NAME

       doc_tutorials_merge_md - How-To: kdb merge

   Introduction
       The kdb tool allows users to access and perform functions on the Elektra Key Database from
       the command line. We added a new command to this very useful tool, the merge command. This
       command allows a user to perform a three-way merge of KeySets from the kdb tool.

       The command to use this tool is:

           kdb merge [options] ourpath theirpath basepath resultpath

       The standard naming scheme for a three-way merge consists of ours, theirs, and base:

       • ours refers to the local copy of a file

       • theirs refers to a remote copy

       • base refers to their common ancestor.

       This works very similarly for KeySets, especially ones that consist of mounted conffiles.

       For mounted conffiles:

       • ours should be the user's copy

       • theirs would be the maintainers copy,

       • base would be the previous version of the maintainer's copy.

       If the user is just trying to accomplish is a three-way merge using any two arbitrary
       keysets that share a base, it doesn't matter which ones are defined as ours or theirs as
       long as they use the correct base KeySet. In kdb merge, ourpath, theirpath, and basepath
       work just like ours, theirs, and base except each one represents the root of a KeySet.
       Resultpath is pretty self-explanatory, it is just where you want the result of the merge
       to be saved under. It's worth noting, resultpath should be empty before attempting a
       merge, otherwise there can be unintended consquences.

   Options
       As for the options, there are a few basic options:

       -i  --interactive                   which attempts the merge in an interactive way

           -t  --test                                      which tests the proposed merge and informs you about possible conflicts

           -f --force                                      which overwrites any Keys in resultpath

   Strategies
       Additionally there is an option to specify a merge strategy, which is very important.

       The option for strategy is:

           -s --strategy <name>            which is used to specify a strategy to use in case of a conflict

       The current list of strategies are:

           preserve                        the merge will fail if a conflict is detected

           ours                            the merge will use our version during a conflict

           theirs                          the merge will use their version during a conflict

           base                            the merge will use the base version during a conflict

       If no strategy is specified, the merge will default to the preserve strategy as to not
       risk making the wrong decision. If any of the other strategies are specified, when a
       conflict is detected, merge will use the Key specified by the strategy (ours, theirs, or
       base) for the resulting Key.

   Basic Example
       Basic Usage:

           kdb merge system/hosts/ours system/hosts/theirs system/hosts/base system/hosts/result

   Examples Using Strategies
       Here are examples of the same KeySets being merged using different strateigies. The
       KeySets are mounted using the simpleini file, the left side of '=' is the name of the Key,
       the right side is its string value.

       We start with the base KeySet, system/base:

           key1=1
           key2=2
           key3=3
           key4=4
           key5=5

       Here is our KeySet, system/ours:

           key1=apple
           key2=2
           key3=3
           key5=fish

       Here is their KeySet, system/theirs:

           key1=1
           key2=pie
           key4=banana
           key5=5

       Now we will examine the result KeySet with the different strategies.

   Preserve
           kdb merge -s preserve system/ours system/theirs system/base system/result

       The merge will fail because of a conflict for key4 since key4 was deleted in our KeySet
       and edited in their KeySet. Since we used preserve, the merge fails and the result KeySet
       is not saved.

   Ours
           kdb merge -s ours system/ours system/theirs system/base system/result

       The result KeySet, system/result will be:

           key1=apple
           key2=pie
           key5=fish

       Because the conflict of key4 (it was deleted in ours but changed in theirs) is solved by
       using our copy thus deleting the key.

   Theirs
           kdb merge -s theirs system/ours system/theirs system/base system/result

       The result KeySet, system/result will be:

           key1=apple
           key2=pie
           key4=banana
           key5=fish

       Here, the conflict of key4 is solved by using their copy, thus key4=banana.

   Base
           kdb merge -s base system/ours system/theirs system/base system/result

       The result KeySet, system/result will be:

           key1=apple
           key2=pie
           key4=4
           key5=5

       The same conflict is found in key4, but here we use the base version to solve it so
       key4=4.