Merge after rename

Merge after rename

[Phil Susi]

I'm trying to cherry pick an old change from an old branch onto the 
current master, and since the old change, the directory structure was 
altered and the modified files were moved.  Instead of detecting the new 
location of the file and applying the changes to it, git is re-adding 
the old file at the old location in its entirety.  How can I get it to 
correctly notice the rename and merge the changes in at the file's new 
location?

Re: Merge after rename

[Jacob Keller]

On Thu, Jul 9, 2015 at 1:44 PM, Phil Susi <psusi@ubuntu.com> wrote:
> I'm trying to cherry pick an old change from an old branch onto the current
> master, and since the old change, the directory structure was altered and
> the modified files were moved.  Instead of detecting the new location of the
> file and applying the changes to it, git is re-adding the old file at the
> old location in its entirety.  How can I get it to correctly notice the
> rename and merge the changes in at the file's new location?
>
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Hi Phil,

One way is to format-patch the original commit, and run it through a
program like filterdiff, or edit the applied locations by hand. You
might also be able to use the merge subtree option.
https://git-scm.com/book/en/v1/Git-Tools-Subtree-Merging is where I
would start.

For example, I would try something like

git cherry-pick -X subtree=path/to/strip -X subtree=path/to/add <commit>

You might also have success with

git cherry-pick --strategy=subtree

which attempts to guess. Hopefully this helps!

Regards,
Jake