How to enable svn merge to consider externals for changes?

Question

Suppose a checkout from an svn-automatically copied svn:externals file, ie /granddad/folderExternaled/myComputedFile.txt. This checkout is from an old branch, so its externals are not the same as in the trunk. Then I merge from trunk to branch.

The result is, in SVN 1.6.* ;

/granddad/folderExternaled/ has its externals not changed, but its mergenfo is.
/granddad/folderExternaled/myComputedFile.txt has its mergeinfo changed, so it registers as a CONFLICT.

The result is, in TortoiseSVN 1.7.4.22459, only item 1; Item 2 is correctly unchanged with no conflicts.

I wish, in TortoiseSVN preferably but in SVN if not, that I could have a "checkbox"/option to ignore or consider the externals folders, which are apparently they are partly ignored (no functional change accepted) and partly considered (mergeinfo is updated).

Update:

I might not have been clear on my question.

I'd like to figure out a workaround and I wasn't sure if anything was available. Maybe nothing is since I got no replies. Or maybe I wasn't clear enough. It's the last paragraph, just above this that states the problem.

Leonel Sanches da Silva · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-30 16:34:11Z

2

Externals should never have considered modifications because it is not a good practice to change them, even if they are part of repositories that you can modify, and also even if interests to the user to know which modifications will be applied with the merge. This is why the behavior of version 1.7 makes more sense: only the property entries from the repository should be monitored by SVN, not inserting mergeinfo in Externals folders.

If you really need to check these modifications, I recommend you to Checkout the two versions from your Externals and compare them overwriting manually the oldest files with the newest files.

answered Jun 30, 2013 at 16:34

Leonel Sanches da Silva

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AnneTheAgile Over a year ago

Hi Cigano, thank you so much for your reply! I think you are right. In summary; 1.With SVN 1.7+, mergeinfo is no longer a horrific problem with externals. 2.For me, going forward, the idea of modifying externals and being able to track it easily appears unsupported. 3.I hope to write up a small svn example, to document what occurs with: SVN add externals to A; Make branch B from A; Change B's externals, eg the revision of a file to use is changed from 1 to 2; Merge B to A.

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