Perforce 2003.2 Command Reference
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p4 resolved

p4 resolve

Synopsis

Resolve conflicts between file revisions.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] resolve [-af -am -as -at -ay -db -dw -f -n -t -v] [file ...]

Description

Use p4 resolve to combine the contents of two files or file revisions into a single file revision. Two situations require the use of p4 resolve before a file can be submitted:

For example, Alice does a p4 sync followed by a p4 edit of file file.c, and Bob does the same thing. Alice p4 submits file.c, and then Bob tries to submit file.c. Bob's submit fails because if his version of file.c were to be accepted into the depot, Alice's changes to file.c would no longer be visible. Bob must resolve the conflict before he can submit the file.

The primary difference between these two cases is that resolving a simple file conflict involves multiple revisions of a single file, but resolving for integration involves combining two separate files. In either case:

The p4 resolve dialog refers to four file revisions whose meaning depends on whether or not the resolution fixes a simple file conflict or is resolving for integration:

Term
Meaning when Resolving Conflicts
Meaning when Resolving for Integration

yours

The revision of the file in the client workspace

The file to which changes are being propagated (in integration terminology, this is the target file). Changes are made to the version of this file in the client workspace, and this file is later submitted to the depot.

theirs

The head revision of the file in the depot.

The file revision in the depot from which changes are being propagated (in integration terminology, this is the source file). This file is not changed in the depot or the client workspace.

base

The file revision synced to the client workspace before it was opened for edit.

The previously-integrated revision of theirs. The latest common ancestor of both yours and theirs.

merge

A file version generated by Perforce from yours, theirs, and base. The user can edit this revision during the resolve process if the file is a text file.

Same as the meaning at left.

The p4 resolve dialog presents the following options:

Option
Short Meaning
What it Does
Available by Default for Binary Files?

e

edit merged

Edit the preliminary merge file generated by Perforce.

no

ey

edit yours

Edit the revision of the file currently in the client.

yes

et

edit theirs

Edit the revision in the depot that the client revision conflicts with (usually the head revision). This edit is read-only.

yes

dy

diff yours

Show diffs between yours and base.

no

dt

diff theirs

Show diffs between theirs and base.

no

dm

diff merge

Show diffs between merge and base.

no

d

diff

Show diffs between merge and yours.

yes

m

merge

Invoke the command:

P4MERGE base theirs yours merge

To use this option, you must set the environment variable P4MERGE to the name of a third-party program that merges the first three files and writes the fourth as a result. This command has no effect if P4MERGE is not set.

no

?

help

Display help for p4 resolve.

yes

s

skip

Don't perform the resolve right now.

yes

ay

accept yours

Accept yours, ignoring changes that may have been made in theirs.

yes

at

accept theirs

Accept theirs into the client workspace as the resolved revision. The revision (yours) that was in the client workspace is overwritten.

When resolving simple conflicts, this option is identical to performing p4 revert on the client workspace file. When resolving for integrate, this copies the source file to the target file.

yes

am

accept merge

Accept the merged file into the client workspace as the resolved revision without any modification. The revision (yours) originally in the client workspace is overwritten.

no

ae

accept edit

If you edited the file (i.e., by selecting "e" from the p4 resolve dialog), accept the edited version into the client workspace. The revision (yours) originally in the client workspace is overwritten.

no

a

accept

Keep Perforce's recommended result:

  • if theirs is identical to base, accept yours;
  • if yours is identical to base, accept theirs;
  • if yours and theirs are different from base, and there are no conflicts between yours and theirs; accept merge;
  • otherwise, there are conflicts between yours and theirs, so skip this file

no

Resolution of a file is completed when any of the accept options are chosen, or if the file is skipped with the skip option.

To help decide which option to choose, counts of four types of changes that have been made to the file revisions are displayed by p4 resolve:

The meanings of these values are:

Count
Meaning

n yours

n non-conflicting segments of yours are different than base.

n theirs

n non-conflicting segments of theirs are different than base.

n both

n non-conflicting segments appear identically in both theirs and yours, but are different from base.

n conflicting

n segments of theirs and yours are different from base and different from each other.

If there are no conflicting chunks, it is often safe to accept Perforce's generated merge file, since Perforce will substitute all the changes from yours and theirs into base.

If there are conflicting chunks, the merge file must be edited. In this case, Perforce will include the conflicting yours, theirs, and base text in the merge file; it's up to you to choose which version of the chunk you want to keep.

The different text is clearly delineated with file markers:

>>>> ORIGINAL VERSION file#n
<text>
==== THEIR VERSION file#m
<text>
==== YOUR VERSION file
<text>
<<<<

Choose the text you want to keep; delete the conflicting chunks and all the difference markers.

Options

-am
-af
-as
-at
-ay

Skip the resolution dialog, and resolve the files automatically as follows:

  • -am: Automatic Mode. Automatically accept the Perforce-recommended file revision: if theirs is identical to base, accept yours; if yours is identical to base, accept theirs; if yours and theirs are different from base, and there are no conflicts between yours and theirs; accept merge; otherwise, there are conflicts between yours and theirs, so skip this file.
  • -ay: Accept Yours, ignore theirs.
  • -at: Accept Theirs. Use this flag with caution, as the file in the client workspace will be overwritten!
  • -as: Safe Accept. If either, but not both, of yours and theirs is different from base, accept that revision. If both are different from base, skip this file.
  • -af: Force Accept. Accept the merge file no matter what. If the merge file has conflict markers, they will be left in, and you'll need to remove them by editing the file.

-db
-dw

When merging files, ignore specified differences in whitespace. (If you use these flags, and the files differ in whitespace only, p4 resolve will use the text in the client file.)

  • -db: Ignore whitespace-only changes (for instance, a tab replaced by eight spaces)
  • -dw: Ignore whitespace altogether (for instance, deletion of tabs or other whitespace)

-n

List the files that need resolving without actually performing the resolve.

-v

Include conflict markers in the file for all changes between yours and base, and between theirs and base. Normally, conflict markers are included only when yours and theirs conflict.

-b

(An old flag, equivalent to -t. No longer "officially" documented, but still supported. Changed to -t for its equivalence to p4 diff's and p4 diff2's -t flag.)

-f

Allow already resolved, but not yet submitted, files to be resolved again.

-t

Force a three-way merge, even on binary (non-text) files. This allows you to inspect diffs between files of any type, and lets you merge non-text files if P4MERGE is set to a utility that can do such a thing.

g-opts

See the Global Options section.

Usage Notes

Can File Arguments Use
Revision Specifier?

Can File Arguments Use
Revision Range?

Minimal Access Level Required

No

No

open

When p4 resolve is run with no file arguments, it operates on all files in the client workspace that have been scheduled for resolve.

Related Commands

To view a list of resolved but unsubmitted files

p4 resolved

To schedule the propagation of changes between two separate files

p4 integrate

To submit a set of changed files to the depot

p4 submit

To copy a file to the client workspace, or schedule an open file for resolve

p4 sync


Perforce 2003.2 Command Reference
<< Previous Chapter
p4 reopen
Table of Contents
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p4 resolved
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Copyright 1999-2003 Perforce Software. All rights reserved.
Last updated: 12/12/03