Conflicts in Git are an inevitable reality when working on collaborative projects, especially when multiple developers are working on the same codebase. Understanding how to handle these conflicts is crucial to maintaining an efficient workflow and avoiding significant interruptions in development.

When two branches modify the same parts of a file and an attempt is made to merge these branches, Git cannot automatically decide which of the changes is correct. This is where conflict resolution comes into play.

What is a Conflict in Git?

A conflict in Git occurs when two or more changes in different branches cannot be automatically merged. These conflicts typically arise when:

• Two developers make distinct changes to the same part of the same file.
• Changes have been made in one branch that significantly diverge from another.

Importance of Conflict Resolution

Resolving conflicts efficiently is vital to:

• Avoiding development bottlenecks.
• Keeping the project's history clear and manageable.
• Preventing loss of work.

General Conflict Resolution Process

The general process for resolving conflicts involves identifying the conflict, resolving it manually, and then notifying Git that the conflict has been resolved. This is usually done in three steps:

1. Identify the Conflict: Use Git tools to detect where the conflict is.
2. Resolve the Conflict: Edit the conflicting file to choose which changes to keep.
3. Mark the Conflict as Resolved: Inform Git that the conflict has been resolved and proceed with the commit.

Quick Example

Let's suppose two branches, featureA and featureB. Both branches have made changes to the app.js file. We attempt to merge from featureA to featureB:

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Git may show a conflict message:

The app.js file will have conflict markers:

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