Status "Old" vs "Needs Merge"

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:01 am

First off, everyone in our company uses the VSS development style.

Lately, I've started receiving questions about why developers are seeing "Needs Merge" in the status column. Nobody has ever asked that question in the past year... We are now running Vault 3.0.5 server/clients. The server is running Win2K with all service packs.

I read enough to see that Needs Merge means:

"When a file status is needs merge, it means that another user has modified the file since you began editing it (thus, the changes you have applied and the other user has applied need to be merged together). "

Did this change recently? I'm pretty sure our VSS style limited the status to OLD in the past.

Also, since we are running VSS Style, is there a way so that Needs Merge is not available to our users?

Thanks,
Don

dan · Post by **dan** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:11 am

Files are in Needs Merge state when Vault thinks the file has been modified locally, usually because the file timestamp has changed. With 3.0, we added the capability to use CRCs to determine whether a file has been modified.

So, the question is whether those files have been modified, or whether their timestamps have changed, or whether Vault is somehow incorrectly determining that they are modified when they are not.

The next time this happens, check whether the file has been modified or if its timestamp has changed. You might also see whether using a CRC check makes the problem go away.

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:51 am

The files ARE different (timestamps or CRC), and the Needs Merge is accurate based on the current doc.

However, none of our nine developers remembers seeing "needs merge" in the past year. All of us are VSS Style centric, and the concept of merging is not something we've dealt with before.

Did something change, or are all of us blind?

Thanks,
Don

dan · Post by **dan** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:15 am

I just remembered a change that happened in 3.0 that would explain this - since a file can be both Renegade and Needs Merge, one of them needs to take precedence. Before 3.0, Renegade did, but now Needs Merge does. Both are correct (the file is both Renegade and it needs merged with the current changes from the server).

Needs Merge implies edited (Renegade), but Renegade does not imply Needs Merge, so this change actually gives more info this way.

Sorry for the confusion or any doubts about your eyesight/sanity that this may have caused.

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:44 am

Yes, we used to see a lot more Renegade files...

Any chance you can change this back to the old way for us VSS types? Or make it an option? Needs Merge concerns people...

Thanks,
Don

Don Thimsen · Post by **Don Thimsen** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:44 am

Yes, we used to see a lot more Renegade files...

Any chance you change this back to the old way for us VSS types? Or make it an option? Needs Merge concerns people...

Thanks,
Don