Merge Conflict - checksum.txt

[Randave Winston]

Hello.

Have you encountered this error when merging?

Just a brief info on our setup:

We're currently using 2 instances which is connected to 1 repository (Azure DevOps). We have a "develop" branch which holds the latest code. From "develop", we create our feature branches.

Here's our routine:

1. 1st and 2nd dev creates a feature branch from develop.

2. 1st dev will push the changes to the feature branch.

3. 1st dev merges the feature branch to develop.

4. 2nd dev pulls the latest code from develop. (This is where we encounter the checksum.txt error)

For our workaround, we copy the contents of develop's checksum.txt and paste it to the checksum.txt file of the feature branch.

[Community Alums]

Hi @Randave Winston ,

It is my understanding that the CheckSum.txt is a hash of the contents of the GIT check in. This means that something was changed in one branch and committed and the other branch never got the changes or the changes are out of date. Once you get this conflict, a merge is obviously not going to fix it.

This the way we've been dealing with changes in our Instance (this goes against what most people at ServiceNow will tell you so use at your own risk):

1. We create three branches in our GIT repo "DEV", "TEST" and "MASTER".
2. When we are happy with our changes we commit to DEV. When we are ready for testing, we use a third party tool called "SourceTree" (really any GIT tool that supports merging will work) to MERGE the DEV branch to the TEST branch.
3. In the Scoped App on our test instance, we pick "Apply Remote Changes".
4. When testing has given us the green light, we go ahead and merge the TEST branch into the MASTER branch.
5. On Prod, in the scoped app, we click the "Apply Remote Changes"

PLEASE NOTE: WE NEVER MAKE CHANGES TO THE TEST OR MASTER BRANCH DIRECTLY!!! WE ONLY MAKE CHANGES IN DEV!!!

[Randave Winston]

Hello @Community Alums . Thanks for your reply.

Our problem is whenever we pull the changes from develop to our feature branch, this error appears. 

Do we just accept the checksum.txt of develop branch?

[Community Alums]

Yes!! Try just accepting the checksum.txt of develop branch.

[ralvarez]

It’s amazing how great minds think alike—I see your response is identical to this message from @Mark Scott1.

It’s always nice to give credit where it’s due 😉