On: Faster CRDTs (2021)

[LAC-Tech]

There are CDTS that have "multiple versions", which look an awful lot like conflicts to me, ie, the Multi-Value Register in this paper:

https://inria.hal.science/inria-00555588/

[kiitos → LAC-Tech]

Multi-value registers are CRDTs for sure. Conflict-free doesn't mean that values can't have concurrent histories (or, as you say, "multiple versions") -- it means that the merge operation always succeeds.

[LAC-Tech → kiitos]

What's the definition of a conflict, then? Equations welcome.

[kiitos → LAC-Tech]

Feel free to read up on CRDTs; I'm confident this will answer your question.

The short answer is, roughly, that a conflict is a discrepancy in state which cannot be mechanically resolved.

[LAC-Tech → kiitos]

I've read a few CRDT papers. Perhaps you could name a specific one.