| GitHub Desktop Improves Merge Conflict Resolution |
| Written by Kay Ewbank |
| Tuesday, 20 November 2018 |
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More automated merge conflict resolution has been added to the new version of GitHub Desktop client, along with an easier way to create new repositories and start merges. GitHub Desktop 1.5 gives developers a way to work with workflows in a desktop environment. The client uses the same codebase for MacOS and Windows, and lets you create branches, collaborate with other developers, and commit changes without needing to use the command line. The client was launched in 2017 having been recoded from the ground up in Electron to create a simplified user experience. Electron was developed by GitHub as an open source library that can be used to build cross-platform desktop applications using a mixture of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The new version has more automatic handling of merge conflicts. In the previous version, you were told if a merge would result in merge conflicts before you actually did the merging, but you still needed to resolve the conflicts on your own. This is an issue that affects more than 10 percent of all merges in the app according to the GitHub developers, so is something that many users have to deal with. The new version informs you which files have conflicts, and will open your preferred editor to resolve them. It also lists the conflicts that you still need to address, and shows you when everything is resolved and ready to merge.
The other main improvement to this release is in the way that merges and repositories are handled. The new version has an extra option on the branch dropdowm menu that lets you initiate a merge, and you'll get feedback in the app to let you know when a merge works. The Repository dropdown menu also has new options for adding, creating and cloning a repository, as the developers say users have reported that adding a repository to Desktop has been difficult to find and use.
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