Branch/switch/merge question

I've read the visual guide, the subversion book, I've used subversion for years, but never really collaborated much with other people on actual software source code the way it's intended to be used, until recently. So it's only recently that I'm making use of branch/merge, and I'd like to get the advice of you more experienced svn users, about my usage pattern.

In particular, I branch (and switch) from /trunk to /branches/eharvey. I then make a few commits. I switch back to /trunk, and merge from the branch. I commit to trunk. (I'm always at a loss for comment, because I'm just committing things that have already been commented. But that's a side note.) I then switch back to /branches/eharvey, and merge from /trunk.

So here's my question: Even if I'm the only person who committed anything... I was fully committed on /branches/eharvey, I then became fully committed on /trunk, and when I merge back into /branches/eharvey, suddenly I'm not fully committed. My latest status (check for modifications) shows the child subfolder as "modified," and when I diff it, it's the svn:mergeinfo property that's different. It shows that I merged /trunk into /branches/eharvey, even though there were no changes from trunk to merge in.

So, most importantly, am I using svn branch/switch/merge in the way that it's intended to be used?
Is this the normal, expected, and desired behavior, and I should just get used to it?
Should my usage pattern be different somehow?
Received on 2013-11-26 15:13:35 CET