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  1. <html>
  2. <head>
  3. <title>The Branching Papers -- Perforce FAQs</title>
  4. <head>
  5. <body bgcolor=#ffffff>
  6. <font size=-2><b><a href="branching.html#br07">[INDEX]</a></b></font>
  7. <p>
  8. <b>
  9. Why use branch views?
  10. </b>
  11. <blockquote>
  12. The relationship of a branch view to a set of branched files
  13. is a loose one. A branch
  14. view basically serves as a mapping specification which
  15. can be used for any <b>p4 integrate</b>
  16. command that names that view. 
  17. However, while branch views are ephemeral, actual integration
  18. history is preserved forever.
  19. <p>
  20. Say I create a branch view called 'titan':
  21. <pre>
  22.     Branch: titan
  23.     View:
  24. 	//depot/main/...  //depot/project_titan/...
  25. </pre>
  26. The branch view has no effect on any of the files in the depot. Whether
  27. or not I even use the branch view is a matter of choice. This particular
  28. view has such a simple mapping that I can skip the view and specify the
  29. mapping directly on the <b>p4 integrate</b> command:
  30. <pre>
  31.     p4 integrate //depot/main/... //depot/project_titan/...
  32. </pre>
  33. which does exactly the same thing as
  34. <pre>
  35.     p4 integrate -b titan
  36. </pre>
  37. Where branch views really prove useful is when mappings get complex.
  38. E.g., consider:
  39. <pre>
  40.     Branch: neptune
  41.     View:
  42. 	 //depot/main/server/...  //depot/project_neptune/server/...
  43. 	 //depot/rel2.0/tools/...  //depot/project_neptune/tools/...
  44. 	 //depot/rel3.1/qa/...  //depot/project_neptune/qa/...
  45. </pre>
  46. This sets up a handy mapping for the 'neptune' development project.
  47. Using this branch view, you can merge all the changes you need into
  48. project_neptune using one command instead of three. That is, you can
  49. do:
  50. <pre>
  51.     p4 integrate -b neptune
  52. </pre>
  53. instead of:
  54. <pre>
  55.     p4 integrate //depot/main/server/...  //depot/project_neptune/server/...
  56.     p4 integrate //depot/rel2.0/tools/...  //depot/project_neptune/tools/...
  57.     p4 integrate //depot/rel3.1/qa/...  //depot/project_neptune/qa/...
  58. </pre>
  59. When you delete a branch view, you lose none of data about what changes
  60. got integrated from which file to which. What you lose is the shorthand
  61. for specifying that info. For example, if I do:
  62. <pre>
  63.     p4 branch -d neptune
  64. </pre>
  65. The 'neptune' branch view disappears from the Perforce database, but all the
  66. //depot/project_neptune files remain. 
  67.  
  68. </blockquote>
  69.  
  70. <p>
  71. <i>(April 1998)</i>
  72. </p>
  73. <font size=-2><b><a href="branching.html#br07">[INDEX]</a></b></font>
  74.  
  75. <hr>
  76. <h6>This is file $Id: //guest/laura_wingerd/perforce/faq/br07.html#1 $ in the 
  77. <a href="http://public.perforce.com/public/index.html">Perforce Public Depot</a></h6>
  78. </body>
  79. </html>
# Change User Description Committed
#1 83 Laura Wingerd The Branching Papers. 26 years ago