Patent ID: 7603393

Claim:
A method, comprising: storing, via a computer device, data associated with a version tree representing relationships between multiple versions of a file, the version tree including a plurality of branches, where the version tree includes a listing of merge-from branches to merge-to branches and where each of the merge-from and merge-to branches are associated with a same file; identifying, via the computer device, a file check-in request associated with a first version of the file; in response to identifying the file check-in request, automatically identifying, via the computer device, a merge candidate associated with the first version of the file where identifying the merge candidate includes: determining a first portion in the version tree associated with the first version of the file, and selecting one of the multiple versions based on the first portion of the version tree, where a second portion of the version tree is associated with the merge candidate; automatically identifying, via the computer device, a view associated with the merge candidate, where the view includes data indicating the first portion and the second portion; merging, via a computer device, the first portion of the file with the merge candidate in the view, resulting in a merge result, and storing, via the computer device, the merge result; wherein the automatically identifying the view associated with the identified merge candidate further comprises: examining a second data structure including configuration specifications identifying views associated with each of the multiple versions of the file; identifying the view associated with the identified merge candidate from among the views associated with each of the multiple versions; and starting the view associated with the identified merge candidate.