Re: FW: CVS update issue using -j to merge files between a branch and

[Larry Jones]

Hamid Ghassemi writes:
> 
> I know *why* this happens, but I don't agree with it.  There was no diff
> between the branch and the branch point on the trunk, so no change was
> considered for the merge.  At least that's how I understand it based on
> how it behaves.

Exactly.  Merge works by considering exactly three revisions: in this
case, the revision you're merging, the revision you're merging it into,
and the common ancestor of the two.  It does *not* consider any other
revisions, or how you got from the common ancestor to either of the two
merge revisions.  This works just fine 99% of the time.  It appears that
you think you've run across the remaining 1%, but it's your own fault. 
By making the same change on both the trunk and the branch, you
subverted CVS's ability to track what was going on.  The right thing to
do would have been to make the change one place or the other, merge the
change to the other place, and remember the merge point.  When you then
did a later merge (from that merge point rather than from the common
ancestor), you would get the conflict you expect.

-Larry Jones

I won't eat any cereal that doesn't turn the milk purple. -- Calvin