How to do 3-way merges with Subversion and Kdiff3
Reading time: 4 – 7 minutes
I do not endorse branch based development. I prefer trunk based development. Specifically I like what my colleague Paul calls Branch By Abstraction, coined by Stacy Curl, and recently mentioned by Martin Fowler (All one time ThoughtWorkers, and 2 currently).
If you’re stuck with merging though, 3-way merges make it much easier. Doing it with subversion is easy. Instructions are for Linux.
- apt-get or yum install kdiff3.
- Edit your /etc/subversion/config and fin the line with diff3-cmd, set it to: diff3-cmd=/usr/local/bin/svndiff.sh
- Next, create the file /usr/local/bin/svndiff.sh. See below for the script you’ll want to enter in it.
Now when you get a merge conflict you will choose M and merge will open in kdiff3. On the left is the base revision, in the middle is your working copy, and on the right the incoming change. This is a little more to look at, but it is invaluable when dealing with merges. I wouldn’t go back to 2 way diff ever again.
#!/bin/bash
# NOTE: I DO NOT SUPPORT BRANCH BASED DEVELOPMENT, but sometimes you're stuck with it.
# tim/paul: this is a copy of the file located at <a href="http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/src/svndiffwrapper.txt">http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/src/svndiffwrapper.txt</a>
# modified to do a non-conflicting merge automatically. see #HERE#
# INSTALLATION:
# 1) Place this file in /usr/local/bin
# 2) Add to /etc/subversion/config a line: diff3-cmd=/usr/local/bin/svndiff.sh
# Then, svn should use this script, which will use kdiff3 to do three way merging.
# Return an errorcode of 0 on successful merge, 1 if unresolved conflicts
# remain in the result. Any other errorcode will be treated as fatal.
# Author: Michael Bradley
#NOTE: all output must be redirected to stderr with "1>&2" as all stdout output is written to the output file
VDIFF3="kdiff3"
DIFF3="diff3"
DIFF="kdiff3"
promptUser ()
{
read answer
case "${answer}" in
"M" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Attempting to merge ${baseFileName} with ${DIFF}" 1>&2
$VDIFF3 $older $mine $theirs L1 $labelOlder L2 $labelMine L3 $labelTheirs -o $output 1>&2
bLoop=1
if [ -f $output ]; then
if [ -s $output ]; then
#output succesfully written
bLoop=0
fi
fi
if [ $bLoop = 0 ]; then
cat $output
rm -f $output
exit 0
else
echo "Merge failed, try again" 1>&2
fi
;;
"m" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Attempting to auto-merge ${baseFileName}" 1>&2
diff3 -L $labelMine -L $labelOlder -L $labelTheirs -Em $mine $older $theirs > $output
if [ $? = 1 ]; then
#Can't auto merge
rm -f $output
$VDIFF3 $older $mine $theirs L1 $labelOlder L2 $labelMine L3 $labelTheirs -o $output auto 1>&2
bLoop=1
if [ -f $output ]; then
if [ -s $output ]; then
#output succesfully written
bLoop=0
fi
fi
if [ $bLoop = 0 ]; then
cat $output
rm -f $output
exit 0
else
echo "Merge failed, try again" 1>&2
fi
else
#We can automerge, and we already did it
cat $output
rm -f $output
exit 0
fi
;;
"diff3" | "Diff3" | "DIFF3" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Diffing..." 1>&2
$VDIFF3 $older $mine $theirs L1 $labelOlder L2 $labelMine L3 $labelTheirs 1>&2
;;
"diff" | "Diff" | "DIFF" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Diffing..." 1>&2
$DIFF $mine $theirs -L $labelMine -L $labelTheirs 1>&2
;;
"A" | "a" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Accepting remote version of file..." 1>&2
cat ${theirs}
exit 0
;;
"I" | "i" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Keeping local modifications..." 1>&2
cat ${mine}
exit 0
;;
"R" | "r" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Reverting to base..." 1>&2
cat ${older}
exit 0
;;
"D" | "d" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Runnig diff3..." 1>&2
diff3 -L $labelMine -L $labelOlder -L $labelTheirs -Em $mine $older $theirs
#Exit with return vaule of the diff3 (to write out files if necessary)
exit $?
;;
"S" | "s" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Saving for later..." 1>&2
cat ${mine}
#Exit with return vaule of 1 to force writting of files
exit 1
;;
"Fail" | "fail" | "FAIL" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "Failing..." 1>&2
exit 2
;;
"H" | "h" )
echo "" 1>&2
echo "USAGE OPTIONS:" 1>&2
echo " [A]ccept Accept $labelTheirs and throw out local modifications" 1>&2
echo " [D]efault Use diff3 to merge files (same behavior as vanilla SVN)" 1>&2
echo " [Fail] Kills the command (not suggested)" 1>&2
echo " [H]elp Print this message" 1>&2
echo " [I]gnore Keep your locally modified version as is" 1>&2
echo " [M]erge Manually merge using ${VDIFF3}" 1>&2
echo " [m]erge Same as "M" but attempts to automerge if possible" 1>&2
echo " [R]evert Revert to base version (${labelOlder})" 1>&2
echo " [S]ave Same as 'I' but writes out rold, rnew, and rmine files to deal with later" 1>&2
echo " [diff] Type 'diff' to diff versions $labelMine and $labelTheirsthe before making a descision" 1>&2
echo " [diff3] Type 'diff3' to diff all three versions before making a descision" 1>&2
echo "" 1>&2
;;
* )
echo "'${answer}' is not an option, try again." 1>&2
;;
esac
}
if [ -z $2 ]
then
echo ERROR: This script expects to be called by subversion
exit 1
fi
if [ $2 = "-m" ]
then
#Setup vars
labelMine=${4}
labelOlder=${6}
labelTheirs=${8}
mine=${9}
older=${10}
theirs=${11}
output=${9}.svnDiff3TempOutput
baseFileName=`echo $mine | sed -e "s/.tmp$//"`
#HERE#
diff3 -L $labelMine -L $labelOlder -L $labelTheirs -Em $mine $older $theirs > $output
if [ $? = 1 ]; then
#Can't auto merge
#Prompt user for direction
while [ 1 ]
do
echo "" 1>&2
echo "${baseFileName} requires merging." 1>&2
echo "" 1>&2
echo "What would you like to do?" 1>&2
echo "[M]erge [A]ccept [I]gnore [R]evert [D]efault [H]elp" 1>&2
promptUser
done
else
#We can automerge, and we already did it
cat $output
rm -f $output
exit 0
fi
else
L="-L" #Argument option for left label
R="-L" #Argument option for right label
label1=$3 #Left label
label2=$5 #Right label
file1=$6 #Left file
file2=$7 #Right file
$DIFF $file1 $file2 $L "$label1" $L "$label2" &
#$DIFF $file1 $file2 &
#wait for the command to finish
wait
fi
exit 0Note: I also posted this to a gist on github: svndiff.sh.