SVN branch to trunk merge doesn't work, only shows “property changes”, not code changes

Question

I have svn 1.6.11 and I am trying to merge mybranch onto the trunk. I have tried both

svn merge --reintegrate http://IP/path/to/repo/branches/mybranch http://IP/path/to/repo/trunk 

svn ci -m "blah"

and

svn merge http://IP/path/to/repo/branches/mybranch http://IP/path/to/repo/trunk 

svn ci -m "blah"

They both gave me after the merge:

$ svn diff

Property changes on: .
___________________________________________________________________
Modified: svn:mergeinfo
   Merged /repo/trunk:r23

and after the commit:

Sending        trunk

I do not see the changes in the trunk. When I diff the trunk version before the merge (18) to the latest version (24), I get:

$ svn diff -r 18:24

Property changes on: .
___________________________________________________________________
Added: svn:mergeinfo
   Merged /repo/trunk:r20-23

I don't just want property changes. I want the code changes to be merged. What did I do wrong?

Answer 1

1. Make sure all your changes are committed on the branch, in your development directory svn commit -m "etc commits"
2. Merge all changes in the trunk into your branch, I personally would test at this point , and recommit on the branch at this point. svn merge http://IP/path/to/repo/trunk . , testing , svn commit -m "Merged from trunk and passed tests
3. Check out the trunk - svn co http://IP/path/to/repo/trunk
4. Merge from your branch into the trunk in your Working Copy of trunk svn merge --reintegrate http://IP/path/to/repo/branches/mybranch .
5. TESTING , more testing , yet more testing!! !
6. Commit back on to trunk: svn commit -m"My Feature Merged In"
7. Get ready for the bug reports for the problems that all your tests missed.

NB The SVN documentation mentions 2 URL or server side merges - mostly to "say this is possible but difficult so don't even try it unless your really know what you are doing"