METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MERGE CONDITION DETECTION
First Claim
1. A method of detecting a merge condition for a user-modifiable artifact generated by an iterative software process in a computing environment, comprising:
- receiving a current generated artifact as an output of a current iteration of the process;
determining whether the current generated artifact differs from a previous generated artifact by comparing the current and previous generated artifacts, the previous generated artifact being generated by a previous iteration of the process;
determining whether the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation by comparing the user-modifiable artifact with the previous generated artifact; and
identifying a merge condition and generating a merge artifact only in response to determination that the current and previous generated artifacts differ and that the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for merge avoidance for a user-modifiable artifact generated by an iterative software process in a computing environment. The user-modifiable artifact may be modified many times by the user and/or by a change in the generated artifact. Current and previous generated artifacts are compared with the user-modifiable artifact. A merge condition is detected and a merge artifact are generated only in response to determination that the current and previous generated artifacts differ and that the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation. Merge steps, which can include an automatic or manual merge operation, can be performed in response to generation of the merge artifact. This process can be described as a method of integrating changes to an artifact generated from a software process and modified outside of the software process.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of detecting a merge condition for a user-modifiable artifact generated by an iterative software process in a computing environment, comprising:
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receiving a current generated artifact as an output of a current iteration of the process; determining whether the current generated artifact differs from a previous generated artifact by comparing the current and previous generated artifacts, the previous generated artifact being generated by a previous iteration of the process; determining whether the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation by comparing the user-modifiable artifact with the previous generated artifact; and identifying a merge condition and generating a merge artifact only in response to determination that the current and previous generated artifacts differ and that the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-readable medium storing statements and instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method of detecting a merge condition for a user-modifiable artifact in a computing environment, the user-modifiable artifact being generated by an iterative software process, the method comprising:
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receiving a current generated artifact as an output of a current iteration of the process; determining whether the current generated artifact differs from a previous generated artifact by comparing the current and previous generated artifacts, the previous generated artifact being generated by a previous iteration of the process; determining whether the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation by comparing the user-modifiable artifact with the previous generated artifact; and identifying a merge condition and generating a merge artifact only in response to determination that the current and previous generated artifacts differ and that the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An apparatus for detecting a merge condition for a user-modifiable artifact in a computing environment, the user-modifiable artifact being generated by an iterative software process, the apparatus comprising:
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a generated artifact comparator to determine whether current and previous generated artifacts differ by comparing the current generated artifact with the previous generated artifact, the current generated artifact being received as an output of a current iteration of the process and the previous generated artifact being generated by a previous iteration of the process; a user artifact comparator to determine whether the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation by comparing the user-modifiable artifact with the previous generated artifact; and a merge analyzer to identify a merge condition and generate a merge artifact only in response to determination that the current and previous generated artifacts differ and that the user-modifiable artifact has been modified after generation.
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Specification