Conflicts

What is a Conflict?

A conflict is a signal to a user that a merge has produced a database that requires further action. The merge algorithm could not infer the state of the database based on the merge rules after the merge. Further input is required to tell Dolt what the resulting merged database should contain.

In Dolt, conflicts can occur on data and schema.

Data

On data, conflicts are detected on a cell-level. If two operations modify the same row, column pair to be different values, a conflict is detected. Primary key values are used to identify rows across versions for the purpose of diff and merge.

A caveat here is columns of JSON type. If two cells of JSON type are modified on both sides of a merge, Dolt will make an attempt to merge the underlying JSON objects. Currently, changes that modify different keys in a JSON object are merged without generating conflicts. Changes that modify the same keys will generate conflicts. Over time, we seek to improve conflict-free merging of JSON objects.

In the case of keyless tables, every column is considered part of the primary key for merge. Thus, conflicts can only be generated in keyless tables if one side of the merge deletes a row and the other side adds the same row.

Schema

Two branches must add, delete or modify a similarly named table, column, foreign key, index or constraint to generate a schema conflict, otherwise the changes are mergeable.

If two branches modify the same named table, column, foreign key, index or check constraint, consult the following tables for conflict detection.

Tables

Left Branch	Right Branch	Caveat	Mergeable
Add t1	Add t1	Same Schema	Yes
Add t1	Add t1	Different Schema	Schema Conflict
Delete t1	Delete t1		Yes
Modify t1	Delete t1		Schema Conflict
Modify t1	Modify t1	Same Schema	Yes
Modify t1	Modify t1	Different Schema	Schema Conflict

Columns

Left Branch	Right Branch	Caveat	Mergeable
Delete c1	Delete c1		Yes
Modify c1	Delete c1		Schema Conflict
Add c1	Add c1	Same Type, Same Constraints, Same Data	Yes
Add c1	Add c1	Different Type	Schema Conflict
Add c1	Add c1	Same Type, Different Constraints	Schema Conflict
Add c1	Add c1	Same Type, Same Constraints, Different Data	Data Conflict
Modify c1	Modify c1	Same Type, Same Constraints, Same Data	Yes
Modify c1	Modify c1	Incompatible Type Change	Schema Conflict
Modify c1	Modify c1	Compatible Type Change	Yes
Modify c1	Modify c1	Same Type, Different Constraints	Schema Conflict
Modify c1	Modify c1	Same Type, Same Constraints, Different Data	Data Conflict

Foreign Keys

Left Branch	Right Branch	Caveat	Mergeable
Add fk1	Add fk1	Same definition	Yes
Add fk1	Add fk1	Different definition	Schema Conflict
Delete t1	Delete t1		Yes
Modify fk1	Delete fk1		Schema Conflict
Modify fk1	Modify fk1	Same definition	Yes
Modify fk1	Modify fk1	Different definition	Schema Conflict

Indexes

Left Branch	Right Branch	Caveat	Mergeable
Add i1	Add i1	Same definition	Yes
Add i1	Add i1	Different definition	Schema Conflict
Delete i1	Delete i1		Yes
Modify i1	Delete i1		Schema Conflict
Modify i1	Modify i1	Same definition	Yes
Modify i1	Modify i1	Different definition	Schema Conflict

Check Constraints

Left Branch	Right Branch	Caveat	Mergeable
Add ck1	Add ck1	Same definition	Yes
Add ck1	Add ck1	Different definition	Schema Conflict
Delete ck1	Delete ck1		Yes
Modify ck1	Delete ck1		Schema Conflict
Modify ck1	Modify ck1	Same definition	Yes
Modify ck1	Modify ck1	Different definition	Schema Conflict

How to use Conflicts

Conflicts signal to the user that a merge is risky. In the event of a conflict, you can either redo the changes on the tip of the branch you are merging into or resolve the conflicts.

In the case of conflict resolution Dolt supports two automated resolution strategies, ours or theirs. You can choose to keep the state of schema or data on the branch you are on or the branch you are merging.

If you would like to manually resolve conflicts, you can set the value of the row that has the conflict to whatever you would like and then resolve the conflict by deleting the corresponding conflict row in dolt_conflicts_<tablename>.

Difference between Git conflicts and Dolt conflicts

Conflicts are a major divergence from Git in Dolt. Conceptually, Dolt and Git conflicts are similar, but in practice the Dolt conflict management workflow and user interface is very different.

In Dolt, conflicts are stored in the dolt_conflicts set of tables. Each table in your database has an associated dolt_conflicts table. For instance if you have a table named docs, there is a system table named dolt_conflicts_docs. This replaces the >>> and <<< syntax that is inserted into your files in Git when conflicts occur.

Dolt conflicts can occur on schema or data. In Git, conflicts can only occur on lines in files. So Dolt has two types of conflicts whereas Git has one type.

In the case of foreign keys, Dolt can produce invalid merges even after conflicts are resolved. In Dolt, this merge will not be able to be committed until the foreign key violations are resolved. In Git, a repository with no conflict markers is a valid repository and can be committed.

Example

Generating a Conflict

docs $ dolt sql -q "select * from docs"
+----+----+
| pk | c1 |
+----+----+
| 0  | 0  |
| 1  | 1  |
| 2  | 2  |
+----+----+
docs $ dolt branch make-conflicts
docs $ dolt sql -q "update docs set c1=10 where pk=1"
Query OK, 1 row affected
Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0
docs $ dolt sql -q "select * from docs"
+----+----+
| pk | c1 |
+----+----+
| 0  | 0  |
| 1  | 10 |
| 2  | 2  |
+----+----+
docs $ dolt add docs
docs $ dolt commit -m "Made pk=1, c1=10"
commit jjkqslpnbbvjh7efdhcsqdh68ekl0leb
Author: Tim Sehn <[e-mail]>
Date:   Mon Dec 06 16:40:12 -0800 2021

	Made pk=1, c1=10

docs $ dolt checkout make-conflicts
Switched to branch 'make-conflicts'
docs $ dolt sql -q "select * from docs"
+----+----+
| pk | c1 |
+----+----+
| 0  | 0  |
| 1  | 1  |
| 2  | 2  |
+----+----+
docs $ dolt sql -q "update docs set c1=0 where pk=1"
Query OK, 1 row affected
Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0
docs $ dolt sql -q "select * from docs"
+----+----+
| pk | c1 |
+----+----+
| 0  | 0  |
| 1  | 0  |
| 2  | 2  |
+----+----+
docs $ dolt add docs
docs $ dolt commit -m "Made pk=1, c1=0"
commit 5gmleh5ksmtsdeeaqeagpsitpug4ntoj
Author: Tim Sehn <[e-mail]>
Date:   Mon Dec 06 16:40:54 -0800 2021

	Made pk=1, c1=0

docs $ dolt checkout main
Switched to branch 'main'
docs $ dolt merge make-conflicts
Updating jjkqslpnbbvjh7efdhcsqdh68ekl0leb..5gmleh5ksmtsdeeaqeagpsitpug4ntoj
Auto-merging docs
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in docs
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
docs $ dolt conflicts cat docs
+-----+--------+----+----+
|     |        | pk | c1 |
+-----+--------+----+----+
|     | base   | 1  | 1  |
|  *  | ours   | 1  | 10 |
|  *  | theirs | 1  | 0  |
+-----+--------+----+----+

Resolving a Conflict

docs $ dolt conflicts cat docs
+-----+--------+----+----+
|     |        | pk | c1 |
+-----+--------+----+----+
|     | base   | 1  | 1  |
|  *  | ours   | 1  | 10 |
|  *  | theirs | 1  | 0  |
+-----+--------+----+----+
docs $ dolt conflicts resolve --ours docs
docs $ dolt conflicts cat docs
docs $ dolt sql -q "select * from docs"
+----+----+
| pk | c1 |
+----+----+
| 0  | 0  |
| 1  | 10 |
| 2  | 2  |
+----+----+
docs $ dolt add docs
docs $ dolt commit -m "Resolved conflict"
commit c8mff2tp5b3tg4j4u07dnmp912btltim
Merge: jjkqslpnbbvjh7efdhcsqdh68ekl0leb 5gmleh5ksmtsdeeaqeagpsitpug4ntoj
Author: Tim Sehn <[e-mail]>
Date:   Mon Dec 06 16:44:22 -0800 2021

	Resolved conflict