How to find the best matching revision in a version control system?

Question

I downloaded one file from the subversion repository (subversion) a long time ago. Therefore, this is not an extract from this repository. I changed this file, but I do not remember the version when I downloaded this file.

The project has evolved, and now I want to merge them into files (in two years). This file is a huge script.

So my main attempt is to find the best matching version from the repository, to see what I changed, and then finally merge the two files. To do this, I would check every revision, from which I think it could be this revision so far, to make diff and count lines. I think the smallest diff will give me the best matching version.

Any other idea?

Answer 1

This is an interesting question, but in the end you should merge with the latest version of the file (if it currently exists, if not, you have another problem). Therefore, I do not think that the best matching version gives you a better starting point than the current version.

So, try to make the difference with the current version, and if you do not understand how it evolved, read (with a good tool, best graphically) how the file has changed to understand where the lines of code come from.