How do developers approach merge conflicts? An investigation into merge conflicts, their occurrences and resolutions

Software development is highly intellectual task. Developers work “in the flow,” and any interruption will negatively influence their productivity. Merge conflicts happen when two or more developers change the same lines in a file. They are an interruption as the developers needs to stop what they are doing, and focus on the resolution. This is frustrating, and wastes the developer’s time. This is compounded by the fact that, today, almost all of software development is done in teams. This makes collaboration, and the problems associated with it, an important aspect of software development. Merge conflicts are some of the more difficult issues that arise when working in a team.

Previous work has focused on conflict awareness, how often conflicts arise, and broader informal strategies of conflict mitigation. However, they did not look at what steps developers actually take when they resolve a merge conflict. Therefore, we don’t know what the problems are, where they are, or if the tools are providing developers with the right assistance and support.

For my thesis I want to bring in more information about the strategies developers use when resolving merge conflicts. I will gather information through a multi-pronged approach, employing large scale empirical studies on software repositories and in-situ observations and interviews of developers resolving conflicts when working on real development tasks. The information obtained can then be used to improve the existing tools and make it easier for developers when working in a collaborative environment.

Major Advisor: Carlos Jensen
Committee: Anita Sarma
Committee: Alex Groce
Committee: Danny Dig
GCR: Brett Tyler