[cvsnt] Merging branch with identical versions still changes

[John Peacock]

Glen Starrett wrote:

> When I'm about to merge in a branch back to MAIN, I first merge MAIN onto
> the branch so that testing and conflict resolution happen on the branch, not
> on MAIN.  Then when I merge the branch to MAIN it is seamless, shortening
> the time my sandbox is being updated on MAIN.  

Merging is _always_ performed against the local sandbox.  You shouldn't need to 
do this double hop unless you are trying to do the merge on a sandbox that is 
being used for something else (like a web site).  And in that case, you 
shouldn't be doing that in the first place; everyone needs their own sandbox, 
including the web server.

Normally, you work on the branch and commit your final changes.  Then you switch 
your sandbox back to the trunk:

	cvs -q update -d -A

and then attempt the merge from the branch to trunk

	cvs -q update -d -j Release-1999_05_01-bugfixes

This will merge the changes on the branch into your local working copy; it 
doesn't do anything to the repository.  You are free to blow away these files at 
this point and you lose nothing.  Once you have done your testing, you can then 
commit those changes on the trunk.

As for why your method causes every file to be marked as modified, without your 
actual commands (so it can be reproduced) anything I say is speculative.  Create 
a mini repos and show each of your steps (with the actual command lines involved).

John