Undestanding Meld 3 路合并改变流向

Question

I am trying to complete a 3 way merge for a cherry picked commit, using Meld. However, I have difficulties understanding the directions in which changes flow between the 3 files shown by Meld. To give a better illustration, let's consider the following case:

On the master branch at commit 4e623e0, we have a tracked file, called test.c and it looks like this:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
        printf("Hello world!\n");
        return 0;
}

We create branch 'other', and commit changes to test.c, so branch other is at commit 29771b0, and the test.c file looks like this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "foo.h"
#include "headerx.h"
#include "headery.h"
#include "headerz.h"

int main()
{
        printf("Hello world!\n");
        if (x(2) > x(3))
                return -1; 
        else if (z(2) > z(3))
                return 44; 
        return 0;
}

Now we go back to branch 'master', and commit changes to test.c, so branch master is at commit 02fd8c8, and the test.c file looks like this:

include <stdio.h>
#include "foo.h"
#include "bar.h"

int main()
{
        printf("Hello world!\n");
        return bar_fun(2);
}

Finally, on the master branch, we attempt to do

git cherry-pick 29771b0
git mergetool

and the following window shows up:

My question is:

1. What sense does the marked arrow, pointing to the "LOCAL" file make?
2. How can i turn off this "feature" (bug?)? It is rather annoying when merging large files, when Meld marks a big block of the "BASE" code and wants to push it into the "LOCAL" file.
3. If it does make sense - why would I want to change, the "LOCAL" file? According to this SO post: Which version of the git file will be finally used: LOCAL, BASE or REMOTE? , the "LOCAL" pane should be open in read only mode. I have a rough understanding, of "LOCAL", "REMOTE", "BASE", and "MERGED" files, however the considered Meld option doesn't make sense to me.

Answer 1

A cherry-pick is an interesting situation for a conflict. LOCAL (left pane) is code as it is on the revision where you are (in other words: HEAD ). Now, local and REMOTE get a very special meaning. On a normal conflict on a merge, this interface (I assume, I don't know it) would show you the tip of the other branch on the right pane and the code as it is on (roughly) the last common ancestor at the center pane, where you get to edit the way the file will look like and stuff.

On a cherry-pick what those two sections show is a little different (actually, it's the same but cherry-pick is a different kind of merge). The REMOTE pane (right pane) will show you the code as it is on the revision you are cherry-picking (that's why you have the ifs as it is on other branch).... the middle pane is code as it appears on the parent of the revision you are cherry-picking (that's why it shows the code the way it looked on the first revision).