MergeTip: Clarify what null means

CherryPick was using a null MergeTip instance where the other
strategies were creating a non-null instance whose current tip was set
to null. Fix the documentation (and CherryPick), explicitly mentioning
a null tip as referring to a branch that is unborn at the start of the
merge operation.

Change-Id: Ie3b5e9e2ae3a9fb62827a10f0577d708fb14a8cc

gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/git/MergeTip.java

@@ -14,23 +14,36 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.server.git;
 
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
+
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
+import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
  * Class describing a merge tip during merge operation.
+ * <p>
+ * The current tip of a {@link MergeTip} may be null if the merge operation is
+ * against an unborn branch, and has not yet been attempted. This is distinct
+ * from a null {@link MergeTip} instance, which may be used to indicate that a
+ * merge failed or another error state.
  */
 public class MergeTip {
   private CodeReviewCommit branchTip;
   private Map<String,String> mergeResults;
 
   /**
-   * @param initial Tip before the merge operation.
+   * @param initial Tip before the merge operation; may be null, indicating an
-   * @param toMerge List of CodeReview commits to be merged in merge operation.
+   *     unborn branch.
+   * @param toMerge List of CodeReview commits to be merged in merge operation;
+   *     may not be null or empty.
    */
-  public MergeTip(CodeReviewCommit initial, Collection<CodeReviewCommit> toMerge) {
+  public MergeTip(@Nullable CodeReviewCommit initial,
+      Collection<CodeReviewCommit> toMerge) {
+    checkArgument(toMerge != null && !toMerge.isEmpty(),
+        "toMerge may not be null or empty: %s", toMerge);
     this.mergeResults = Maps.newHashMap();
     this.branchTip = initial;
     // Assume fast-forward merge until opposite is proven.
@@ -42,10 +55,11 @@ public class MergeTip {
   /**
    * Moves this MergeTip to newTip and appends mergeResult.
    *
-   * @param newTip The new tip
+   * @param newTip The new tip; may not be null.
-   * @param mergedFrom The result of the merge of newTip
+   * @param mergedFrom The result of the merge of newTip.
    */
   public void moveTipTo(CodeReviewCommit newTip, String mergedFrom) {
+    checkArgument(newTip != null);
     branchTip = newTip;
     mergeResults.put(mergedFrom, newTip.getName());
   }
@@ -53,17 +67,18 @@ public class MergeTip {
   /**
    * The merge results of all the merges of this merge operation.
    *
-   * @return The merge results of the merge operation Map<<sha1 of the commit to
+   * @return The merge results of the merge operation as a map of SHA-1 to be
-   *         be merged>, <sha1 of the merge result>>
+   *     merged to SHA-1 of the merge result.
    */
   public Map<String, String> getMergeResults() {
-    return this.mergeResults;
+    return mergeResults;
   }
 
   /**
-   *
+   * @return The current tip of the current merge operation; may be null,
-   * @return The current tip of the current merge operation.
+   *     indicating an unborn branch.
    */
+  @Nullable
   public CodeReviewCommit getCurrentTip() {
     return branchTip;
   }

gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/git/strategy/CherryPick.java

@@ -66,13 +66,12 @@ public class CherryPick extends SubmitStrategy {
   @Override
   protected MergeTip _run(CodeReviewCommit branchTip,
       Collection<CodeReviewCommit> toMerge) throws MergeException {
-    MergeTip mergeTip = branchTip != null
+    MergeTip mergeTip = new MergeTip(branchTip, toMerge);
-        ? new MergeTip(branchTip, toMerge) : null;
     List<CodeReviewCommit> sorted = CodeReviewCommit.ORDER.sortedCopy(toMerge);
     while (!sorted.isEmpty()) {
       CodeReviewCommit n = sorted.remove(0);
       try {
-        if (mergeTip == null) {
+        if (mergeTip.getCurrentTip() == null) {
           mergeTip = cherryPickUnbornRoot(n);
         } else if (n.getParentCount() == 0) {
           cherryPickRootOntoBranch(n);