What exactly does 'reconcile' mean?

Question

I've seen the term 'reconcile' used a couple different ways in ESRI documentation. In one, e.g. the sample questions for certification, it means changes in the parent/target database are pushed to the child/versioned database (I know it's not actually a separate db). In another context, it seems to mean changes a user makes are checked for conflicts before being posted to the parent. Which is it? Thanks.

DavidWorners · Answer

The reconcile means that the change-dependent or issuing database is routed to the parent / target database. I know it's not really a separate describe the true meaning of reconcile in ESRI documentation but into some extent you can take it as the best example in ESRI documentation.. In another context, this seems to mean that changes made in the conflict are checked before the user is sent to their parents.

JoeBorgione · Answer

Certifiable yes; certified no...  😛

I use the versioned environment such that sde.default is the top of the heap, and the versions beneath it get edited.  I can see how flipping the scenario would work as well; edit sde.default and 'push' the changes out to various versions, although I've never had the opportunity to try it that way.

All the best-

Zeke · Answer

Thanks Joe. I can definitely see what you mean by having multiple versions being a pain to administer. We do split editing permissions between my department and public works, with neither editing the others features, so maybe two versions would work there. The department head here has used reconcile the first way - push the parent version to the child.
Some of this may be the way ESRI sometimes confusingly names or describes things. I've seen the 'main' database described as parent, default, target, etc. 'Layer' means either a feature class, shapefile, etc. in the TOC except when it means a .lyr file. Reconcile in the first sense is also the correct answer to the certification sample question noted above. Oh well, thanks for the help.