Conflict Handling

A conflict occurs when both sides of a merge change the same data in incompatible ways. merql detects four types of conflicts and provides automatic and manual resolution strategies.

$result = $merge->merge($base, $ours, $theirs);

if (!$result->isClean()) {
    foreach ($result->conflicts() as $conflict) {
        echo "{$conflict->table()}.{$conflict->column()}: "
           . "{$conflict->oursValue()} vs {$conflict->theirsValue()}\n";
    }
}

Conflict types

update_update

Both sides changed the same column of the same row to different values. This is the most common conflict type.

Base:    posts #42  title = "Hello"
Ours:    posts #42  title = "Welcome"
Theirs:  posts #42  title = "Greetings"

The conflict reports: table posts, row key 42, column title, ours value Welcome, theirs value Greetings, base value Hello.

update_delete

One side updated a row, the other deleted it. merql cannot determine whether the update or the delete should win.

Ours:    posts #42  title = "Updated Title"    (updated)
Theirs:  posts #42  (deleted)

The conflict reports: table posts, row key 42, type update_delete. The ours value contains the full updated row. The theirs value is null.

delete_update

The reverse of update_delete. Theirs updated the row, ours deleted it.

Ours:    posts #42  (deleted)
Theirs:  posts #42  title = "Updated Title"    (updated)

The conflict reports: type delete_update. The ours value is null, the theirs value contains the full updated row.

insert_insert

Both sides inserted a row with the same primary key. Since both rows are new (not present in base), merql cannot merge them.

Base:    (no row #99)
Ours:    posts #99  { title: "My Post" }
Theirs:  posts #99  { title: "Their Post" }

The conflict reports: type insert_insert. The ours value contains the ours row data, the theirs value contains the theirs row data.

The Conflict class

Each conflict is a readonly object with these accessors:

$conflict->table();      // string: table name
$conflict->rowKey();     // string: encoded row identity key
$conflict->type();       // string: "update_update"|"update_delete"|"delete_update"|"insert_insert"
$conflict->column();     // ?string: column name (null for structural conflicts)
$conflict->oursValue();  // mixed: our value (null for delete side, full row for structural)
$conflict->theirsValue(); // mixed: their value (null for delete side, full row for structural)
$conflict->baseValue();  // mixed: base value (null for inserts)

The column() method returns a column name for update_update conflicts and null for structural conflicts (update_delete, delete_update, insert_insert).

Decoding the primary key

The row key is an encoded string. To get a named primary key array, pass the identity columns:

$pk = $conflict->primaryKey(['id']);
// ['id' => '42']

$pk = $conflict->primaryKey(['tenant_id', 'user_id']);
// ['tenant_id' => '1', 'user_id' => '99']

Automatic resolution with ConflictPolicy

The ConflictResolver applies a policy to resolve all conflicts at once:

use Merql\Merge\ConflictPolicy;
use Merql\Merge\ConflictResolver;

// One side wins everywhere.
$resolved = ConflictResolver::resolve($result, ConflictPolicy::OursWins);
$resolved = ConflictResolver::resolve($result, ConflictPolicy::TheirsWins);

// Manual: return the result unchanged (inspect conflicts yourself).
$resolved = ConflictResolver::resolve($result, ConflictPolicy::Manual);

ConflictPolicy enum

Value	Behavior
`OursWins`	Use ours value for update_update. Keep update for update_delete. Keep delete for delete_update. Use ours insert for insert_insert.
`TheirsWins`	Use theirs value for update_update. Delete for update_delete. Keep update for delete_update. Use theirs insert for insert_insert.
`Manual`	Return the result unchanged. All conflicts remain unresolved.

How resolution works

For update_update conflicts, the resolver patches the existing merge operation for that row, replacing the conflicted column value with the winning side's value.

For structural conflicts (update_delete, delete_update, insert_insert), the resolver adds a new operation to the result:

update_delete with OursWins adds an UPDATE operation.
update_delete with TheirsWins adds a DELETE operation.
delete_update with OursWins adds a DELETE operation.
delete_update with TheirsWins adds an UPDATE operation.
insert_insert uses the winning side's row values.

The resolved MergeResult has an empty conflicts list and can be applied directly.

Manual resolution

For fine-grained control, inspect each conflict and build your own resolution:

foreach ($result->conflicts() as $conflict) {
    echo "Table:  {$conflict->table()}\n";
    echo "Row:    {$conflict->rowKey()}\n";
    echo "Type:   {$conflict->type()}\n";

    if ($conflict->column() !== null) {
        echo "Column: {$conflict->column()}\n";
        echo "Base:   " . var_export($conflict->baseValue(), true) . "\n";
        echo "Ours:   " . var_export($conflict->oursValue(), true) . "\n";
        echo "Theirs: " . var_export($conflict->theirsValue(), true) . "\n";
    }
}

Applying with unresolved conflicts

The Applier refuses to apply a merge result that has unresolved conflicts. It throws a ConflictException:

use Merql\Exceptions\ConflictException;

try {
    $applier->apply($result);
} catch (ConflictException $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    // "Cannot apply merge with 3 unresolved conflicts"
}

Always resolve conflicts before applying, either with ConflictResolver::resolve() or by building a clean MergeResult manually.

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