Subject: [PATCH] merge: use repo_in_merge_bases for octopus up-to-date check

From: "Kristofer Karlsson via GitGitGadget" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2026 06:11:26 +0000

From: Kristofer Karlsson <[email-masked]>

The octopus merge path checks whether each remote head is already
an ancestor of HEAD by computing all merge-bases via
repo_get_merge_bases() and comparing the first result's OID to
the remote head.  This is more expensive than necessary:
repo_get_merge_bases() calls paint_down_to_common() with
min_generation=0, performs the full STALE drain, and may run
remove_redundant(), when all we need is a yes/no reachability
answer.

Replace this with repo_in_merge_bases(), which answers the
is-ancestor question directly.  When generation numbers are
available, repo_in_merge_bases() uses can_all_from_reach() -- a
DFS bounded by generation number that stops as soon as the target
is found or ruled out, without entering paint_down_to_common() at
all.  Without generation numbers, it still benefits from a tighter
min_generation floor.

Signed-off-by: Kristofer Karlsson <[email-masked]>
---
    merge: use repo_in_merge_bases for octopus up-to-date check
    
    While reviewing callers of repo_get_merge_bases() for a different patch,
    I noticed the octopus up-to-date loop in builtin/merge.c computes full
    merge-bases only to check whether each remote head is an ancestor of
    HEAD.
    
    The existing code calls repo_get_merge_bases(), takes the first result,
    frees the list, and compares the OID to the remote head. This is
    equivalent to an is-ancestor check, which repo_in_merge_bases() answers
    directly.
    
    Using repo_in_merge_bases() simplifies the code (-14/+4 lines) and
    avoids unnecessary work: with generation numbers it uses
    can_all_from_reach() instead of paint_down_to_common(), and without
    generation numbers it still benefits from a tighter min_generation
    floor. In practice this only matters for octopus merges on repos with
    deep history, so the main value here is the simplification.
    
    The comment "Here we have to calculate the individual merge_bases again"
    dates from 2008 (1c7b76be, "Build in merge"). At the time,
    in_merge_bases() was the same cost as computing merge bases. Stolee's
    2018 generation number work (d7c1ec3e) and the later switch to
    can_all_from_reach (6cc01743) made it significantly cheaper, but this
    call site was never updated.

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2110%2Fspkrka%2Fmerge-octopus-in-merge-bases-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2110/spkrka/merge-octopus-in-merge-bases-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2110

 builtin/merge.c             | 18 ++++--------------
 t/t6408-merge-up-to-date.sh | 10 ++++++++++
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

diff --git a/builtin/merge.c b/builtin/merge.c
index 2cbce56f8d..862107cf41 100644
--- a/builtin/merge.c
+++ b/builtin/merge.c
@@ -1735,21 +1735,11 @@ int cmd_merge(int argc,
 		struct commit_list *j;
 
 		for (j = remoteheads; j; j = j->next) {
-			struct commit_list *common_one = NULL;
-			struct commit *common_item;
-
-			/*
-			 * Here we *have* to calculate the individual
-			 * merge_bases again, otherwise "git merge HEAD^
-			 * HEAD^^" would be missed.
-			 */
-			if (repo_get_merge_bases(the_repository, head_commit,
-						 j->item, &common_one) < 0)
+			int ret = repo_in_merge_bases(the_repository,
+						      j->item, head_commit);
+			if (ret < 0)
 				exit(128);
-
-			common_item = common_one->item;
-			commit_list_free(common_one);
-			if (!oideq(&common_item->object.oid, &j->item->object.oid)) {
+			if (!ret) {
 				up_to_date = 0;
 				break;
 			}
diff --git a/t/t6408-merge-up-to-date.sh b/t/t6408-merge-up-to-date.sh
index 7763c1ba98..be0840efb6 100755
--- a/t/t6408-merge-up-to-date.sh
+++ b/t/t6408-merge-up-to-date.sh
@@ -89,4 +89,14 @@ test_expect_success 'merge fast-forward octopus' '
 	test "$expect" = "$current"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'merge octopus already up to date' '
+
+	git reset --hard c2 &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git merge c0 c1 &&
+	expect=$(git rev-parse c2) &&
+	current=$(git rev-parse HEAD) &&
+	test "$expect" = "$current"
+'
+
 test_done

base-commit: 94f057755b7941b321fd11fec1b2e3ca5313a4e0
-- 
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