Merge looks like one of the inputs

[Sandman]

Given a merge, it seems there is potential for the result to look like the source, or the target. In some source control tools you would want to [ignore] the source if the result looked like the target or [overwrite] the target if the result looked like the source rather than finishing the merge.

Is there a way for the merge in Beyond Compare to tell us when the result looks like the source or the target?

If not, maybe this is a good feature request.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Can you give an example of what you mean by source and target? The purpose of a 3-way merge is to detect what has changed in two different copies of the same file so that a new merged copy of the file can be created with both sets of changes. The third input file (the common anscestor) is intended to be an older version of the same file from a time prior to when the two copies of the file were made and changed. With the common ancestor, BC3 can tell exactly how each copy of the file was changed and can automatically apply both sets of changes to the new target.

If both copies of the file have changed differently in the same place, it's called a conflict. Instead of both sets of changes being automatically applied to the new target, the user must decide which change should be persisted to the new target: the left change, the right change, or a manually edited combination of the two.

[Sandman]

Correct. I understand how the three way merge works.

In BC3 terms the source could be the left file and the target could be the right file.

When combined with a distributed version control system you would have a source file that you are merging with target file. Ultimately the result file would overwrite the target file.

My point is when using a dvcs, if the result of the merge was identical to the source or target file, then you might want to take a different action rather than overwriting the target file with the result file. So it would be nice for BC3 to be able to give some sort of clear indicator when this condition exists.