ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

[pmrowczy]

Hello,

We use Beyond Compare around here and love it. We've integrated it for not only our comparisons, but by creating wrapper scripts, we can use it to handle our merges also via creation of a xml_merge.exe in the map file that calls Beyond Compare and does the backend ClearCase hyperlinks based upon the passed parameters by ClearCase.

However, we have concerns that may only be alleviated by inclusion of a three way comparison method (base, contributor, and destination).

Is there an ETA for this? I saw the other posting but would prefer to. If we could somehow match the look and feel of the ClearCase merge, this would be great.

Thanks!

Patrick Mrowczynski

[Chris]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

A 3 way merge is planned for version 3 of Beyond Compare. It would be premature to set a release date for v3 at this point, but we hope to have something before the end of the year.

[pmrowczy]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

Any update on this? Potential beta soon? Please?

Cheers!
-- Patrick Mrowczynski

[Zoë]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

There will be an announcement when we have a beta available. If you want to get an email when there's something ready you can add yourself to the beta list here: http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?c=maillist

[pmrowczy]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

Thank you! Great tool that I use and love all the time

-- Patrick Mrowczynski

[Guest]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

BC is amazing peace of software - lifesaver.

When this 3 way merge/compare utility becomes part of regular release, the product is going to be even better.

Please, don't drop this feature out of coming release under any circumstance. The 'merge' functionality is needed in any complex software development environment.

Thanks in advance ...

[Chris]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

Three way compare and merge is one of our main goals for version 3, and I don't think we'll drop it. We're working hard on v3, but it will be a while yet before we'll have something to release.

[ChicoPalacios]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

I can't agree more with the previous poster. BC2 is far ahead of its nearest competitor; it's hard to believe it lacks a fundamental function such as merge. I'd say about 50%-70% of the diffs we do are in the course of merging files.

The sooner merges can be done with BC, the better. Keep up the good work!

[Guest]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

I agree, BC is brilliant and a 3-way merge facility will mean I can ditch the problematic ClearCase merge utility.

[Guest]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

I hate to bring it up again, but here is another request for a merge utility. I've been using Subversion with TortoiseSVN and their diff/merge utility is quite clunky. I've replaced the diff utility with BC, but I have to just deal with the merge.

-Jon

[Chris]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

Three way merge will be in Beyond Compare version 3. We hope to have version 3 out sometime later this year.

[dickdunbar]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

Hi Chris,

Why stop at 3-way merge? How about N-way ??

I have used a n-way merge tool (which never became a product, as far as I know), and it is marvelous for understanding what happened to a module with a long history of changes.

1. With ClearCase, one could keep traversing the version tree, and select items for the comparison.

2. The window had a single source viewing pane with numbered lines, and an n-way single character column on the left indicating whether the source had been altered at that level.

3. Click on those columns, and the source view changes (quickly), to show you what lines are modified, deleted, introduced at that level.

4. A selective code merger, like the one that BC uses, allows one to restore or delete lines from the current version, using historical versions.

It was used like this ... we know that a particular feature was working at some level of the code, but suddenly stopped working. By visually inspecting the changes to the suspect modules, it was very easy to see where a bug was introduced, and intelligently restore the working lines of code.

So it's not exactly an n-way merge, more like an n-way code inspection, but extremely useful. I miss it.

[Chris]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

N-Way does sound useful. My guess is that we'll just work on good 3-way merge for version 3.0, but N-Way is something we'll consider for after that.

[Guest]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

I hate to bring it up again, but here is another request for a merge utility. I've been using Subversion with TortoiseSVN and their diff/merge utility is quite clunky. I've replaced the diff utility with BC, but I have to just deal with the merge.

Our dev team is in exactly the same situtation. I'd be very happy to buy BC if it had 3-way merge, but it's hard to justify buying it as a diff-tool only (as great as it is!) when I still need to get some other product for the merge. Version 3 seems to have been in development for over a year now. Could you tell me honestly: is it actually still being worked on or should I stop waiting for it and just go buy something else?

[Guest]

Re: ClearCase and 3 way merge/compare

I use ClearCase, and have replaced the builtin diff tool with BC, because the builtin is a piece of crap by comparison. I would love to have a three way merge from BC, because ClearCase's builtin for that is an even worse piece of crap. In the meantime, I handle manual merges by by running two copies of BC and flipping back and forth with frequent saves - not ideal, but still better than the built in tool. My company bought a site license, at least in part because BC is such an improvement over the ClearCase tool at such a great price (that and all the other ways it saves us time and aggravation worked out to an ROI of about a month).