Merging vcproj files - SCM's hell

Question

Merging project/solution files is a well-known disaster among developers/SCM admins performing merges in their source control.

Take, for example, a common scenario:

Answer 1

What we do with resource files (not so much trouble with project files) is to sort them prior merging. We've configured the merge command on Plastic to actually run a sort (a different app we've developed for that, we can share the code if you're interested, nothing fancy) before merging, so all the random relocations go away... Hope it helps.

Answer 2

I created a tool to compare and merge solution file (http://slntools.codeplex.com). It's a lot easier to merge a solution with the tool compared to a 'generic merger'. It cannot handle project files thought.