Docs - product feedback: Resolving Merge Conflicts
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On https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/resolve_conflicts.html there is a note reading the following:
Note: GitLab resolves conflicts by creating a merge commit in the source branch that is not automatically merged into the target branch. This allows the merge commit to be reviewed and tested before the changes are merged, preventing unintended changes entering the target branch without review or breaking the build
I think that this behavior is what has corrupted some of our branches. I think, more specifically, Git Lab merges the destination branch into the source branch, makes a local commit, allows the user to edit the merge inline via some very slick and awesome tooling, then commits on the source branch with the merge resolved.
The problem with this is that if I have a branching structure where I branch new features off of master into their own feature branches, then merge them into a QA or integration branch and later merge the passing feature into master, I never want any other feature branches making it into a feature branch, and merging QA into a feature branch automatically introduces potentially broken features into my feature branches without me knowing about it.
If this is true, I'd like the documentation note to be more clear about what it is doing, and I'd also like the resolve conflicts feature to be more explicit about this behavior as it has led to some confusing results in my day job.
Ideally, I'd like GitLab to give me the option of branching off of the destination branch, merging my source branch into THAT and then resolving the conflicts there using the same workflow. This could be configured at the repository level or during time of conflict resolution.
My key problem here is that the tool shoots us in the foot for our workflow without being explicit about what it is doing, so problems take some time to become visible.