How to Resolve Merge Conflicts in Bitbucket

Edited 5 days ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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When working with version control systems like Git based on Bitbucket, handling merge conflicts is an essential skill to ensure that team collaboration continues smoothly. Merge conflicts occur when two branches have different changes and need to be combined. This guide will provide a detailed explanation on how to resolve merge conflicts using Bitbucket.

Understanding merge conflicts

Before moving on to the resolution process, it is important to understand what a merge conflict is. In a software project, multiple developers often work on different branches. These branches are later merged to combine the changes. Conflicts arise when the same line of code is changed in more than one branch, or when one branch deletes a resource that another branch modified.

Bitbucket helps identify these conflicts during a merge attempt. When a merge conflict is detected, you must resolve it manually by deciding which changes to keep and which not to keep.

Preparing for conflict resolution

To start resolving conflicts in Bitbucket, you need to have a general familiarity with Git commands and setup Git installed on your local machine and access to your Bitbucket repository. Here is a step-by-step process to get you ready for the task.

1. Clone your repository from Bitbucket to your local machine:

   git clone <repository-url>

2. Go to your repository directory:

   cd <repository-name>

3. Get the latest changes in the branches you plan to merge:

   git fetch origin

Initiating a merge

To initiate a merge, you typically start with the branch into which you want to merge changes from another branch. Use the following steps:

1. View the branch you want to merge into:

   git checkout <target-branch>

2. Merge the branch with the new changes:

   git merge <source-branch>

If there are no conflicts, the merge completes successfully. If there are any conflicts, Git will notify you about them. Conflicting files are marked with conflict markers in your repository. At this point, you need to resolve them manually.

Resolving merge conflicts

Conflicting files have special markers that help you decide how to resolve them. Here is a representation of those markers:

<<<<<<< HEAD Your changes in the target branch ======= Changes from the source branch >>>>>>> source-branch

The content between HEAD and ======= corresponds to the changes on the current branch, while the content between ======= and >>>>>>> reflects the changes on the branch you are trying to merge. To resolve the conflict, decide which sections to keep and edit the file accordingly by following these steps:

1. Open the file in question in a text editor.
2. Review contradictory sections marked by <<<<<<, ======, and >>>>>>.
3. Decide which change to accept or modify the code to incorporate both changes. Remove the conflict marks after resolution.
4. Once all conflicts are resolved, save the file.

Here's an example:

// Original function calculateTotal(a, b) { return a + b; } // After conflicting change <<<<<<< HEAD function calculateTotal(a, b, c) { return a + b + c; } ======= function calculateTotal(x, y) { return x + y; } >>>>>>> feature-branch

You can decide to accommodate the changes to the new function as follows:

// Resolved function calculateTotal(a, b, c = 0) { return a + b + c; }

Finalizing the merger

Once the dispute is resolved, you need to finalize the merge. Follow these steps:

1. Stage the resolved files:

   git add <file-name>

2. Commit the changes with a message:

   git commit -m "Resolve merge conflicts"

3. Push the merge to the remote repository:

   git push origin <target-branch>

Using Bitbucket's pull requests for merges

Bitbucket also provides a web-based UI to help you merge. When you create a pull request, Bitbucket checks for conflicts and provides suggestions or tools within the UI to manage them.

Steps to use Bitbucket for conflict resolution

1. Open a pull request in Bitbucket.
2. Bitbucket displays a list of files with conflicts.
3. Select "Resolve conflicts" in the Bitbucket UI.
4. Use the editor to choose which changes to keep.
5. Complete the merge request after resolving all conflicts.

Practices for managing merge conflicts

Here are some best practices for avoiding merge conflicts or handling them effectively:

• Communication and coordination: For teams, frequent communication can prevent overlapping of work.
• Maintain small, frequent commits: This reduces the chance of conflicts due to large divergent changes.
• Rebase frequently: Rebase often to keep your feature branch up to date with the main branch. This can catch conflicts early.
• Be consistent with coding style: Consistent code formatting can help detect actual changes rather than just style differences during conflicts.

Conclusion

Resolving merge conflicts, although sometimes time-consuming, is a vital part of collaborative software development. With practice, managing these conflicts becomes more natural, ensuring that multiple contributors can work harmoniously on the same codebase. Bitbucket, combined with the powerful features of Git, provides the tools needed to handle merges and conflicts efficiently.

Knowing how to interpret conflict symbols, deciding the right merge strategy, communicating within your team, and taking advantage of Bitbucket's interface can streamline your workflow considerably. With these guidelines, you should be well-equipped to manage merge conflicts in Bitbucket and maintain a productive development process.

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