When merging changes in a Subversion project, you’ll need to resolve any conflicts between your checked out version and the one that you are about to merge from the server. Commonly, conflicts arise when two or more developers have modified the same file; these can be resolved by accepting either parties changes or by completing a more detailed merge.

Another common conflicts is a Tree Conflict. Tree conflicts arise when the directory layout of the project changes, and can arise when folders and files are moved, deleted or created. Such conflics will cause a capital ‘C’ to appear in the svn status commands output – these must be resolved before your merge can take place so that svn knows what it should do with the files that will be merged. Note that you should treat these conflicts carefully and ensure that anyone else who may be affected by the changes is happy with the resolution you are about to apply.

Once you’ve agreed on how the conflicts will be fixed, you can use the svn resolve command to determine what action should be taken suring the merge.

For example:

svn resolve --accept mine-full /path/to/folder

indicates that the local changes should be used.

In contrast, if the changes from the server are to be used, then use this:

svn resolve --accept theirs-full /path/to/folder

Be aware that the above instruction will cause the local changes to be lost.

There are a number of different options to select (in addition to mine-full and theirs-full) that give you more control over resolving, or postponing, the conflict. See the excellent SVN manual for deails of these.