Re: VC mode and git

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Sergey Organov <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2015 23:50:03 +0300
> 
> If you did not mean that storing 2 references instead of 1 into the
> commit object is doing "much more than just commit", then what did you
> mean?

The Git glossary says:

  commit 
    As a noun: A single point in the Git history; the entire history of
    a project is represented as a set of interrelated commits.

  merge 
     As a verb: To bring the contents of another branch (possibly from
     an external repository) into the current branch. [...]  Merging
     is performed by an automatic process that identifies changes made
     since the branches diverged, and then applies all those changes
     together. [...]

     As a noun: [...] a successful merge results in the creation of a
     new commit representing the result of the merge, and having as
     parents the tips of the merged branches.

Alan was interested in what the merge does, which is outlined in the
"merge as a verb" part above.  That description clearly says that a
merge _results_ in a commit, but it is _not_ "just a commit",
especially if you, like Alan, are interested in what happens _during_
the merge operation.

I hope this clarifies what I meant.  In plain words, when people who
know little about Git ask what does a merge do, and you want to be
helpful, don't say confusingly paradoxical things, even if they are
90% correct, because all that will do is confuse them even more.  (My
advice, feel free to disregard.)