tortoise svn always merging 45 extra files

Question

When we do our branching and merging with svn, we always have the same thing happen.

We get a latest copy of the trunk.

Create a branch and switch.

Answer 1

They're probably mergeinfo properties. With version 1.5 of SVN, it was quite aggressive with setting the mergeinfo property, and as you merge, those properties get updated - requiring a commit to them.

The answer is to delete the mergeinfo property from them. Also upgrade to version 1.6 which has better mergeinfo support (i.e. it writes less of these properties).

I should say that these file will have no visible changes if you look at the differences. Obviously, if their contents are changed, then what the changes are may give you a clue (e.g. is an automated tool writing extra comments, modifying the layout or adding lines to the top or bottom).

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EDIT: See this blog post for more information on SVN merging issues, and fixes.