Why SMIDs Are Necessary

This section briefly discusses how Configuring merges SCCS history files. For more information, see Chapter 10, How Configuring Merges SCCS Files."

When Configuring encounters a file conflict during a Bringover Update transaction (file is changed in both the parent and child workspaces), it merges the new deltas from the parent workspace into the SCCS history file in the child. When this merge occurs, the deltas that were created in the child are moved to an SCCS branch off of the delta that both deltas have in common (common ancestor).

When Configuring relocates the child deltas to a branch, it changes their SID. If SIDS were used in freezepoint files to identify deltas, this relocation would invalidate the information contained in the freezepoint file. For that reason, SIDs cannot be used to identify deltas after conflicting SCCS histories have been merged.