Editing Version control (section)

===Version merging===
{{Main|Merge (version control)}}
Most version control systems allow multiple developers to edit the same file at the same time. The first developer to "check in" changes to the central repository always succeeds. The system may provide facilities to [[Merge (revision control)|merge]] further changes into the central repository, and preserve the changes from the first developer when other developers check in.

Merging two files can be a very delicate operation, and usually possible only if the data structure is simple, as in [[text file]]s. The result of a merge of two [[image file]]s might not result in an image file at all. The second developer checking in the code will need to take care with the merge, to make sure that the changes are compatible and that the merge operation does not introduce its own [[logic]] errors within the files. These problems limit the availability of automatic or semi-automatic merge operations mainly to simple text-based documents, unless a specific merge [[Plug-in (computing)|plugin]] is available for the file types.

The concept of a ''reserved edit'' can provide an optional means to explicitly lock a file for exclusive write access, even when a merging capability exists.