Git Merge conflict com.kms.katalon.composer.testcase.properties

I think it is harmless. I think that the settings directory is intentended TO BE IGNORED by Git.

Why do I think so? What is my reason to be confident? Please have a look at the following issue.

In Dec 2018 I experienced Merge conflicts. I investigated it and proposed a fix to Katalon Team. They took my points and changed Katalon Studio a bit. They introduced the settings directory where timestamp-sort of ‘changing every time test runs’ data is stored, and these data are intended to be ignored, I believe.


@Katalon team,

I would like you to state that the settings directory should be .gitignored.

2 Likes

Im new to automation and have been using Katalon for only a few weeks. I’m not using any local Git repo and so Im not sure how to edit it by adding the settings/ comment you mentioned above. Is there a way through Katalon to do this? I would expect a right-click option to add it to the ignored files, but there isnt one.

zbeck008,

c/c @YoungNgo, @devalex88

Good question!

It may be surprising but Katalon Studio does NOT provide any means for you to edit .gitignore file located in the project directory. You have to use other text editor of your choice (Note pad, Atom, emacs, vim, etc).

I have ever posted some in this Forum asking Katalon Team to let me edit .gitigore and README.md files.

Katalon team listed this requirement into their back log.

but there seems to be no progress yet.

I don’t agree that ignoring the settings directory is harmless. If you use certain settings like quitting the browser after test case execution or analytics then all of this information is lost when repo’s are cloned/pulled. I am the main person developing scripts and I want everyone to get the settings that I intend for everyone to use with each clone or pull.

With that said, it seems very odd that these files require a date/time stamp as a comment inside the file when the system already stores this data.

1 Like

I would take your point.

Whether to write settings/ in the .gitignore file — it depends on each uses’ cases.

Once @devalex88 wrote

then we should check whether the .gitignore in the project template in 6.4.0 includes settings/ or not.

I’m using Katalon Studio 7.2.1 and getting the same error. Thanks for this thread, it’s very one that I’m facing.

I agree with @automation1 . I’m a maintainer who lets QAs increase test cases. I’d like them to share the basic setting among them.

Maybe .gitignore ing “settings” directory is just a workaround and we should get rid of the root cause?

Hello,

Has anyone been able to resolve this issue. I am having the same problem with katalon 7.2.1.

Thanks

No. There is no hidden mysterious root cause.

Each members of your team inevitably modify files under the settings directory. If you have files under the “settings” included in the repository (in other words you do not .gitignore them), then everyone will experience merge conflicts.

.gitignore ing “settings” directory is the only solution you can take.

I’m sort of away from Katalon though, the conflict occurred despite my terminal command git pull succeeded. I got stuck using Git integration from GUI unless I .gitignored and that’s nothing but a problem.

Additionally, don’t you think it’s a common scenario for engineers to provide a shared setting to automation QAs? I think there’s room to improve.

Hope it helps :grinning:

If you have any confict, then “git pull” will never succeed. Right?

I do not understand what you mean here. Any screenshot?

Then what is your idea?

Aren’t you willing to devote yourself to solve your itchy problem?


I suppose 2 actions would suffice:

  1. .gitignore files under settings/
  2. Write a document in natural language (in English, по русски, 日本語で etc) attached with some screenshots; the doc instructs QA workers how they should setup Katalon Studio on their own PC; and call a hands-on session of 1 hour long.

By the way, let me show you my previous post concerning git merge/pull conflicts in Katalon Studio project in the hope that it shows you how an issue concerning git confits is complicated.

settings/ is already in my gitignore file but still this error keeps on appearing when i merge my changes and this was not happening before. I am using katalon 7.2.1. Has something change?

You have already added/committed some files under the settings/ directory to your git repository, and you then add them to your .gitignore; these files will still be present in your repository index. You need to remove the settings/* files out of the index. In the project directory, do this:

$ git rm -r --cached settings/

For you interest, see

2 Likes

hello @kazurayam and @automation1
I agree with automation1 comment as this is not harmless to remove it from git.

For example, I need to version the file com.katalon.plugin.report.properties in order to correctly configure plugins generation for jenkins and other member team folders correctly :

Content of “com.katalon.plugin.report.properties”
#Wed Oct 21 17:54:55 CEST 2020
generatePDF=false
generateHTML=true
generateCSV=false
generateJUnit=true

this is not the only file which contains important configuration :
com.katalon.katalon-studio-smart-xpath.properties, com.kms.katalon.execution.webui.properties, com.kms.katalon.integration.analytics.properties, …

For me, timestamp should be removed in order to be able to be git versionned without any merge conflicts

1 Like

I agree.

If you want the Katalon team to take this serious, then you should make a new post as Feature Request (or as a Bug Report if you like).

thanks for you answer.
new POST just created : Remove timestamps from .properties files in settings folder

Excellent… we use git as a wide team and this has been definitely a source of confusion and annoyance as people check files that should not; or overwrite files that were deemed necessary.

If this file (settings/internal/com.kms.katalon.composer.testcase.properties)
causes so much inconvinience, why don’t just include this file only in .gitignotre?

From reading this topic my undersatnding is that it could not possibly cause any issue ( unlike including the whole folder settings/)

And from reading Remove timestamps from .properties files in settings folder (created back in 2020), it would be much more realistic solution than hoping that Katalon do what they promise to do ( back in 2020) in the near future )

No reason not to do it. You can edit the .gitignore file so that include settings/internal/com.kms.katalon.composer.testcase.properties. If you do so, the problem will be solved for you.

1 Like