	} else {
+		m = xdl_malloc(sizeof(xdmerge_t));
+		if (!m)
+			return -1;
+		m->next = NULL;
+		m->mode = mode;
+		m->i1 = i1;
+		m->chg1 = chg1;
+		m->i2 = i2;
+		m->chg2 = chg2;
+		if (*merge)
+			(*merge)->next = m;
+		*merge = m;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int xdl_cleanup_merge(xdmerge_t *c)
+{
+	int count = 0;
+	xdmerge_t *next_c;
+
+	/* were there conflicts? */
+	for (; c; c = next_c) {
+		if (c->mode == 0)
+			count++;
+		next_c = c->next;
+		free(c);
+	}
+	return count;
+}
+
+static int xdl_merge_cmp_lines(xdfenv_t *xe1, int i1, xdfenv_t *xe2, int i2,
+		int line_count, long flags)
+{
+	int i;
+	xrecord_t **rec1 = xe1->xdf2.recs + i1;
+	xrecord_t **rec2 = xe2->xdf2.recs + i2;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < line_count; i++) {
+		int result = xdl_recmatch(rec1[i]->ptr, rec1[i]->size,
+			rec2[i]->ptr, rec2[i]->size, flags);
+		if (!result)
+			return -1;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int xdl_recs_copy(xdfenv_t *xe, int i, int count, int add_nl, char *dest)
+{
+	xrecord_t **recs = xe->xdf2.recs + i;
+	int size = 0;
+
+	if (count < 1)
+		return 0;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < count; size += recs[i++]->size)
+		if (dest)
+			memcpy(dest + size, recs[i]->ptr, recs[i]->size);
+	if (add_nl) {
+		i = recs[count - 1]->size;
+		if (i == 0 || recs[count - 1]->ptr[i - 1] != '\n') {
+			if (dest)
+				dest[size] = '\n';
+			size++;
+		}
+	}
+	return size;
+}
+
+static int xdl_fill_merge_buffer(xdfenv_t *xe1, const char *name1,
+		xdfenv_t *xe2, const char *name2, xdmerge_t *m, char *dest)
+{
+	const int marker_size = 7;
+	int marker1_size = (name1 ? strlen(name1) + 1 : 0);
+	int marker2_size = (name2 ? strlen(name2) + 1 : 0);
+	int conflict_marker_size = 3 * (marker_size + 1)
+		+ marker1_size + marker2_size;
+	int size, i1, j;
+
+	for (size = i1 = 0; m; m = m->next) {
+		if (m->mode == 0) {
+			size += xdl_recs_copy(xe1, i1, m->i1 - i1, 0,
+					dest ? dest + size : NULL);
+			if (dest) {
+				for (j = 0; j < marker_size; j++)
+					dest[size++] = '<';
+				if (marker1_size) {
+					dest[size] = ' ';
+					memcpy(dest + size + 1, name1,
+							marker1_size - 1);
+					size += marker1_size;
+				}
+				dest[size++] = '\n';
+			} else
+				size += conflict_marker_size;
+			size += xdl_recs_copy(xe1, m->i1, m->chg1, 1,
+					dest ? dest + size : NULL);
+			if (dest) {
+				for (j = 0; j < marker_size; j++)
+					dest[size++] = '=';
+				dest[size++] = '\n';
+			}
+			size += xdl_recs_copy(xe2, m->i2, m->chg2, 1,
+					dest ? dest + size : NULL);
+			if (dest) {
+				for (j = 0; j < marker_size; j++)
+					dest[size++] = '>';
+				if (marker2_size) {
+					dest[size] = ' ';
+					memcpy(dest + size + 1, name2,
+							marker2_size - 1);
+					size += marker2_size;
+				}
+				dest[size++] = '\n';
+			}
+		} else if (m->mode == 1)
+			size += xdl_recs_copy(xe1, i1, m->i1 + m->chg1 - i1, 0,
+					dest ? dest + size : NULL);
+		else if (m->mode == 2)
+			size += xdl_recs_copy(xe2, m->i2 - m->i1 + i1,
+					m->i1 + m->chg2 - i1, 0,
+					dest ? dest + size : NULL);
+		i1 = m->i1 + m->chg1;
+	}
+	size += xdl_recs_copy(xe1, i1, xe1->xdf2.nrec - i1, 0,
+			dest ? dest + size : NULL);
+	return size;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Sometimes, changes are not quite identical, but differ in only a few
+ * lines. Try hard to show only these few lines as conflicting.
+ */
+static int xdl_refine_conflicts(xdfenv_t *xe1, xdfenv_t *xe2, xdmerge_t *m,
+		xpparam_t const *xpp)
+{
+	for (; m; m = m->next) {
+		mmfile_t t1, t2;
+		xdfenv_t xe;
+		xdchange_t *xscr, *x;
+		int i1 = m->i1, i2 = m->i2;
+
+		/* let's handle just the conflicts */
+		if (m->mode)
+			continue;
+
+		/*
+		 * This probably does not work outside git, since
+		 * we have a very simple mmfile structure.
+		 */
+		t1.ptr = (char *)xe1->xdf2.recs[m->i1]->ptr;
+		t1.size = xe1->xdf2.recs[m->i1 + m->chg1]->ptr
+			+ xe1->xdf2.recs[m->i1 + m->chg1]->size - t1.ptr;
+		t2.ptr = (char *)xe2->xdf2.recs[m->i1]->ptr;
+		t2.size = xe2->xdf2.recs[m->i1 + m->chg1]->ptr
+			+ xe2->xdf2.recs[m->i1 + m->chg1]->size - t2.ptr;
+		if (xdl_do_diff(&t1, &t2, xpp, &xe) < 0)
+			return -1;
+		if (xdl_change_compact(&xe.xdf1, &xe.xdf2, xpp->flags) < 0 ||
+		    xdl_change_compact(&xe.xdf2, &xe.xdf1, xpp->flags) < 0 ||
+		    xdl_build_script(&xe, &xscr) < 0) {
+			xdl_free_env(&xe);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		if (!xscr) {
+			/* If this happens, it's a bug. */
+			xdl_free_env(&xe);
+			return -2;
+		}
+		x = xscr;
+		m->i1 = xscr->i1 + i1;
+		m->chg1 = xscr->chg1;
+		m->i2 = xscr->i2 + i2;
+		m->chg2 = xscr->chg2;
+		while (xscr->next) {
+			xdmerge_t *m2 = xdl_malloc(sizeof(xdmerge_t));
+			if (!m2) {
+				xdl_free_env(&xe);
+				xdl_free_script(x);
+				return -1;
+			}
+			xscr = xscr->next;
+			m2->next = m->next;
+			m->next = m2;
+			m = m2;
+			m->mode = 0;
+			m->i1 = xscr->i1 + i1;
+			m->chg1 = xscr->chg1;
+			m->i2 = xscr->i2 + i2;
+			m->chg2 = xscr->chg2;
+		}
+		xdl_free_env(&xe);
+		xdl_free_script(x);
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/*
+ * level == 0: mark all overlapping changes as conflict
+ * level == 1: mark overlapping changes as conflict only if not identical
+ * level == 2: analyze non-identical changes for minimal conflict set
+ *
+ * returns < 0 on error, == 0 for no conflicts, else number of conflicts
+ */
+static int xdl_do_merge(xdfenv_t *xe1, xdchange_t *xscr1, const char *name1,
+		xdfenv_t *xe2, xdchange_t *xscr2, const char *name2,
+		int level, xpparam_t const *xpp, mmbuffer_t *result) {
+	xdmerge_t *changes, *c;
+	int i1, i2, chg1, chg2;
+
+	c = changes = NULL;
+
+	while (xscr1 && xscr2) {
+		if (!changes)
+			changes = c;
+		if (xscr1->i1 + xscr1->chg1 < xscr2->i1) {
+			i1 = xscr1->i2;
+			i2 = xscr2->i2 - xscr2->i1 + xscr1->i1;
+			chg1 = xscr1->chg2;
+			chg2 = xscr1->chg1;
+			if (xdl_append_merge(&c, 1, i1, chg1, i2, chg2)) {
+				xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+				return -1;
+			}
+			xscr1 = xscr1->next;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (xscr2->i1 + xscr2->chg1 < xscr1->i1) {
+			i1 = xscr1->i2 - xscr1->i1 + xscr2->i1;
+			i2 = xscr2->i2;
+			chg1 = xscr2->chg1;
+			chg2 = xscr2->chg2;
+			if (xdl_append_merge(&c, 2, i1, chg1, i2, chg2)) {
+				xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+				return -1;
+			}
+			xscr2 = xscr2->next;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (level < 1 || xscr1->i1 != xscr2->i1 ||
+				xscr1->chg1 != xscr2->chg1 ||
+				xscr1->chg2 != xscr2->chg2 ||
+				xdl_merge_cmp_lines(xe1, xscr1->i2,
+					xe2, xscr2->i2,
+					xscr1->chg2, xpp->flags)) {
+			/* conflict */
+			int off = xscr1->i1 - xscr2->i1;
+			int ffo = off + xscr1->chg1 - xscr2->chg1;
+
+			i1 = xscr1->i2;
+			i2 = xscr2->i2;
+			if (off > 0)
+				i1 -= off;
+			else
+				i2 += off;
+			chg1 = xscr1->i2 + xscr1->chg2 - i1;
+			chg2 = xscr2->i2 + xscr2->chg2 - i2;
+			if (ffo > 0)
+				chg2 += ffo;
+			else
+				chg1 -= ffo;
+			if (xdl_append_merge(&c, 0, i1, chg1, i2, chg2)) {
+				xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+				return -1;
+			}
+		}
+
+		i1 = xscr1->i1 + xscr1->chg1;
+		i2 = xscr2->i1 + xscr2->chg1;
+
+		if (i1 > i2) {
+			xscr1->chg1 -= i1 - i2;
+			xscr1->i1 = i2;
+			xscr1->i2 += xscr1->chg2;
+			xscr1->chg2 = 0;
+			xscr1 = xscr1->next;
+		} else if (i2 > i1) {
+			xscr2->chg1 -= i2 - i1;
+			xscr2->i1 = i1;
+			xscr2->i2 += xscr2->chg2;
+			xscr2->chg2 = 0;
+			xscr2 = xscr2->next;
+		} else {
+			xscr1 = xscr1->next;
+			xscr2 = xscr2->next;
+		}
+	}
+	while (xscr1) {
+		if (!changes)
+			changes = c;
+		i1 = xscr1->i2;
+		i2 = xscr1->i1 + xe2->xdf2.nrec - xe2->xdf1.nrec;
+		chg1 = xscr1->chg2;
+		chg2 = xscr1->chg1;
+		if (xdl_append_merge(&c, 1, i1, chg1, i2, chg2)) {
+			xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		xscr1 = xscr1->next;
+	}
+	while (xscr2) {
+		if (!changes)
+			changes = c;
+		i1 = xscr2->i1 + xe1->xdf2.nrec - xe1->xdf1.nrec;
+		i2 = xscr2->i2;
+		chg1 = xscr2->chg1;
+		chg2 = xscr2->chg2;
+		if (xdl_append_merge(&c, 2, i1, chg1, i2, chg2)) {
+			xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		xscr2 = xscr2->next;
+	}
+	if (!changes)
+		changes = c;
+	/* refine conflicts */
+	if (level > 1 && xdl_refine_conflicts(xe1, xe2, changes, xpp) < 0) {
+		xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	/* output */
+	if (result) {
+		int size = xdl_fill_merge_buffer(xe1, name1, xe2, name2,
+			changes, NULL);
+		result->ptr = xdl_malloc(size);
+		if (!result->ptr) {
+			xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		result->size = size;
+		xdl_fill_merge_buffer(xe1, name1, xe2, name2, changes,
+				result->ptr);
+	}
+	return xdl_cleanup_merge(changes);
+}
+
+int xdl_merge(mmfile_t *orig, mmfile_t *mf1, const char *name1,
+		mmfile_t *mf2, const char *name2,
+		xpparam_t const *xpp, int level, mmbuffer_t *result) {
+	xdchange_t *xscr1, *xscr2;
+	xdfenv_t xe1, xe2;
+
+	result->ptr = NULL;
+	result->size = 0;
+
+	if (xdl_do_diff(orig, mf1, xpp, &xe1) < 0 ||
+			xdl_do_diff(orig, mf2, xpp, &xe2) < 0) {
+		return -1;
+	}
+	if (xdl_change_compact(&xe1.xdf1, &xe1.xdf2, xpp->flags) < 0 ||
+	    xdl_change_compact(&xe1.xdf2, &xe1.xdf1, xpp->flags) < 0 ||
+	    xdl_build_script(&xe1, &xscr1) < 0) {
+		xdl_free_env(&xe1);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	if (xdl_change_compact(&xe2.xdf1, &xe2.xdf2, xpp->flags) < 0 ||
+	    xdl_change_compact(&xe2.xdf2, &xe2.xdf1, xpp->flags) < 0 ||
+	    xdl_build_script(&xe2, &xscr2) < 0) {
+		xdl_free_env(&xe2);
+		return -1;
+	}
+	if (xscr1 || xscr2) {
+		if (!xscr1) {
+			result->ptr = xdl_malloc(mf2->size);
+			memcpy(result->ptr, mf2->ptr, mf2->size);
+			result->size = mf2->size;
+		} else if (!xscr2) {
+			result->ptr = xdl_malloc(mf1->size);
+			memcpy(result->ptr, mf1->ptr, mf1->size);
+			result->size = mf1->size;
+		} else if (xdl_do_merge(&xe1, xscr1, name1,
+					&xe2, xscr2, name2,
+					level, xpp, result) < 0) {
+			xdl_free_script(xscr1);
+			xdl_free_script(xscr2);
+			xdl_free_env(&xe1);
+			xdl_free_env(&xe2);
+			return -1;
+		}
+		xdl_free_script(xscr1);
+		xdl_free_script(xscr2);
+	}
+	xdl_free_env(&xe1);
+	xdl_free_env(&xe2);
+
+	return 0;
+}

Re: [PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge() (was: (unknown))

From: Jakub Narebski <hidden>
Date: 2016-08-11 19:17:56

Johannes Schindelin wrote:
[PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge()
Shouldn't this be in the subject of message?
This new function implements the functionality of RCS merge, but
in-memory. It returns < 0 on error, otherwise the number of conflicts.
Only RCS merge, or can you implement whole diff3 (from GNU diffutils)
functionality with that?
Finding the conflicting lines can be a very expensive task. You can
control the eagerness of this algorithm:

- a level value of 0 means that all overlapping changes are treated
  as conflicts,
- a value of 1 means that if the overlapping changes are identical,
  it is not treated as a conflict.
- If you set level to 2, overlapping changes will be analyzed, so that
  almost identical changes will not result in huge conflicts. Rather,
  only the conflicting lines will be shown inside conflict markers.

With each increasing level, the algorithm gets slower, but more accurate.
Note that the code for level 2 depends on the simple definition of
mmfile_t specific to git, and therefore it will be harder to port that
to LibXDiff.
How it compares performance with RCS merge/GNU diff3?


It is really nice to have that. Bram Cohen (of Codeville, SCM built around
sophisticated merge algorithm) wrote about recursive three-way merge in
http://revctrl.org/CrissCrossMerge

   Recursive three-way merge _usually_ provides the right answer, however
   there are some edge cases. For example, conflict markers can be matched
   incorrectly, because they aren't given any special semantic meaning for
   the merge algorithm, and are simply treated as lines. In particular,
   there are (somewhat complicated) cases where the conflict markers of two
   unrelated conflicts get matched against each other, even though the
   content sections of them are totally unrelated.

I'm not sure if he has specific examples, or is it just theoretical talk,
but having built-in merge would certainly help revursive merge strategy
(and perhaps also git-rerere).

-- 
Jakub Narebski
Warsaw, Poland
ShadeHawk on #git

Re: [PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge()

From: Ramsay Jones <hidden>
Date: 2016-08-11 20:01:20

Hi Johannes,

Johannes Schindelin wrote:
This new function implements the functionality of RCS merge, but
in-memory. It returns < 0 on error, otherwise the number of conflicts.
I had a similar idea (removing the RCS dependency) and, about two months
ago, implemented a git-diff3 that used the internal xdiff library.
Unfortunately, I then got distracted by other things and left this as a
WIP, without posting it to the list. [I had an email exchange with Junio
about it, but then dropped the ball - sorry Junio!]
Finding the conflicting lines can be a very expensive task. You can
control the eagerness of this algorithm:

- a level value of 0 means that all overlapping changes are treated
  as conflicts,
- a value of 1 means that if the overlapping changes are identical,
  it is not treated as a conflict.
- If you set level to 2, overlapping changes will be analyzed, so that
  almost identical changes will not result in huge conflicts. Rather,
  only the conflicting lines will be shown inside conflict markers.

With each increasing level, the algorithm gets slower, but more accurate.
Note that the code for level 2 depends on the simple definition of
mmfile_t specific to git, and therefore it will be harder to port that
to LibXDiff.
Erm, I guess I need to read the code! I haven't had an opportunity to
do that yet, but I hope to have time at the weekend.
	My hopes are that when I wake up in the morning, all bugs are
	fixed, git-merge-one-file is rewritten as a builtin,
	git-merge-index defaults to calling xdl_merge() directly when
	no program is passed with "-o", and git-merge-recursive also
	avoids fork()ing RCS' merge.
Yep, I had a similar todo list.
	A funny side effect is that you can merge with white space
	corruption by setting the xpparam flags to ignore whitespace.
	The file passed as mf1 wins over mf2 in that case.
Yes, I had this on my todo list. In fact you can already try it out
by using --diff-program="diff -wb" (which uses the external diff).
[To be fair, you can also write an obvious script and use GNU diff3]
 Makefile       |    3 
 xdiff/xdiff.h  |    7 +
 xdiff/xdiffi.c |    3 
 xdiff/xdiffi.h |    1 
 xdiff/xmerge.c |  433 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 5 files changed, 444 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 From the above, I would guess that your code integrates well with the
xdiff library and, as a result, would be more memory efficient than my
code. I had considered doing this, but I wanted to support an external
diff option, so it was easier to implement the diff3 algorithm outside
the library, treating it just like an external diff (that I didn't need
to fork()/exec()). Also, I didn't need to understand the xdiff code, I
just treat it as a black box (and I'm lazy!).

[Having an external diff option was actually a debugging aid to ensure
that the main diff3 algorithm was implemented correctly. In the end I
didn't use it for debugging anyway!]

[snip patch]

I have attached a version of my patch, against v1.4.2, just for the
interested. Also it contains some tests which I found very helpful
in squashing bugs, so you might like to give them a try with your code.

Note: the fact that the patch is against v1.4.2 should not cause too
much of a problem, since it is mostly new files and the changes to
Makefile, builtin.h and git.c you could probably do in your sleep.

[Junio, this is almost exactly the same patch I sent you last time,
modulo some minor code clean-up/formatting]

All the best,

Ramsay

Re: your mail

From: Davide Libenzi <hidden>
Date: 2016-08-11 20:22:31

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
[PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge()

This new function implements the functionality of RCS merge, but
in-memory. It returns < 0 on error, otherwise the number of conflicts.

Finding the conflicting lines can be a very expensive task. You can
control the eagerness of this algorithm:

- a level value of 0 means that all overlapping changes are treated
  as conflicts,
- a value of 1 means that if the overlapping changes are identical,
  it is not treated as a conflict.
- If you set level to 2, overlapping changes will be analyzed, so that
  almost identical changes will not result in huge conflicts. Rather,
  only the conflicting lines will be shown inside conflict markers.

With each increasing level, the algorithm gets slower, but more accurate.
Note that the code for level 2 depends on the simple definition of
mmfile_t specific to git, and therefore it will be harder to port that
to LibXDiff.
Johannes, at the moment I'm chased by a huge storm of never ending emails, 
so I won't be able to follow up this one soon. A smart 3-way merge is in 
my plans for LibXDiff though.
There is quite some nice code around, that does pretty smart tricks and 
goes down to resolve sub-hunk non-trivial conflicts. You may want to take 
a look at that code too.



- Davide

Re: [PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge() (was: (unknown))

From: Johannes Schindelin <hidden>
Date: 2016-08-11 20:46:55

Hi,

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006, Jakub Narebski wrote:
Johannes Schindelin wrote:
quoted
[PATCH] xdiff: add xdl_merge()
Shouldn't this be in the subject of message?
Did I mention that I was tired and hungry?
quoted
This new function implements the functionality of RCS merge, but 
in-memory. It returns < 0 on error, otherwise the number of conflicts.
Only RCS merge, or can you implement whole diff3 (from GNU diffutils) 
functionality with that?
As I am interested only in the in-memory merge, only RCS merge. Which 
feature would you be interested in? An ed script? :-)
quoted
Finding the conflicting lines can be a very expensive task. You can
control the eagerness of this algorithm:

- a level value of 0 means that all overlapping changes are treated
  as conflicts,
- a value of 1 means that if the overlapping changes are identical,
  it is not treated as a conflict.
- If you set level to 2, overlapping changes will be analyzed, so that
  almost identical changes will not result in huge conflicts. Rather,
  only the conflicting lines will be shown inside conflict markers.

With each increasing level, the algorithm gets slower, but more accurate.
Note that the code for level 2 depends on the simple definition of
mmfile_t specific to git, and therefore it will be harder to port that
to LibXDiff.
How it compares performance with RCS merge/GNU diff3?
Speedwise, I have no clue. It was enough work for a day.

Accuracywise: often I sent a patch (series) which was in my current git 
tree (no topic branch), and Junio did some minor adjustments. I _hated_ 
the fact that RCS merge marked _all_ overlapping changes as conflicts, 
even when there was just a minor correction here and there. And "git diff 
--ours" does not help at all.

Here is where my implementation should help. With level 2, it will look 
again at these conflicting regions, and only output the actual differences 
as conflicts.
It is really nice to have that. Bram Cohen (of Codeville, SCM built around
sophisticated merge algorithm) wrote about recursive three-way merge in
http://revctrl.org/CrissCrossMerge

   Recursive three-way merge _usually_ provides the right answer, however
   there are some edge cases. For example, conflict markers can be matched
   incorrectly, because they aren't given any special semantic meaning for
   the merge algorithm, and are simply treated as lines. In particular,
   there are (somewhat complicated) cases where the conflict markers of two
   unrelated conflicts get matched against each other, even though the
   content sections of them are totally unrelated.

I'm not sure if he has specific examples, or is it just theoretical talk,
but having built-in merge would certainly help revursive merge strategy
(and perhaps also git-rerere).
It should be easy to construct such an example. However, the relevance in 
practice is about zero.

Git was built from the beginning to aim to do a merge as good as possible, 
but not perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect merge algorithm. You 
will always be able to construct cases which are mismerged.

Thus, git takes the pragmatic approach and stops "early": merges work in 
99% of the time, and in 99% of the remaining 1% the merge will fail so 
that you know you have to fix it manually. (Take these numbers with a 
grain of salt, please.) The advantage of stopping there is that we can 
make it really fast.

You could probably raise the 99% to 99.5%, by implementing a "rebasing 
merge", i.e. cherry-picking the branch-to-be-merged committing only in the 
end (if there has not been any conflict). Obviously, this is slow as 
Parnell's pitch[1].

As for git-rerere: I could not use it everywhere, because of some Perl 
dependencies which I could not compile on some platforms. However, IMHO 
git-rerere does not necessarily depend on merge being available in libgit.

Ciao,
Dscho

Footnote 1: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/pitchdrop/pitchdrop.shtml
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