a file has gone through versions 1 2 and 3 while the other has only version 1 and 2 it is safe to copy version 3 but if one history shows versions 1 2 and 3 while the other shows versions 1 2 and 4 there is a conflict since neither version 3 nor version 4 was derived from the other more specifically fig4 shows how two journals are reconciled starting with the two separate journals for sites x and y here illustrated at 66 and 68 respectively each journal or log contains entries describing the history of five files named a b c d and e in addition to the file name the journal entries indicate the action which was taken either create update or delete and the time which that action was taken at that particular site for example the journal of site x shows that file e was created at 10 55 and deleted at 10 56 note only times are shown for convenience since the log typically indicates both time and date note that the journals are ordered by file name a b c d and e and by timestamp for the same file name journals are combined by merging them according to this rule identical entries including the action taken are combined into a single entry during the merge the combined journal as illustrated at 70 also records which sites had each entry this could be x y or both x and y for example the combined journal shows that e was created at 10 55 known to both x and.