Description Andrew Prevost 2010-10-26 12:01:58 EDT

Build Identifier: 20100917-0705

I am working on a project which, because of automatic CR-LF and tab conversion (beyond my control), has hundreds of files with whitespace differences between the local and the repository version.

I have been trying to figure out how to configure Eclipse so that when I run Team Synchronize on the project, these files do not show up in the Team Synchronize view. I only want files with NON-whitespace differences to be displayed... otherwise, I have to wade through hundreds of files with no differences that matter to me in order to find and compare the files with differences that I actually care about.

I had hoped that selecting Preferences -> General -> Compare/Patch -> General -> Ignore white space would do the trick, but it doesn't. All that does is make it so the compare editor does not show whitespace differences (by default), but it doesn't keep files which only contain whitespace differences from appearing in the list of files with differences.

I've searched the Preferences -> Team configuration options, and the internet, to see if there was some option along the lines of "Ignore files with only whitespace differences", but have been unable to find one.

Note that the project where I have the hundreds of files with only whitespace differences uses Borland Star Team, and the Eclipse plug-in for this version control software. But I have been able to reproduce the problem using CVS as well, using the steps listed below. So I assume this behaviour is NOT specific to any one version control system or plug-in, but is rather part of the more generic Team Synchronize functionality.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Select Preferences -> General -> Compare/Patch -> General -> Ignore white space
2. Inside a project, find a file which is in sync with the repository, and modify it just by adding a space (or spaces) to the end of any line 
3. Right-click on the project root directory, and do a Team Synchronize... 
4. The file you added whitespace to will appear in the list of files that are not in sync.
5. Double-click on the file you modified... the Compare editor will not show any differences (by default) since whitespace is being ignored.