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+merge API
+=========
+
+The merge API helps a program to reconcile two competing sets of
+improvements to some files (e.g., unregistered changes from the work
+tree versus changes involved in switching to a new branch), reporting
+conflicts if found. The library called through this API is
+responsible for a few things.
+
+ * determining which trees to merge (recursive ancestor consolidation);
+
+ * lining up corresponding files in the trees to be merged (rename
+ detection, subtree shifting), reporting edge cases like add/add
+ and rename/rename conflicts to the user;
+
+ * performing a three-way merge of corresponding files, taking
+ path-specific merge drivers (specified in `.gitattributes`)
+ into account.
+
+Data structures
+---------------
+
+* `mmbuffer_t`, `mmfile_t`
+
+These store data usable for use by the xdiff backend, for writing and
+for reading, respectively. See `xdiff/xdiff.h` for the definitions
+and `diff.c` for examples.
+
+* `struct ll_merge_options`
+
+This describes the set of options the calling program wants to affect
+the operation of a low-level (single file) merge. Some options:
+
+`virtual_ancestor`::
+ Behave as though this were part of a merge between common
+ ancestors in a recursive merge.
+ If a helper program is specified by the
+ `[merge "<driver>"] recursive` configuration, it will
+ be used (see linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
+
+`variant`::
+ Resolve local conflicts automatically in favor
+ of one side or the other (as in 'git merge-file'
+ `--ours`/`--theirs`/`--union`). Can be `0`,
+ `XDL_MERGE_FAVOR_OURS`, `XDL_MERGE_FAVOR_THEIRS`, or
+ `XDL_MERGE_FAVOR_UNION`.
+
+`renormalize`::
+ Resmudge and clean the "base", "theirs" and "ours" files
+ before merging. Use this when the merge is likely to have
+ overlapped with a change in smudge/clean or end-of-line
+ normalization rules.
+
+Low-level (single file) merge
+-----------------------------
+
+`ll_merge`::
+
+ Perform a three-way single-file merge in core. This is
+ a thin wrapper around `xdl_merge` that takes the path and
+ any merge backend specified in `.gitattributes` or
+ `.git/info/attributes` into account. Returns 0 for a
+ clean merge.
+
+Calling sequence:
+
+* Prepare a `struct ll_merge_options` to record options.
+ If you have no special requests, skip this and pass `NULL`
+ as the `opts` parameter to use the default options.
+
+* Allocate an mmbuffer_t variable for the result.
+
+* Allocate and fill variables with the file's original content
+ and two modified versions (using `read_mmfile`, for example).
+
+* Call `ll_merge()`.
+
+* Read the merged content from `result_buf.ptr` and `result_buf.size`.
+
+* Release buffers when finished. A simple
+ `free(ancestor.ptr); free(ours.ptr); free(theirs.ptr);
+ free(result_buf.ptr);` will do.
+
+If the modifications do not merge cleanly, `ll_merge` will return a
+nonzero value and `result_buf` will generally include a description of
+the conflict bracketed by markers such as the traditional `<<<<<<<`
+and `>>>>>>>`.
+
+The `ancestor_label`, `our_label`, and `their_label` parameters are
+used to label the different sides of a conflict if the merge driver
+supports this.
+
+Everything else
+---------------
+
+Talk about <merge-recursive.h> and merge_file():
+
+ - merge_trees() to merge with rename detection
+ - merge_recursive() for ancestor consolidation
+ - try_merge_command() for other strategies
+ - conflict format
+ - merge options
+
+(Daniel, Miklos, Stephan, JC)