Q: mergemaster 'm'-merge option results in empty file

[Rob Lahaye]

Hi,

I'm trying to get grip of mergemaster.
Either my logic is up-side-down or mergemaster is not so intuitive,
but learning mergemaster seems a tough process for me.

My problem now:

	# mergemaster -v

This does some things, and then presents me a list of files that
are only in my installed /etc directory. Ok, understand that.

It then also takes me file by file to make a decision as:

   Use 'd' to delete the temporary ./etc/hosts
   Use 'i' to install the temporary ./etc/hosts
   Use 'm' to merge the temporary and installed versions
   Use 'v' to view the diff results again


Using 'd' or 'i' works alright, but 'm' is totally uncomprehensive.
E.g. I want to merge with my original /etc/hosts file, which has
my own list of ips/hosts When typing 'm', I enter sdiff, which talks
about a left and a right version, totally out-of-the-blue:
	%h
	l:      use the left version
	r:      use the right version
	e l:    edit then use the left version
	e r:    edit then use the right version
	e b:    edit then use the left and right versions concatenated
	e:      edit a new version
	s:      silently include common lines
	v:      verbosely include common lines
	q:      quit

What is left and right in the mergemaster context???
'man sdiff' doesn't seem to help out here.
I've tried a bit (I typed 'v' and 'q'), but then found /etc/hosts
totally empty!!

Any idea where I went wrong?

Thanks,
Rob.