What is this "filelog" output telling me?

If you do a 'p4 filelog' on a file, you get the complete record of which deltas were merged into that file, and from which depot path & file they originated. Here's an example of what 'p4 filelog' reports for a file that has some renaming & branching history:

	% p4 filelog //depot/main/jam/filescan.c
	//depot/main/jam/filescan.c
	... #2 change 5052 integrate on 1998/04/13 by laura@testclient 
		'Merge r1->main. '
	... ... merge from //depot/r1/jam/scan.c#1,#3
	... #1 change 5049 branch on 1998/04/13 by laura@testclient 
		'Rename scan.c->filescan.c. '
	... ... branch from //depot/main/jam/scan.c#1,#19
	... ... merge into //depot/r1/jam/scan.c#3
	% 

In English, here's what this tells us about //depot/main/jam/filescan.c:

• the head revision of //depot/main/jam/filescan.c is #2

• the action that created #2 was a merge from rev #3 of //depot/r1/jam/scan.c. So the integration mapping at this point in its history is:

  	//depot/r1/jam/scan.c //depot/main/jam/filescan.c
  

• the action that created #1 was a branch from //depot/main/jam/scan.c#19. I.e., scan.c was renamed filescan.c at this point.

The history of //depot/r1/jam/scan.c is also relevant here. A filelog on it produces:

	% p4 filelog //depot/r1/jam/scan.c
	//depot/r1/jam/scan.c
	... #3 change 5051 integrate on 1998/04/13 by laura@testclient 
		'Merge main->r1. '
	... ... merge from //depot/main/jam/filescan.c#1
	... ... merge into //depot/main/jam/filescan.c#2
	... #2 change 5050 edit on 1998/04/13 by laura@testclient 
		'Fix dirname case change. '
	... #1 change 5047 branch on 1998/04/13 by laura@testclient 
		'Branch main into r1. '
	... ... branch from //depot/main/jam/scan.c#1,#18
	% 

So we see it was originally branched from //depot/main/jam/scan.c, but as of rev #3 it is now related to //depot/main/jam/filescan.c.

(April 1998)

This is file $Id: //guest/universitytexas/faq/br08.html#1 $ in the Perforce Public Depot