Merge changes

In Dimensions CM, you can merge changes across streams or their folders, from a baseline or from requests owned by another stream into a target stream.

Merge overview

The Merge operation is similar to Update and uses a work area to apply changes and process conflicts. This enables you to safely merge, build, and test before delivering the merge results to a target stream in a repository.

When you merge two objects, for example, a stream with another stream or a stream with a baseline, Dimensions CM looks for a common ancestor. This is a point in time where the streams or work areas diverged. This is typically referred to as a three-way merge.

Example: Assume you have two streams that were created from the same baseline. Different developers perform modifications in both streams and deliver them to Dimensions CM. You now merge stream 1 into stream 2. Dimensions CM looks at the baseline as the common ancestor, finds the modifications delivered to stream 1 after that point, and merges those changes in stream 2.

The merging process uses changesets to find the common ancestor. For details, see About changesets.

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Merge guidelines

Take into account these guidelines and behaviors when merging:

  • Merging can be automatic unless an interactive (manual) merge is required or there are unresolved conflicts.

  • A Merge operation can be applied only to the work area of a target stream. The source must be different to the target stream (another stream, a baseline, or a request).

  • An Update operation is only possible from the stream that is associated with a work area. For instance, you can use Update from Request to update a work area with request changes associated with a work area stream. Use Merge from Request to apply request changes from a different stream.

  • OpenText PulseUno provides you with an intuitive visualization of changes throughout your development process. You can also open peer reviews in PulseUno. For details, see PulseUno.

  • Linux clients: To enable automatic merge, you need to install the UNIX utility diff3. For details, see Install Dimensions CM.

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See also: