Local Modifications
The local modifications in a [:WorkingDirectory:working directory] are the differences existing between the files in the working directory compared to their [:Parent:parent] file [:Revision:revisions] in the [:Repository:repository] and all added, moved, removed or renamed files.
Those differences can be displayed by a [:Diff:diff].
[:Commit:Committing] these local modifications produces a new [:ChangeSet:changeset] in the repository. Mercurial uses the [:DirState:dirstate] to quickly determine what files in the working directory have changed and thus need to be included in the commit.
If the working directory has two [:Parent:parent] revisions (due to a [:Merge:merge]), the local modifications will correspond to the resolution of the [:Conflict:conflicts].