p4 resolve

Synopsis

Resolve conflicts between file revisions

Syntax

Description

p4 resolve is used 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:

• A simple conflict exists: the revision of a file last synced to the client workspace is not the head revision at the time of the submit. For example, Alice does a p4 sync followed by a p4 edit of file foo, Bob does the same thing, Alice p4 submits foo, and then Bob tries to submit foo. Bob's submit will fail because if his foo is accepted into the depot, Alice's changes to foo will no longer be visible.
• p4 integrate has been used to schedule the integration of changes from one file to another.

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, if the file is of type text, p4 resolve allows the user to choose whether to overwrite the file revision in the depot with the file in the client workspace, overwrite the file in the client workspace with the file in the depot, or merge changes from both the depot revision and the client workspace revision into a single file. If the file is of type binary, only the first two options are normally available, since merges don't generally work with binary files.

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:

The p4 resolve dialog presents the following options:

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

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:

Diff Chunks: 2 yours + 3 theirs + 5 both + 7 conflicting

The meanings of these values are:

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 foo#n
<text>
==== THEIR VERSION foo#m
<text>
==== YOUR VERSION foo
<text>
<<<<

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

Options

Usage Notes

• p4 resolve works only with files that have been scheduled for resolve. Three operations schedule files for resolution:
  • Integrate the file with p4 integrate.
  • Submit an open file that was synced from a revision other then the current head revision; the submit will fail, and the file will be scheduled for resolve.
  • Instead of running submit, run p4 sync on the open file. Nothing will be copied into the client workspace; instead, the file will be scheduled for resolve. (The only benefit of scheduling via p4 sync instead of via a failed submit is that the submit will not fail).

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

Related Commands