Is there a sensible way to merge Visual Studio project files (.csproj) between branches?

Question

Once again I having to merge code between branches and the textual merge tool is finding a lot of conflict in the project files.

I expect that a tool that understood a project file (files add/removed and compile options changed) could do the 3 way merge with ease.

Is there such a tool?

(For better or for worse, we have long lived branches paid for (and controlled) by different customers, as well as the “main” branch for all new customer, so continuous integration is not an option at present.)

Answer 1

Have a look at:

Tools for SLN file (Visual Studio Solution file) http://slntools.codeplex.com/

and Project Merge (€19 per user) http://www.projectmerge.com/index.php

Answer 2

I think, you can at least try Altova DiffDog, which is XML-aware differ-editor. Not cheap, but power and flexible