Why do I need the third "middle" pane in 3-way merge??

[JayPete]

Hi guys,

First! Love your tool! After being introduced to it about a year ago, merging has become much easier!

BUT! I haven't been able to quite grasp the value of the third "middle" pane in the 3-way merge. I have asked my colleagues to explain it to me, but the ones who start explaining all end up more confused than when they started, and the rest tell me they don't know what it is for.

I can read that it is the "common ancestor", but I am not sure what that actually means.

Can anyone draw up a scenario of how I would use it?

People rave about it, so I would really like to know what I am missing out on, and possibly make my merges much easier.

Thanks.
Jay :confused:

[Michael Bulgrien]

The middle pane is for the common ancestor. Here are two older posts of mine that provide further discussion on the concepts of 3-way merges and compares:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=25841
http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=22572

and a short description on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-way_merge#Three-way_merge

3-way merge utilities are often used in conjunction with change control / version management software to merge together two sets of changes independently made to two different copies of the same file in concurrent efforts by two different programming units (individuals or teams).