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Auto Merge in RTC


Michal Steinberger (181828) | asked Jan 21 '15, 12:48 a.m.

Hi,

in this qusteion, some one mentioned that the auto merge tool is the Eclipse defult tool. is that corrert?

if it does, how the auto merge behave for Visual Studio and how for Eclipse?

if not, how the auto merge behave?

I'm using RTC 4.0.6.

Thanks

Michal

2 answers



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Ralph Schoon (63.1k33645) | answered Jan 21 '15, 6:21 a.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER
As far as I can tell, that is correct. You can also use an external tool in Eclipse and VStudio.


I assume that in Visual Studio and in the Windows Shell integration, this tool is used as well, just not embedded in Eclipse. I am not completely sure here.

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Evan Hughes commented Jan 21 '15, 10:13 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER

You can configure an external compare tool in Eclipse and VS, but that is only used to show differences between versions of a file (when looking at history or when manually resolving conflicts within files). 


The external compare tool is not used to merge files automatically. 


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Ralph Schoon commented Jan 21 '15, 10:19 a.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER

Thanks for the info Evan!


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Evan Hughes (2.4k1318) | answered Jan 21 '15, 10:11 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
edited Jan 21 '15, 10:16 a.m.
Automatic merging is performed by the RTC core that is shared between both Eclipse and Visual Studio. 

I'm not sure what you want to know when you ask how automerge behaves: it merges non-overlapping changes from multiple files into a single output file. If there are overlapping changes in a file, then the user is told that there is a conflict and they must resolve using the default diff editors or an external tool. It's no different from other SCM systems in this respect. 

One major difference from other tools is how RTC SCM represents conflicting lines within files. Many other tools will insert conflict markers into the file itself. The RTC command line interface can do that, but the graphical UIs don't modify the file to indicate there is a conflict. A benefit of this approach is that it prevents users from inadvertently marking a file as merged when it still contains some of the conflicting text. 

A minor workflow difference from other tooling, is that RTC gives you the option of reviewing conflicting files before they are automerged, so you can see your state, the incoming state, as well as the most recent common ancestor. I haven't dealt with many people who use this option regularly, but you can, if you want. 

If you have more specific questions, let me know and I will update this answer. 

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