Merge branch 'en/merge-tree-sequence'

"git merge-tree --stdin" is a new way to request a series of merges
and report the merge results.

* en/merge-tree-sequence:
  merge-tree: support multiple batched merges with --stdin
  merge-tree: update documentation for differences in -z output

1 files changed, 68 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/git-merge-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-merge-tree.txt
index d6c356740ef..04bcc416e6e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-merge-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-merge-tree.txt
@@ -81,6 +81,31 @@ Whereas for a conflicted merge, the output is by default of the form:
 
 These are discussed individually below.
 
+However, there is an exception.  If `--stdin` is passed, then there is
+an extra section at the beginning, a NUL character at the end, and then
+all the sections repeat for each line of input.  Thus, if the first merge
+is conflicted and the second is clean, the output would be of the form:
+
+	<Merge status>
+	<OID of toplevel tree>
+	<Conflicted file info>
+	<Informational messages>
+	NUL
+	<Merge status>
+	<OID of toplevel tree>
+	NUL
+
+[[MS]]
+Merge status
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This is an integer status followed by a NUL character.  The integer status is:
+
+     0: merge had conflicts
+     1: merge was clean
+     &lt;0: something prevented the merge from running (e.g. access to repository
+	 objects denied by filesystem)
+
 [[OIDTLT]]
 OID of toplevel tree
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -108,18 +133,50 @@ character instead of a newline character.
 Informational messages
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-This always starts with a blank line (or NUL if `-z` is passed) to
-separate it from the previous sections, and then has free-form
-messages about the merge, such as:
+This section provides informational messages, typically about
+conflicts.  The format of the section varies significantly depending
+on whether `-z` is passed.
+
+If `-z` is passed:
+
+The output format is zero or more conflict informational records, each
+of the form:
+
+	<list-of-paths><conflict-type>NUL<conflict-message>NUL
+
+where <list-of-paths> is of the form
+
+	<number-of-paths>NUL<path1>NUL<path2>NUL...<pathN>NUL
+
+and includes paths (or branch names) affected by the conflict or
+informational message in <conflict-message>.  Also, <conflict-type> is a
+stable string explaining the type of conflict, such as
+
+  * "Auto-merging"
+  * "CONFLICT (rename/delete)"
+  * "CONFLICT (submodule lacks merge base)"
+  * "CONFLICT (binary)"
+
+and <conflict-message> is a more detailed message about the conflict which often
+(but not always) embeds the <stable-short-type-description> within it.  These
+strings may change in future Git versions.  Some examples:
 
   * "Auto-merging <file>"
   * "CONFLICT (rename/delete): <oldfile> renamed...but deleted in..."
-  * "Failed to merge submodule <submodule> (<reason>)"
+  * "Failed to merge submodule <submodule> (no merge base)"
   * "Warning: cannot merge binary files: <filename>"
 
-Note that these free-form messages will never have a NUL character
-in or between them, even if -z is passed.  It is simply a large block
-of text taking up the remainder of the output.
+If `-z` is NOT passed:
+
+This section starts with a blank line to separate it from the previous
+sections, and then only contains the <conflict-message> information
+from the previous section (separated by newlines).  These are
+non-stable strings that should not be parsed by scripts, and are just
+meant for human consumption.  Also, note that while <conflict-message>
+strings usually do not contain embedded newlines, they sometimes do.
+(However, the free-form messages will never have an embedded NUL
+character).  So, the entire block of information is meant for human
+readers as an agglomeration of all conflict messages.
 
 EXIT STATUS
 -----------
@@ -127,7 +184,10 @@ EXIT STATUS
 For a successful, non-conflicted merge, the exit status is 0.  When the
 merge has conflicts, the exit status is 1.  If the merge is not able to
 complete (or start) due to some kind of error, the exit status is
-something other than 0 or 1 (and the output is unspecified).
+something other than 0 or 1 (and the output is unspecified).  When
+--stdin is passed, the return status is 0 for both successful and
+conflicted merges, and something other than 0 or 1 if it cannot complete
+all the requested merges.
 
 USAGE NOTES
 -----------