threeway-merge-rs

Git-style 3-way string merging using proven algorithms from libgit2/xdiff.

🌟 Overview

threeway-merge-rs is a Rust library for string-based 3-way merging using Git's proven merge algorithms.
It uses libgit2/xdiff via safe FFI bindings, providing the same merge behavior as git merge-file but with a pure string API perfect for applications that need to merge text content programmatically.

✨ Features

• String-based API: Works with &str inputs, no file I/O required
• Git-compatible: 100% identical results to git merge-file (576+ test combinations)
• Memory safe: Safe Rust wrapper with proper FFI memory management
• Conflict detection: Automatic conflict counting and detailed output
• Zero runtime dependencies: C library compiled at build time
• Comprehensive testing: Multi-language scenarios with complex merge cases

Configurable Merge Options

Diff Algorithm

• Myers – Default, standard diff
• Minimal – Minimal changes
• Patience – Patience diff algorithm
• Histogram – Histogram-based diff

Merge Level

• Minimal – Conservative merging
• Eager – Slightly more aggressive
• Zealous – Aggressive merge
• ZealousAlnum – Aggressive with alphanumeric heuristics

Merge Favor

• None – No automatic favor
• Ours – Prefer "ours" changes
• Theirs – Prefer "theirs" changes
• Union – Combine changes when possible

Merge Style

• Normal – Default 3-way merge
• Diff3 – Include base lines in conflicts
• ZealousDiff3 – Diff3 style with aggressive merging

Conflict Markers

• Customize marker labels and sizes (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>)

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
threeway_merge = "0.1"

Basic Usage

use threeway_merge::{merge_strings, MergeOptions};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let base = "Hello world\nSecond line";
    let ours = "Hello Rust world\nSecond line"; 
    let theirs = "Hello beautiful world\nSecond line";

    let result = merge_strings(base, ours, theirs, &MergeOptions::default())?;
    
    println!("Conflicts: {}", result.conflicts);
    println!("Result:\n{}", result.content);
    
    Ok(())
}

Advanced Configuration

use threeway_merge::{
    merge_strings, MergeOptions, DiffAlgorithm, MergeStyle, MergeFavor
};

let mut options = MergeOptions::default();
options.algorithm = DiffAlgorithm::Histogram;
options.style = MergeStyle::ZealousDiff3;
options.favor = Some(MergeFavor::Union);
options.base_label = Some("original".to_string());
options.ours_label = Some("mine".to_string());
options.theirs_label = Some("theirs".to_string());
options.marker_size = 10;

let result = merge_strings(base, ours, theirs, &options)?;

Git Equivalent

This Rust code:

let result = merge_strings(base, ours, theirs, &options)?;

Is equivalent to:

git merge-file --diff-algorithm histogram --zdiff3 \
  -L "mine" ours.txt -L "original" base.txt -L "theirs" theirs.txt --stdout

🧪 Testing & Compatibility

Git Compatibility

This library achieves 100% compatibility with git merge-file through comprehensive testing:

• 576+ test combinations across multiple scenarios
• 12+ complex merge scenarios including:
  • Multi-language text (Korean, Japanese, French)
  • Programming code (JavaScript, Rust, Python, SQL)
  • Whitespace edge cases and deeply nested conflicts
  • Literature excerpts and legal documents

Running Tests

# Run all tests
cargo test

# Run Git compatibility tests specifically
cargo test test_comprehensive_git_comparison

# Run with output visible
cargo test -- --nocapture

Performance

• Zero allocation for simple merges
• Memory efficient with automatic C memory cleanup
• Build-time compilation - no runtime dependencies

🏗️ Requirements

• Rust: 1.88.0 or later (uses 2024 edition)
• C compiler: For build-time compilation of xdiff library
• Git (optional): For running compatibility tests

🙏 Acknowledgments

Core Technologies

• Rust – Systems programming language with safety and performance
• libgit2/xdiff – Standalone version of Git's xdiff library
• cc crate – Build-time C compilation

Special Thanks

• Open Source Community: For the incredible tools and libraries
• Contributors: Everyone who improves threeway-merge-rs
• Davide Libenzi: Original author of xdiff
• libgit2 team: For maintaining the standalone xdiff version