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Re: How to disable automatic merging...

From: Gus Hart <gus.hart_at_gmail.com>
Date: 2007-12-10 21:33:53 CET

Here's an example why I might not want auto-merging (BTW, no one
answered my question, only questioned my premise...).

Suppose I remove a declared but unused variable. At the same time my
collaborator decides to use said variable a hundred lines below. We
both commit. SVN merges when I update---the changes seem unrelated
(different place in the file) so SVN merges. Now I have an undeclared
variable that is actually being used. At best, I'll discover at next
compile. But this is a simple example. It's not hard to imagine
scenarios where the bug introduced might be really subtle.

That brings another question. Is there any documentation that
describes, in detail, *how* subversion does the merging? How it
decides it is innocuous?

It's hard to believe that SVN is smart enough to "know" that two
changes in the same file by different people but in different places
don't intersect.

Best,
GH

On 12/10/07, Bryant Eastham <beastham@pewla.us.pewg.panasonic.com> wrote:
> Gus Hart wrote:
>
> > I find it incredible that such a thing as automatic merging even
> > exists. SVN is writing code for you! Be that as it may, how can I
> > prevent automatic merging?
>
> I personally find it amazing that anyone would question the merits of
> automatic merging! ;-)
>
> Seriously, unless there is something special about your files, I have
> seen the feature save much, much more time than it has ever cost.
> Subversion isn't writing code for you, it is trying to understand enough
> about your code to know when no new code needs to be written.
>
> Perfect? No.
> Close enough to be very useful? Definitely.
>
> --
> Bryant Eastham beastham@pewla.us.pewg.panasonic.com
> Chief Architect
> Panasonic Electric Works Laboratory of America, Inc. , Salt Lake City
> Lab
> 4525 South Wasatch Blvd., Suite 100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84124
> Phone : 801.993.7124 Fax: 801.993.7260
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gus Hart [mailto:gus.hart@gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 12:02 PM
> To: users@subversion.tigris.org
> Subject: How to disable automatic merging...
>
> This is my first post to the list.
>
> I find it incredible that such a thing as automatic merging even
> exists. SVN is writing code for you! Be that as it may, how can I
> prevent automatic merging?
>
> I hunted around for this topic on the web and found someone's
> suggestion to add the following to the ~/.subversion/config file:
> diff-cmd=/usr/bin/false
> diff3-cmd=/usr/bin/false
>
> but alas this doesn't work. I still get the dreaded "G" tag when
> updating. I have a feeling that somehow the config file is being
> ignored as changing the "editor-cmd" value didn't change anything
> either...
>
> Please help if you can. Thanks!
> -GH

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Received on Mon Dec 10 21:34:44 2007

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