how do you merge unrelated branches?

[Lalo Martins]

Also spracht Marius Kruger (Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:55:57 +0200):
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm sorry if this has been dealt with previously, but I could not find
> help about this
> in the mailing list or on the web site.
> 
> I'm trying to merge two unrelated branches, which have quite a number of
> directories in common.

I'm sorry, I'm afraid bazaar simply doesn't support what you want.

Directories aren't "better" or "worse" than files; they're all 
"entries".  So essentially, both branches have an entry with the same 
name ("module-libraries" for example) but different file ids.  And both 
branches have, at some point in the history, an operation "add this entry 
with this id and that name".  So there's no way these operations won't 
conflict.

> I then have to manually merge the directories. Isn't there a easier way
> to do this?
> (Even if I have to do some hacking.)
> Maybe I can add an option which will in stead of moving this branch's
> folders to .moved, rather move the other branch's file's into this
> branch's folders.

That *may* be a worthwhile use of your time if you're willing; bear in 
mind, though, you will, for all practical purposes, lose "compatibility" 
with one of the two branches -- meaning, another merge with it in the 
future will again result in conflict, unless using your new code.  The 
reason being that, again, the merged directory will have a different file 
id than its homonym in the other branch.

best,
                                               Lalo Martins
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