CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitversion-control
Jeff
Jeff

Reputation: 1162

Why do I get merge conflicts when bumping the version?

I'm working on a PHP project using git/github to maintain my project. I'm following a simple branching model (master, dev, hotfix-, feature-, release). My application contains a config file (config.php) where I define the version number. Recently, I had to make a hotfix. I branched the hotfix branch from the master, made my changes, then bumped the version (ex: 1.1.2 to 1.1.3). When I merged the hotfix back into master, I had no issues. When I merged the hotfix branch into dev, I had a merge conflict with my config file on the version number line. In my dev branch, I had a different version number, so I'm assuming that's what caused the conflict. How can I avoid this in the future? Do I need to bump the version at a different time and/or branch?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 1151

Answers (2)

eddiemoya
eddiemoya

Reputation: 7478

You can use a "ours" or "theirs" strategy to tell got how to resolve conflicts on its own, but I dont think you can use those strategies on specific lines. What you might want to avoid developers having to update the version number, and instead do that on a git-hook.

A google search turned up this: http://cd34.com/blog/programming/using-git-to-generate-an-automatic-version-number/

EDIT: Alternatively, you can simply tokenize the version number and just have git ignore it completely. Have you deployment process replace the token with some derived version number - either incremental or based on the git SHA1, or some other number.

Interesting topic, its something I actually need to do for my team soon.

Upvotes: 3

ThiefMaster
ThiefMaster

Reputation: 318568

No you cannot avoid this when merging - two changes to the same line in the same file end up in a conflict.

Have you considered using cherry-picks to avoid picking the version bump? Another option would be not hardcoding the version but deriving it automatically from git (e.g. a release branch gets a number based on the number of commits and a hotfix branch a suffix based on the branch name)

Upvotes: 2

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