Conflicts between changeset commits

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Conflicts between changeset commits

    In ServiceNow's Zurich release, managing configuration changes across multiple teams can lead to conflicts when different users modify the same configuration data items (CDIs). The Configuration Data Management (CDM) system helps prevent conflicting commits by managing snapshots and notifying users of conflicts to facilitate resolution.

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    Note: DevOps Config is deprecated and no longer supported or available for activation.

    How Conflicts Occur and Resolution Options

    When committing a changeset, the system checks for conflicts with previous commits. If conflicts are detected, users can either attempt to retain some changes or discard the conflicted changes and start a new changeset. It is recommended to copy larger changes externally before closing a conflicted changeset to avoid data loss.

    Best Practices to Avoid Conflicts

    • Keep changesets open for a short duration; close and restart changesets if research or additional information is needed.
    • Coordinate editing tasks with team members to avoid simultaneous updates to the same configuration items.

    Common Types of Changeset Conflicts

    Conflicts generally arise from changes made by other users or inconsistencies in the data table. Key conflict scenarios include:

    • Conflicting commits: Another user’s commit conflicts with your changes.
    • Stale data: The CDI was changed or removed in another changeset after your changeset was created.
    • Data corruption: Incorrect references or superseded versions in the data table affecting your changes.
    • Changed parent relationships: Parent items were deleted or renamed, causing orphaned or mislinked items.
    • Changed parent/child relationships: New items added in other changesets while you modify parent items.
    • Changed references: Items included in collections or deployables in other changesets, preventing deletion or modification.
    • Duplicates: Items with the same name already exist.
    • Invalid includes: Components or collections referenced by includes were deleted or renamed, or their descendants are already included in other changesets.

    Service delivery can include multiple teams working at the same time on config data with potentially hundreds of configuration changes every day. Because changes can be in conflict with earlier changes by a different user, CDM manages commits and snapshots to block commits that conflict. You are notified of changeset conflicts to help you to resolve them.

    Important:
    DevOps Config is now deprecated and no longer supported or available for new activation.

    When a conflict happens

    Every time you attempt to commit a changeset, the system determines whether there are conflicts with other earlier commits. If the system reports a conflict, you can choose to attempt to keep some of the changes or discard all conflicted changes and start from a new changeset. For this reason, to ease the task of recreating your work, you might copy-paste larger changes to a text editor before closing a conflicted changeset.

    How to avoid conflicts

    Follow these suggestions to avoid conflicts:
    • Try to keep a changeset open for a brief period. If you need to do research, close the changeset and start a new changeset after you have the information.
    • Coordinate your code editing tasks with coworkers. This enables you to avoid updating the same configuration item at the same time.

    Types of conflicts

    In each of the following examples of an identified conflict, the "item" being described is the configuration data item (CDI) in your changeset. Another user committed changes that your changes conflict with.
    Stale data in your working changeset
    • The value of the item was changed in another changeset.
    • The item is no longer included in a collection or deployable in another changeset.
    • Data corruption caused by an incorrect change in the data table: The newly added item in your open changeset was modified in the data table to incorrectly refer to a previous version. The item in your open changeset was superseded by a change in the data table. The updated or deleted item in your open changeset was incorrectly modified in the data table to not refer to the previous version.
    Changed parent
    The item is an orphan because its parent was deleted or renamed in another changeset.
    Changed parent/child relationship
    New items were added in another changeset while you made changes to the parent data item.
    Changed references
    • The Item was included in a collection or deployable in another changeset.
    • The item cannot be deleted because it is included in a collection or deployable in another changeset.
    Duplicate
    An item with the same name already exists.
    Invalid includes
    • The component or collection to which the include referred was deleted in another changeset.
    • The component or collection to which the include referred was renamed in another changeset.
    • A descendent of the component to be included is already included in the collection in another changeset.