Resolving conflicts in P8

Question

Under Resolving Conflicts in P8 Helps I read:

“Changes Paratext Rejected” or “Merge all changes” in step 5 above only work in Paratext 8.0 if the users whose changes create the conflict have Paratext 7. 5.100.16 (or later).

It is awkward to have a P8 feature that only works if you have a version 7 installed on the computer. I have noticed the feature working in 7.6, but did not notice it in 7.5.100.87. In my experience, it only works if 7.6 is installed, not the latest 7.5. I like the feature, so my question is: Will this be included in P8 or do I need to ask all the translators to install 7.6 just to get his working after all translators have migrated to P8?

Yesterday we had conflicts caused by a malfunction in Paratext Live. The conflicts “created” by those with 7.5.100.87 did not have the feature. The conflicts “created” by the only computer with 7.6 did have the feature.

Answer 1

We are 5 computers all with Paratext 8. One of them has P7.6, the others 7.5.
I always found the older/newer information confusing because it was not clear to me whether it was the time the edit was made on the computer or whether it was the time of the S/R. We did some testing today and realized that it was the time of the S/R, not the time the edit was done. P8 apparently accepts the latest it has received and rejects earlier ones. We did one round where the computer with 7.6 was the latest to do S/R, so this was the computer that “created” the conflict. (It is not helpful to talk about who created the conflict, because all five computers had a share in that creation, but it is helpful to tell the user which computer should resolve the conflict.) Only the computer with 7.6 had the option of keeping the latest or the earlier change. (It was also confusing that the computer thought the older was the later and vice versa.) You could also merge the two, but it was not possible to reject both. (We needed that for our test, but that is a special situation, so I am not saying that an option to reject both is needed.) On all the other computers, the conflict note looked very different. None of them had the option to change what P8 had accepted.
We then did a different experiment where the computer with 7.6 did S/R first and another computer later. This note was then named after the latest S/R as the one who had “created” it. Here there was no option on that computer to select anything. It only informed us that the earlier change was rejected. That change was not even shown, so the red/green information was confusing. There was no red/green difference. He could only resolve the note and go to the text to correct. The computer with 7.6 did not get the option of choosing either.
So, the reason I mentioned about 7.6 is that P8 behaves differently whether 7.6 is installed or not. It is quite complicated and needs more programming work after testing.

Comments

Iver+Larsen:

Only the computer with 7.6 had the option of keeping the latest or the earlier change… On all the other computers, the conflict note looked very different. None of them had the option to change what P8 had accepted.

The option for choosing which change to accept/reject is only available to the administrator on the project or to the person the note is assigned to. I’m guessing this just happened to be the user who had 7.6.

Iver+Larsen:

So, the reason I mentioned about 7.6 is that P8 behaves differently whether 7.6 is installed or not. It is quite complicated and needs more programming work after testing.

You can think this, but trust me when I say that it’s impossible for 7.6 to affect 8.0 in this way. PT7 and PT8 have completely separate data sets so they can not affect each other.

Answer 2

Some clarification:
The new functionality for conflicts required additional information to be stored in the conflict note. Previously, only the change that was rejected was put into the conflict note, but this new functionality required the change that was accepted as well. The code to add this new information was added to 7.5.100.16 so that any computer that creates a conflict note with that version or later would create the conflict note with the needed information.
However, the code actually needed to do the resolution (i.e. to allow the user to choose which version wins in the UI) was added in 7.6. The reason the information needed for this new UI was added in 7.5 was because of the fact that many projects have people using different versions of Paratext and we didn’t want this new functionality in 7.6 to be useful only if the conflicts happened to be created with the users 7.6.

You do not need to have Paratext 7 installed to use this feature in 8.0 - I’m not sure what made you think that.

EDIT: It looks like the help topic is a little confusing with its current wording. We’re probably just going to remove that blurb about Paratext 7.5 from the 8.0 help since it was really information intended for 7.6.

Answer 3

Thanks. So it is the administrator only. The Help says:

We recommend that only the following users resolve a conflict note:

          An administrator who feels capable of making a decision regarding the conflict, or
          A translator to whom the administrator has assigned the conflict note.

How does the administrator assign the conflict note to somebody?
What is meant by “the person the note is assigned to”?

Answer 4

Ok, I saw now where the administrator can assign the not to somebody. Thanks.

Comments

We appreciate all the work that has gone into P8 and the strain created by the pressure to get it out. It looks like there is quite a bit of work still to be done on the Help interface and contents. Maybe many people learn P8 at a workshop, but I don’t. I have watched a few old videos, but have not had time yet to watch the new ones, and I am on a metered modem connection right now.
Our merge conflicts mainly resulted from the use of Paratext Live. I have decided that Paratext Live is not a good option for our project with 6-7 computers working together in a small city. It seems that it always (well, the 2 times we have tried it) loses the connection with conflicts as a result, even if everybody does S/R morning and evening and before a live session. We can manage without it.
I am happy that it is possible to choose other options than the red/green difference, since I am red/green colour blind. blue/yellow would not be a problem
I was initially confused by this statement: “Changes Paratext Rejected” or “Merge all changes” in step 5 above only work in Paratext 8.0 if the users whose changes create the conflict have Paratext 7. 5.100.16 (or later)."
This must be a carry-over from 7.6, since it has no place in P8. When we use P8, everybody does so, and it is irrelevant to talk about users using P7.5.100.16 (or a later version of P7) and should be deleted. What is relevant is that it only works for the administrator.
I have not found the place where it clearly says that the Administrator sees a completely different conflict note than the translators. The one which is shown to the administrator is very clear with two windows, the others see a note that is so obscure that it is better not to have them. My recommendation is that all should see the same clear note with two windows, the only exception being that only the administrator has authority to make choices. He/she should also be the only one to be able to resolve the note. At the moment anyone can apparently resolve these note. It is ok to get input from the translators about choosing options if he/she is not sure, and it is ok to be able to delegate the authority to somebody although it is cumbersome and time consuming with several S/Rs.
Thanks for listening.

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The best way to give us information like this is to use Help > Report a Problem or Help > Make a Suggestion inside Paratext. This will ensure the information gets into our issue tracking system so that it is not lost.

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Thank you. I shall do that.