Git mergetool generates unwanted .orig files

Question

When I do a merge conflict resolution with Kdiff3 (and other merge tool I tried) I noticed that on resolution a *.orig file is created. Is there a way for it to

Answer 1

git config --global mergetool.keepBackup false

This should work for Beyond Compare (as mergetool) too

Answer 2

Besides the correct answers offered as long term solutions, you can use git to remove all unnecessary files once for you with the git clean -f command but use git clean --dry-run first to ensure nothing unintended would happen.

This has the benefit of using tested built in functionality of Git over scripts specific to your OS/shell to remove the files.

Answer 3

I use this to clean up all files ending in ".orig":

function git-clean-orig {
    git status -su | grep -e"\.orig$" | cut -f2 -d" " | xargs rm -r
}

If you are a scaredy-cat :) you could leave the last part off just to list them (or leave off the -r if you want to approve each delete):

function git-show-orig {
    git status -su | grep -e"\.orig$" | cut -f2 -d" "
}

Answer 4

Or just add

*.orig

to your global gitignore

Answer 5

Windows:

1. in File Win/Users/HOME/.gitconfig set mergetool.keepTemporaries=false
2. in File git/libexec/git-core/git-mergetool, in the function cleanup_temp_files() add rm -rf -- "$MERGED.orig" within the else block.

Answer 6

The option to save the .orig file can be disabled by configuring KDiff3