[matplotlib-devel] git questions

This is mostly for Andrew Straw, but thought anyone else experimenting 
with git may be interested.  I'm going through some real newbie pains 
here, and I don't think what I'm doing is all that advanced.

So, I've had a local git repository cloned from github (as per Andrew's 
instructions), made a branch, started hacking, all is well.  Now, I 
would like to update my master branch from SVN to get some of the recent 
changes others have been making.

Following the instructions in the FAQ,

  git svn rebase

actually results in a number of conflicts in files I didn't touch.  I 
shouldn't have to resolve this conflicts, right?  'git status' shows no 
local changes, nothing staged -- nothing that should conflict.

It turns out, if I do

   git pull

then,

   git svn rebase

all is well.

Any idea why?  Should I add that to the instructions in the FAQ?

Now, here's where I'm really stumped.  I finished my experimental 
branch, and I would like to commit it back to SVN.

This is what I did, with comments preceded by '#'

# Go back to the master branch
 > git checkout master
# Merge in experimental
 > git merge experimental
# Ok -- looks good: experimental new feature is integrated, there were 
no conflicts
# However...
 > git svn dcommit
Committing to 
https://matplotlib.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/matplotlib/trunk/matplotlib 
...
Merge conflict during commit: File or directory 
'doc/users/whats_new.rst' is out of date; try updating: resource out of 
date; try updating at /home/mdroe/usr/libexec/git-core//git-svn line 467
# 1) I didn't change that file, why should I care
# 2) I don't know who to update it
 > git pull
Already up-to-date.
 > git svn rebase
First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
Applying: more doc adds
/home/mdroe/builds/matplotlib.git/.git/rebase-apply/patch:14: trailing 
whitespace.
a lot of new features and bug-fixes. 
warning: 1 line adds whitespace errors.
Applying: added some docs for linestyles and markers
Applying: Remove trailing whitespace.
Applying: figure/subplot and font_manager bugfixes
Applying: added support for xlwt in exceltools
Applying: fixed a typo in whats_new_98_4_legend.py
Applying: fixed typo in Line2D.set_marker doc.
Applying: /matplotlib/__init__.py: catch OSError when calling subprocess.
Applying: more doc adds
/home/mdroe/builds/matplotlib.git/.git/rebase-apply/patch:14: trailing 
whitespace.
a lot of new features and bug-fixes. 
error: patch failed: doc/users/whats_new.rst:10
error: doc/users/whats_new.rst: patch does not apply
Using index info to reconstruct a base tree...
<stdin>:14: trailing whitespace.
a lot of new features and bug-fixes. 
warning: 1 line adds whitespace errors.
Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge...
No changes -- Patch already applied.
Applying: added some docs for linestyles and markers
error: patch failed: doc/devel/coding_guide.rst:62
error: doc/devel/coding_guide.rst: patch does not apply
error: patch failed: doc/matplotlibrc:43
error: doc/matplotlibrc: patch does not apply
error: patch failed: doc/pyplots/whats_new_98_4_legend.py:4
error: doc/pyplots/whats_new_98_4_legend.py: patch does not apply
error: patch failed: lib/matplotlib/lines.py:313
error: lib/matplotlib/lines.py: patch does not apply
Using index info to reconstruct a base tree...
Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge...
Auto-merged doc/pyplots/whats_new_98_4_legend.py
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in doc/pyplots/whats_new_98_4_legend.py
Auto-merged lib/matplotlib/lines.py
Failed to merge in the changes.
Patch failed at 0010.

When you have resolved this problem run "git rebase --continue".
If you would prefer to skip this patch, instead run "git rebase --skip".
To restore the original branch and stop rebasing run "git rebase --abort".

rebase refs/remotes/trunk: command returned error: 1
# Ok, I'm back to merging files that don't conflict with my changes! 
# I shouldn't have to do that, right?
# And FYI:
 > git status
doc/pyplots/whats_new_98_4_legend.py: needs merge
# Not currently on any branch.
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#    modified:   lib/matplotlib/lines.py
#
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#
#    unmerged:   doc/pyplots/whats_new_98_4_legend.py
#
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#    lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/matplotlib.conf
#    lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/matplotlibrc
#    setupext.pyc
#    src/backend_agg.cpp~

Now I feel stuck.  How do I "undo" the merge from experimental to master?

Sorry if these are obvious questions, but I think I've followed the 
git-svn instructions -- I must have made a mistake somewhere along the 
way, but I'm not sure how to debug and/or fix it.

Mike