Branch Merging Behaviour

[Mark Cooper]

We have recently noticed a difference in the way that a merge works 
between two branches and between a branch and the main trunk.

Consider the following:
branch taken from trunk
work proceeds
some files removed from trunk (head)
new branch taken from trunk
working copy updated to new branch
first branch merged into new branch

What appears to be happening under this scenario is that the files that 
were removed from the trunk but which still exist in the early branch are 
re-added into the new branch, then when in its turn the new branch is 
merged back into the trunk, the files are re-added to the trunk. This has 
caused us a couple of headaches wondering why removed files kept 
mysteriously re-appearing on the trunk.

This does not occur when doing a merge of a branch into a working copy of 
the the trunk (head revisions). 

Is this behaviour correct?

I've searched through previous mailing list archives and issue/bug 
reports, but can't find any reference to this. The manual is particularly 
obscure about the subject.

Mark Cooper
Reuse Manager
Microlise Limited
http://www.microlise.co.uk
mailto:address@hidden