Can I implement my own Python-based git merge strategy?

Question

I developed a Python library for merging large numbers of XML files in a very specific way. These XML files are split up and altered by multiple users in my group and it would be much easier to put everything into a Git repo and have git-merge manage everything via my Python code.

It seems that implementing my code for git-mergetool is possible, but I would have to write my own code to manage the conflict returns for the internal git-merge (i.e. parse the >>>>>>> <<<<<<< ======= identifiers), which would be more time consuming.

So, is there a way to have Git's merge command automatically use my Python code instead of its internal git-merge?

Ah, yes. Sorry about that -- updated with question. – Michael M. Jan 15 '14 at 21:55 — Michael M., Jan 15 '14 at 21:55

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

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You can implement a custom merge driver that's used for certain filetypes instead of Git's default merge driver.

Relevant documentation in gitattributes(5)

Some related StackOverflow questions:

Git - how to force merge conflict and manual merge on selected file
How do I tell git to always select my local version for conflicted merges on a specific file?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

Community

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answered Jan 15 '14 at 20:05

Magnus Bäck

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The OP might also find this external link useful: http://vlists.pepperfish.net/pipermail/baserock-dev-baserock.org/2012-September/000658.html – torek Jan 15 '14 at 22:54

Can I implement my own Python-based git merge strategy?

1 Answers1