The $FreeBSD$ keyword is empty after the conversion to Git. Now, mergemaster(8) has nothing to compare other than actual file content. Previously, users of "mergemaster -Fp" and "mergemaster -Fi" only merged files when the $FreeBSD$ keyword differed. Now, we find ourselves constantly merging files we have modified such as /etc/master.passwd and /etc/group. Please fix mergemaster(8) or consider assigning values to the $FreeBSD$ keyword for files belonging in /etc. Maybe it can be as simple as "$FreeBSD: number$" where "number" must be incremented before running "git commit". Finally, maybe it's time we all moved to etcupdate(8). Please advise the community.
Yep, mergemaster became almost completely useless without keywords. This should be considered as POLA violation.
(In reply to Anton Saietskii from comment #1) No worries. I was told that mergemaster(8) is on its way out, but $FreeBSD$ IDs can be regenerated in the local Git repository with clean/smudge filters. With them applied, "mergemaster -UFi" still works fine and also the administrator is able to better track the updates. More info on configuring the filters can be found here: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Attributes