1 Rebases and cherry-picks involve a sequence of merges whose results are
2 recorded as new single-parent commits. The first parent side of those
3 merges represent the "upstream" side, and often include a far larger set of
4 changes than the second parent side. Traditionally, the renames on the
5 first-parent side of that sequence of merges were repeatedly re-detected
6 for every merge. This file explains why it is safe and effective during
7 rebases and cherry-picks to remember renames on the upstream side of
8 history as an optimization, assuming all merges are automatic and clean
9 (i.e. no conflicts and not interrupted for user input or editing).
15 1. How rebasing and cherry-picking work
17 2. Why the renames on MERGE_SIDE1 in any given pick are *always* a
18 superset of the renames on MERGE_SIDE1 for the next pick.
20 3. Why any rename on MERGE_SIDE1 in any given pick is _almost_ always also
21 a rename on MERGE_SIDE1 for the next pick
23 4. A detailed description of the counter-examples to #3.
25 5. Why the special cases in #4 are still fully reasonable to use to pair
26 up files for three-way content merging in the merge machinery, and why
27 they do not affect the correctness of the merge.
29 6. Interaction with skipping of "irrelevant" renames
31 7. Additional items that need to be cached
33 8. How directory rename detection interacts with the above and why this
34 optimization is still safe even if merge.directoryRenames is set to
38 === 0. Assumptions ===
40 There are two assumptions that will hold throughout this document:
42 * The upstream side where commits are transplanted to is treated as the
43 first parent side when rebase/cherry-pick call the merge machinery
45 * All merges are fully automatic
47 and a third that will hold in sections 2-5 for simplicity, that I'll later
50 * No directory renames occur
53 Let me explain more about each assumption and why I include it:
56 The first assumption is merely for the purposes of making this document
57 clearer; the optimization implementation does not actually depend upon it.
58 However, the assumption does hold in all cases because it reflects the way
59 that both rebase and cherry-pick were implemented; and the implementation
60 of cherry-pick and rebase are not readily changeable for backwards
61 compatibility reasons (see for example the discussion of the --ours and
62 --theirs flag in the documentation of `git checkout`, particularly the
63 comments about how they behave with rebase). The optimization avoids
64 checking first-parent-ness, though. It checks the conditions that make the
65 optimization valid instead, so it would still continue working if someone
66 changed the parent ordering that cherry-pick and rebase use. But making
67 this assumption does make this document much clearer and prevents me from
68 having to repeat every example twice.
70 If the second assumption is violated, then the optimization simply is
71 turned off and thus isn't relevant to consider. The second assumption can
72 also be stated as "there is no interruption for a user to resolve conflicts
73 or to just further edit or tweak files". While real rebases and
74 cherry-picks are often interrupted (either because it's an interactive
75 rebase where the user requested to stop and edit, or because there were
76 conflicts that the user needs to resolve), the cache of renames is not
77 stored on disk, and thus is thrown away as soon as the rebase or cherry
78 pick stops for the user to resolve the operation.
80 The third assumption makes sections 2-5 simpler, and allows people to
81 understand the basics of why this optimization is safe and effective, and
82 then I can go back and address the specifics in section 8. It is probably
83 also worth noting that if directory renames do occur, then the default of
84 merge.directoryRenames being set to "conflict" means that the operation
85 will stop for users to resolve the conflicts and the cache will be thrown
86 away, and thus that there won't be an optimization to apply. So, the only
87 reason we need to address directory renames specifically, is that some
88 users will have set merge.directoryRenames to "true" to allow the merges to
89 continue to proceed automatically. The optimization is still safe with
90 this config setting, but we have to discuss a few more cases to show why;
91 this discussion is deferred until section 8.
94 === 1. How rebasing and cherry-picking work ===
96 Consider the following setup (from the git-rebase manpage):
102 After rebasing or cherry-picking topic onto main, this will appear as:
108 The way the commits A', B', and C' are created is through a series of
109 merges, where rebase or cherry-pick sequentially uses each of the three
110 A-B-C commits in a special merge operation. Let's label the three commits
111 in the merge operation as MERGE_BASE, MERGE_SIDE1, and MERGE_SIDE2. For
112 this picture, the three commits for each of the three merges would be:
129 Sometimes, folks are surprised that these three-way merges are done. It
130 can be useful in understanding these three-way merges to view them in a
131 slightly different light. For example, in creating C', you can view it as
134 * Apply the changes between B & C to B'
135 * Apply the changes between B & B' to C
137 Conceptually the two statements above are the same as a three-way merge of
138 B, B', and C, at least the parts before you decide to record a commit.
141 === 2. Why the renames on MERGE_SIDE1 in any given pick are always a ===
142 === superset of the renames on MERGE_SIDE1 for the next pick. ===
144 The merge machinery uses the filenames it is fed from MERGE_BASE,
145 MERGE_SIDE1, and MERGE_SIDE2. It will only move content to a different
146 filename under one of three conditions:
148 * To make both pieces of a conflict available to a user during conflict
149 resolution (examples: directory/file conflict, add/add type conflict
150 such as symlink vs. regular file)
152 * When MERGE_SIDE1 renames the file.
154 * When MERGE_SIDE2 renames the file.
156 First, let's remember what commits are involved in the first and second
157 picks of the cherry-pick or rebase sequence:
169 So, in particular, we need to show that the renames between E and G are a
170 superset of those between A and A'.
172 A' is created by the first merge. A' will only have renames for one of the
173 three reasons listed above. The first case, a conflict, results in a
174 situation where the cache is dropped and thus this optimization doesn't
175 take effect, so we need not consider that case. The third case, a rename
176 on MERGE_SIDE2 (i.e. from G to A), will show up in A' but it also shows up
177 in A -- therefore when diffing A and A' that path does not show up as a
178 rename. The only remaining way for renames to show up in A' is for the
179 rename to come from MERGE_SIDE1. Therefore, all renames between A and A'
180 are a subset of those between E and G. Equivalently, all renames between E
181 and G are a superset of those between A and A'.
184 === 3. Why any rename on MERGE_SIDE1 in any given pick is _almost_ ===
185 === always also a rename on MERGE_SIDE1 for the next pick. ===
187 Let's again look at the first two picks:
199 Now let's look at any given rename from MERGE_SIDE1 of the first pick, i.e.
200 any given rename from E to G. Let's use the filenames 'oldfile' and
201 'newfile' for demonstration purposes. That first pick will function as
202 follows; when the rename is detected, the merge machinery will do a
203 three-way content merge of the following:
207 and produce a new result:
210 Note above that I've assumed that E->A did not rename oldfile. If that
211 side did rename, then we most likely have a rename/rename(1to2) conflict
212 that will cause the rebase or cherry-pick operation to halt and drop the
213 in-memory cache of renames and thus doesn't need to be considered further.
214 In the special case that E->A does rename the file but also renames it to
215 newfile, then there is no conflict from the renaming and the merge can
216 succeed. In this special case, the rename is not valid to cache because
217 the second merge will find A:newfile in the MERGE_BASE (see also the new
218 testcases in t6429 with "rename same file identically" in their
219 description). So a rename/rename(1to1) needs to be specially handled by
220 pruning renames from the cache and decrementing the dir_rename_counts in
221 the current and leading directories associated with those renames. Or,
222 since these are really rare, one could just take the easy way out and
223 disable the remembering renames optimization when a rename/rename(1to1)
226 The previous paragraph handled the cases for E->A renaming oldfile, let's
227 continue assuming that oldfile is not renamed in A.
229 As per the diagram for creating B', MERGE_SIDE1 involves the changes from A
230 to A'. So, we are curious whether A:oldfile and A':newfile will be viewed
231 as renames. Note that:
233 * There will be no A':oldfile (because there could not have been a
234 G:oldfile as we do not do break detection in the merge machinery and
235 G:newfile was detected as a rename, and by the construction of the
236 rename above that merged cleanly, the merge machinery will ensure there
237 is no 'oldfile' in the result).
239 * There will be no A:newfile (if there had been, we would have had a
240 rename/add conflict).
242 * Clearly A:oldfile and A':newfile are "related" (A':newfile came from a
243 clean three-way content merge involving A:oldfile).
245 We can also expound on the third point above, by noting that three-way
246 content merges can also be viewed as applying the differences between the
247 base and one side to the other side. Thus we can view A':newfile as
248 having been created by taking the changes between E:oldfile and G:newfile
249 (which were detected as being related, i.e. <50% changed) to A:oldfile.
251 Thus A:oldfile and A':newfile are just as related as E:oldfile and
252 G:newfile are -- they have exactly identical differences. Since the latter
253 were detected as renames, A:oldfile and A':newfile should also be
254 detectable as renames almost always.
257 === 4. A detailed description of the counter-examples to #3. ===
259 We already noted in section 3 that rename/rename(1to1) (i.e. both sides
260 renaming a file the same way) was one counter-example. The more
261 interesting bit, though, is why did we need to use the "almost" qualifier
262 when stating that A:oldfile and A':newfile are "almost" always detectable
265 Let's repeat an earlier point that section 3 made:
267 A':newfile was created by applying the changes between E:oldfile and
268 G:newfile to A:oldfile. The changes between E:oldfile and G:newfile were
269 <50% of the size of E:oldfile.
271 If those changes that were <50% of the size of E:oldfile are also <50% of
272 the size of A:oldfile, then A:oldfile and A':newfile will be detectable as
273 renames. However, if there is a dramatic size reduction between E:oldfile
274 and A:oldfile (but the changes between E:oldfile, G:newfile, and A:oldfile
275 still somehow merge cleanly), then traditional rename detection would not
276 detect A:oldfile and A':newfile as renames.
278 Here's an example where that can happen:
279 * E:oldfile had 20 lines
280 * G:newfile added 10 new lines at the beginning of the file
281 * A:oldfile kept the first 3 lines of the file, and deleted all the rest
283 => A':newfile would have 13 lines, 3 of which matches those in A:oldfile.
284 E:oldfile -> G:newfile would be detected as a rename, but A:oldfile and
285 A':newfile would not be.
288 === 5. Why the special cases in #4 are still fully reasonable to use to ===
289 === pair up files for three-way content merging in the merge machinery, ===
290 === and why they do not affect the correctness of the merge. ===
292 In the rename/rename(1to1) case, A:newfile and A':newfile are not renames
293 since they use the *same* filename. However, files with the same filename
294 are obviously fine to pair up for three-way content merging (the merge
295 machinery has never employed break detection). The interesting
296 counter-example case is thus not the rename/rename(1to1) case, but the case
297 where A did not rename oldfile. That was the case that we spent most of
298 the time discussing in sections 3 and 4. The remainder of this section
299 will be devoted to that case as well.
301 So, even if A:oldfile and A':newfile aren't detectable as renames, why is
302 it still reasonable to pair them up for three-way content merging in the
303 merge machinery? There are multiple reasons:
305 * As noted in sections 3 and 4, the diff between A:oldfile and A':newfile
306 is *exactly* the same as the diff between E:oldfile and G:newfile. The
307 latter pair were detected as renames, so it seems unlikely to surprise
308 users for us to treat A:oldfile and A':newfile as renames.
310 * In fact, "oldfile" and "newfile" were at one point detected as renames
311 due to how they were constructed in the E..G chain. And we used that
312 information once already in this rebase/cherry-pick. I think users
313 would be unlikely to be surprised at us continuing to treat the files
314 as renames and would quickly understand why we had done so.
316 * Marking or declaring files as renames is *not* the end goal for merges.
317 Merges use renames to determine which files make sense to be paired up
318 for three-way content merges.
320 * A:oldfile and A':newfile were _already_ paired up in a three-way
321 content merge; that is how A':newfile was created. In fact, that
322 three-way content merge was clean. So using them again in a later
323 three-way content merge seems very reasonable.
325 However, the above is focusing on the common scenarios. Let's try to look
326 at all possible unusual scenarios and compare without the optimization to
327 with the optimization. Consider the following theoretical cases; we will
328 then dive into each to determine which of them are possible,
329 and if so, what they mean:
331 1. Without the optimization, the second merge results in a conflict.
332 With the optimization, the second merge also results in a conflict.
333 Questions: Are the conflicts confusingly different? Better in one case?
335 2. Without the optimization, the second merge results in NO conflict.
336 With the optimization, the second merge also results in NO conflict.
337 Questions: Are the merges the same?
339 3. Without the optimization, the second merge results in a conflict.
340 With the optimization, the second merge results in NO conflict.
341 Questions: Possible? Bug, bugfix, or something else?
343 4. Without the optimization, the second merge results in NO conflict.
344 With the optimization, the second merge results in a conflict.
345 Questions: Possible? Bug, bugfix, or something else?
347 I'll consider all four cases, but out of order.
349 The fourth case is impossible. For the code without the remembering
350 renames optimization to not get a conflict, B:oldfile would need to exactly
351 match A:oldfile -- if it doesn't, there would be a modify/delete conflict.
352 If A:oldfile matches B:oldfile exactly, then a three-way content merge
353 between A:oldfile, A':newfile, and B:oldfile would have no conflict and
354 just give us the version of newfile from A' as the result.
356 From the same logic as the above paragraph, the second case would indeed
357 result in identical merges. When A:oldfile exactly matches B:oldfile, an
358 undetected rename would say, "Oh, I see one side didn't modify 'oldfile'
359 and the other side deleted it. I'll delete it. And I see you have this
360 brand new file named 'newfile' in A', so I'll keep it." That gives the
361 same results as three-way content merging A:oldfile, A':newfile, and
362 B:oldfile -- a removal of oldfile with the version of newfile from A'
363 showing up in the result.
365 The third case is interesting. It means that A:oldfile and A':newfile were
366 not just similar enough, but that the changes between them did not conflict
367 with the changes between A:oldfile and B:oldfile. This would validate our
368 hunch that the files were similar enough to be used in a three-way content
369 merge, and thus seems entirely correct for us to have used them that way.
370 (Sidenote: One particular example here may be enlightening. Let's say that
371 B was an immediate revert of A. B clearly would have been a clean revert
372 of A, since A was B's immediate parent. One would assume that if you can
373 pick a commit, you should also be able to cherry-pick its immediate revert.
374 However, this is one of those funny corner cases; without this
375 optimization, we just successfully picked a commit cleanly, but we are
376 unable to cherry-pick its immediate revert due to the size differences
377 between E:oldfile and A:oldfile.)
379 That leaves only the first case to consider -- when we get conflicts both
380 with or without the optimization. Without the optimization, we'll have a
381 modify/delete conflict, where both A':newfile and B:oldfile are left in the
382 tree for the user to deal with and no hints about the potential similarity
383 between the two. With the optimization, we'll have a three-way content
384 merged A:oldfile, A':newfile, and B:oldfile with conflict markers
385 suggesting we thought the files were related but giving the user the chance
386 to resolve. As noted above, I don't think users will find us treating
387 'oldfile' and 'newfile' as related as a surprise since they were between E
388 and G. In any event, though, this case shouldn't be concerning since we
389 hit a conflict in both cases, told the user what we know, and asked them to
392 So, in summary, case 4 is impossible, case 2 yields the same behavior, and
393 cases 1 and 3 seem to provide as good or better behavior with the
394 optimization than without.
397 === 6. Interaction with skipping of "irrelevant" renames ===
399 Previous optimizations involved skipping rename detection for paths
400 considered to be "irrelevant". See for example the following commits:
402 * 32a56dfb99 ("merge-ort: precompute subset of sources for which we
403 need rename detection", 2021-03-11)
404 * 2fd9eda462 ("merge-ort: precompute whether directory rename
405 detection is needed", 2021-03-11)
406 * 9bd342137e ("diffcore-rename: determine which relevant_sources are
407 no longer relevant", 2021-03-13)
409 Relevance is always determined by what the _other_ side of history has
410 done, in terms of modifying a file that our side renamed, or adding a
411 file to a directory which our side renamed. This means that a path
412 that is "irrelevant" when picking the first commit of a series in a
413 rebase or cherry-pick, may suddenly become "relevant" when picking the
416 The upshot of this is that we can only cache rename detection results
417 for relevant paths, and need to re-check relevance in subsequent
418 commits. If those subsequent commits have additional paths that are
419 relevant for rename detection, then we will need to redo rename
420 detection -- though we can limit it to the paths for which we have not
421 already detected renames.
424 === 7. Additional items that need to be cached ===
426 It turns out we have to cache more than just renames; we also cache:
428 A) non-renames (i.e. unpaired deletes)
429 B) counts of renames within directories
430 C) sources that were marked as RELEVANT_LOCATION, but which were
431 downgraded to RELEVANT_NO_MORE
432 D) the toplevel trees involved in the merge
434 These are all stored in struct rename_info, and respectively appear in
435 * cached_pairs (along side actual renames, just with a value of NULL)
440 The reason for (A) comes from the irrelevant renames skipping
441 optimization discussed in section 6. The fact that irrelevant renames
442 are skipped means we only get a subset of the potential renames
443 detected and subsequent commits may need to run rename detection on
444 the upstream side on a subset of the remaining renames (to get the
445 renames that are relevant for that later commit). Since unpaired
446 deletes are involved in rename detection too, we don't want to
447 repeatedly check that those paths remain unpaired on the upstream side
448 with every commit we are transplanting.
450 The reason for (B) is that diffcore_rename_extended() is what
451 generates the counts of renames by directory which is needed in
452 directory rename detection, and if we don't run
453 diffcore_rename_extended() again then we need to have the output from
454 it, including dir_rename_counts, from the previous run.
456 The reason for (C) is that merge-ort's tree traversal will again think
457 those paths are relevant (marking them as RELEVANT_LOCATION), but the
458 fact that they were downgraded to RELEVANT_NO_MORE means that
459 dir_rename_counts already has the information we need for directory
460 rename detection. (A path which becomes RELEVANT_CONTENT in a
461 subsequent commit will be removed from cached_irrelevant.)
463 The reason for (D) is that is how we determine whether the remember
464 renames optimization can be used. In particular, remembering that our
465 sequence of merges looks like:
479 It is the fact that the trees A and A' appear both in Merge 1 and in
480 Merge 2, with A as a parent of A' that allows this optimization. So
481 we store the trees to compare with what we are asked to merge next
485 === 8. How directory rename detection interacts with the above and ===
486 === why this optimization is still safe even if ===
487 === merge.directoryRenames is set to "true". ===
489 As noted in the assumptions section:
492 ...if directory renames do occur, then the default of
493 merge.directoryRenames being set to "conflict" means that the operation
494 will stop for users to resolve the conflicts and the cache will be
495 thrown away, and thus that there won't be an optimization to apply.
496 So, the only reason we need to address directory renames specifically,
497 is that some users will have set merge.directoryRenames to "true" to
498 allow the merges to continue to proceed automatically.
501 Let's remember that we need to look at how any given pick affects the next
502 one. So let's again use the first two picks from the diagram in section
505 First pick does this three-way merge:
511 Second pick does this three-way merge:
517 Now, directory rename detection exists so that if one side of history
518 renames a directory, and the other side adds a new file to the old
519 directory, then the merge (with merge.directoryRenames=true) can move the
520 file into the new directory. There are two qualitatively different ways to
521 add a new file to an old directory: create a new file, or rename a file
522 into that directory. Also, directory renames can be done on either side of
523 history, so there are four cases to consider:
525 * MERGE_SIDE1 renames old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 adds new file to old dir
526 * MERGE_SIDE1 renames old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 renames file into old dir
527 * MERGE_SIDE1 adds new file to old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 renames old dir
528 * MERGE_SIDE1 renames file into old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 renames old dir
530 One last note before we consider these four cases: There are some
531 important properties about how we implement this optimization with
532 respect to directory rename detection that we need to bear in mind
533 while considering all of these cases:
535 * rename caching occurs *after* applying directory renames
537 * a rename created by directory rename detection is recorded for the side
538 of history that did the directory rename.
540 * dir_rename_counts, the nested map of
541 {oldname => {newname => count}},
542 is cached between runs as well. This basically means that directory
543 rename detection is also cached, though only on the side of history
544 that we cache renames for (MERGE_SIDE1 as far as this document is
545 concerned; see the assumptions section). Two interesting sub-notes
548 * If we need to perform rename-detection again on the given side (e.g.
549 some paths are relevant for rename detection that weren't before),
550 then we clear dir_rename_counts and recompute it, making use of
551 cached_pairs. The reason it is important to do this is optimizations
552 around RELEVANT_LOCATION exist to prevent us from computing
553 unnecessary renames for directory rename detection and from computing
554 dir_rename_counts for irrelevant directories; but those same renames
555 or directories may become necessary for subsequent merges. The
556 easiest way to "fix up" dir_rename_counts in such cases is to just
559 * If we prune rename/rename(1to1) entries from the cache, then we also
560 need to update dir_rename_counts to decrement the counts for the
561 involved directory and any relevant parent directories (to undo what
562 update_dir_rename_counts() in diffcore-rename.c incremented when the
563 rename was initially found). If we instead just disable the
564 remembering renames optimization when the exceedingly rare
565 rename/rename(1to1) cases occur, then dir_rename_counts will get
566 re-computed the next time rename detection occurs, as noted above.
568 * the side with multiple commits to pick, is the side of history that we
569 do NOT cache renames for. Thus, there are no additional commits to
570 change the number of renames in a directory, except for those done by
571 directory rename detection (which always pad the majority).
573 * the "renames" we cache are modified slightly by any directory rename,
576 Now, with those notes out of the way, let's go through the four cases
579 Case 1: MERGE_SIDE1 renames old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 adds new file to old dir
581 This case looks like this:
583 MERGE_BASE: E, Has olddir/
584 MERGE_SIDE1: G, Renames olddir/ -> newdir/
585 MERGE_SIDE2: A, Adds olddir/newfile
586 => creates A', With newdir/newfile
588 MERGE_BASE: A, Has olddir/newfile
589 MERGE_SIDE1: A', Has newdir/newfile
590 MERGE_SIDE2: B, Modifies olddir/newfile
591 => expected B', with threeway-merged newdir/newfile from above
593 In this case, with the optimization, note that after the first commit:
594 * MERGE_SIDE1 remembers olddir/ -> newdir/
595 * MERGE_SIDE1 has cached olddir/newfile -> newdir/newfile
596 Given the cached rename noted above, the second merge can proceed as
597 expected without needing to perform rename detection from A -> A'.
599 Case 2: MERGE_SIDE1 renames old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 renames file into old dir
601 This case looks like this:
602 MERGE_BASE: E oldfile, olddir/
603 MERGE_SIDE1: G oldfile, olddir/ -> newdir/
604 MERGE_SIDE2: A oldfile -> olddir/newfile
605 => creates A', With newdir/newfile representing original oldfile
607 MERGE_BASE: A olddir/newfile
608 MERGE_SIDE1: A' newdir/newfile
609 MERGE_SIDE2: B modify olddir/newfile
610 => expected B', with threeway-merged newdir/newfile from above
612 In this case, with the optimization, note that after the first commit:
613 * MERGE_SIDE1 remembers olddir/ -> newdir/
614 * MERGE_SIDE1 has cached olddir/newfile -> newdir/newfile
615 (NOT oldfile -> newdir/newfile; compare to case with
616 (p->status == 'R' && new_path) in possibly_cache_new_pair())
618 Given the cached rename noted above, the second merge can proceed as
619 expected without needing to perform rename detection from A -> A'.
621 Case 3: MERGE_SIDE1 adds new file to old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 renames old dir
623 This case looks like this:
625 MERGE_BASE: E, Has olddir/
626 MERGE_SIDE1: G, Adds olddir/newfile
627 MERGE_SIDE2: A, Renames olddir/ -> newdir/
628 => creates A', With newdir/newfile
630 MERGE_BASE: A, Has newdir/, but no notion of newdir/newfile
631 MERGE_SIDE1: A', Has newdir/newfile
632 MERGE_SIDE2: B, Has newdir/, but no notion of newdir/newfile
633 => expected B', with newdir/newfile from A'
635 In this case, with the optimization, note that after the first commit there
636 were no renames on MERGE_SIDE1, and any renames on MERGE_SIDE2 are tossed.
637 But the second merge didn't need any renames so this is fine.
639 Case 4: MERGE_SIDE1 renames file into old dir, MERGE_SIDE2 renames old dir
641 This case looks like this:
643 MERGE_BASE: E, Has olddir/
644 MERGE_SIDE1: G, Renames oldfile -> olddir/newfile
645 MERGE_SIDE2: A, Renames olddir/ -> newdir/
646 => creates A', With newdir/newfile representing original oldfile
648 MERGE_BASE: A, Has oldfile
649 MERGE_SIDE1: A', Has newdir/newfile
650 MERGE_SIDE2: B, Modifies oldfile
651 => expected B', with threeway-merged newdir/newfile from above
653 In this case, with the optimization, note that after the first commit:
654 * MERGE_SIDE1 remembers oldfile -> newdir/newfile
655 (NOT oldfile -> olddir/newfile; compare to case of second
656 block under p->status == 'R' in possibly_cache_new_pair())
657 * MERGE_SIDE2 renames are tossed because only MERGE_SIDE1 is remembered
659 Given the cached rename noted above, the second merge can proceed as
660 expected without needing to perform rename detection from A -> A'.
662 Finally, I'll just note here that interactions with the
663 skip-irrelevant-renames optimization means we sometimes don't detect
664 renames for any files within a directory that was renamed, in which
665 case we will not have been able to detect any rename for the directory
666 itself. In such a case, we do not know whether the directory was
667 renamed; we want to be careful to avoid caching some kind of "this
668 directory was not renamed" statement. If we did, then a subsequent
669 commit being rebased could add a file to the old directory, and the
670 user would expect it to end up in the correct directory -- something
671 our erroneous "this directory was not renamed" cache would preclude.