When creating a branch, it would be very useful if merge data could optionally be included in svn status -u with the -g option. Essentially, it would tell you if there are changes upstream from the origination of the branch... I'm not entirely certain what the output should look like, but it might indicate a table key of ancestry at the top and a similar output to "svn status -u" with indication of where the ancestry has the update yet to be merged:
[a1 = /trunk] [a2 = /branches/team_branch_base] [a3 = /branches/userbob_feature_widget] * 517 ./hello.c [a1] * 507 ./world.c * 517 ./foo.h * ./bar.h [WC] M 569 ./dir [WC] M 569 ./dir/file.c Thoughts?