Merge conflicts - ices-taf/doc GitHub Wiki

Merge conflicts in Git and GitHub typically occur when multiple developers are working on the same project and make changes to the same file(s) in conflicting ways. When you try to merge these changes, Git might not be able to automatically resolve the differences, resulting in a conflict that needs to be resolved manually. Some common conflicts are listed below:

• Conflicting Changes to the Same Lines: When two developers make changes to the same part of a file, Git doesn't know which change to keep and which to discard, resulting in a conflict.
• Renaming or Moving Files: If one developer renames or moves a file while another developer makes changes to the same file, Git can't automatically resolve the conflict.
• Deleted File Conflicts: If one developer deletes a file while another developer modifies it, Git will flag it as a conflict because it doesn't know whether to keep the changes or delete the file.
• Conflicts in Branch Merges: When merging branches, conflicts may arise if changes in one branch conflict with changes in the other branch.
• Whitespace and Formatting Conflicts: In some cases, conflicts can occur due to differences in whitespace or formatting, especially if developers have different integrated development environment (IDE) settings, here IDE = RStudio.

To resolve merge conflicts using RStudio:

• Open RStudio and navigate to the Git tab.
• Locate the file(s) with merge conflicts.
• RStudio will display the conflicted files with markers indicating the conflicting sections.
• Manually edit the conflicted files to resolve the conflicts. You'll need to decide which changes to keep and which to discard.
• After resolving the conflicts, stage the changes.
• Finally, commit the changes to complete the merge process.

Remember to communicate with your team members to ensure everyone are aware of the conflicts and their resolutions. Also, a search engine is your friend in many of these circumstances to resolve the issue.