$ cat <<EOF > merge

  > import sys, os

  > print "merging for", os.path.basename(sys.argv[1])

  > EOF

  $ HGMERGE="python ../merge"; export HGMERGE

  $ mkdir A1

  $ cd A1

  $ hg init

  $ echo This is file foo1 > foo

  $ echo This is file bar1 > bar

  $ hg add foo bar

  $ hg commit -m "commit text" -d "1000000 0"

  $ cd ..

  $ hg clone A1 B1

  updating to branch default

  2 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved

  $ cd A1

  $ rm bar

  $ hg remove bar

  $ hg commit -m "commit test" -d "1000000 0"

  $ cd ../B1

  $ echo This is file foo22 > foo

  $ hg commit -m "commit test" -d "1000000 0"

  $ cd ..

  $ hg clone A1 A2

  updating to branch default

  1 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved

  $ hg clone B1 B2

  updating to branch default

  2 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved

  $ cd A1

  $ hg pull ../B1

  pulling from ../B1

  searching for changes

  adding changesets

  adding manifests

  adding file changes

  added 1 changesets with 1 changes to 1 files (+1 heads)

  (run 'hg heads' to see heads, 'hg merge' to merge)

  $ hg merge

  1 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved

  (branch merge, don't forget to commit)

  $ hg commit -m "commit test" -d "1000000 0"

bar should remain deleted.

  $ hg manifest --debug

  f9b0e817f6a48de3564c6b2957687c5e7297c5a0 644   foo

  $ cd ../B2

  $ hg pull ../A2

  pulling from ../A2

  searching for changes

  adding changesets

  adding manifests

  adding file changes

  added 1 changesets with 0 changes to 0 files (+1 heads)

  (run 'hg heads' to see heads, 'hg merge' to merge)

  $ hg merge

  0 files updated, 0 files merged, 1 files removed, 0 files unresolved

  (branch merge, don't forget to commit)

  $ hg commit -m "commit test" -d "1000000 0"

bar should remain deleted.

  $ hg manifest --debug

  f9b0e817f6a48de3564c6b2957687c5e7297c5a0 644   foo