Optimistic locking allows you to check in files that were not checked out. You check in the updated workfile into the repository directly, or if the repository revision has changed, you merge the local file and the repository revision and then check in the changed file into source control. Optimistic locking differs from the classic "pessimistic" approach, where a user had to explicitly check out the file before being able to place the updates into the repository.
Optimistic locking works well in an Eclipse development environment where developers are working concurrently on projects. A developer may have the entire project locally and need to make changes, but he may not know which files are affected until beginning work on the code. Optimistic locking allows the developer to alter the code, and then only check in the files that have been changed.
Dimensions CM provides both optimistic and pessimistic options. In Dimensions streams, files are writable by default.
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