Perforce submit edited source file and branch/integrate/merge/copy from same source file in one changelist - perforce

Suppose we have a single text file in 2 branches:
//depot/work/branch1/file.txt
//depot/work/branch2/file.txt
We also have a central source file here that both branches depend on.
//depot/work/ImportantFile.txt
I make local edits to ImportantFile.txt and branch1/file.txt, but I also want to duplicate those edits to branch2/file.txt because ImportantFile.txt now expects all branches of file.txt to conform to a certain specification. As far as I know I have only 2 options, neither of which are ideal:
Manually make the same edits on both files and submit both changes in a single changelist. The problem with this, is that I would like P4 history to know that these files are still 100% integrated, but the history will show that they were edited independently.
Only make edits to branch1/file.txt, submit just this file as well as ImportantFile.txt in one changelist, then immediately integrate the change to branch2/file.txt in a 2nd changelist. Now the problem is that I've broken the build for a minute or two until branch2/file.txt gets the required changes.
How can I edit a file, and directly integrate those edits to another file before I submit those edits to the first file?

First off: you may already know this (and have had to make peace with it for reasons beyond your control) but:
ImportantFile.txt should not be outside of your branching structure. If your versioned files depend on it, it needs to be versioned itself, and that means it needs to exist independently in each branch, because branches are a part of your versioning scheme. Alternatively, maybe file.txt should not be branched, if it's required that it be identical in all branches at all times -- why branch something that's not allowed to diverge? But I suspect that just branching everything is the better solution.
Now for the workaround. (If you can't fix the root cause as described above, you've probably got a lot of this sort of thing in your future.)
p4 copy //depot/work/ImportantFile.txt //depot/work/NotABranch/ImportantFile.txt
p4 copy //depot/work/branch1/file.txt //depot/work/NotABranch/file.txt
p4 submit -d "Not a branch! (wink)"
Make your edits in //depot/work/NotABranch and submit them. Nothing is broken because, as stated, this is not a branch, and so it's exempt from whatever policy it is that forces all branches to move in lockstep. Now you can do:
p4 integ //depot/work/NotABranch/ImportantFile.txt //depot/work/ImportantFile.txt
p4 integ //depot/work/NotABranch/file.txt //depot/work/branch1/file.txt
p4 integ //depot/work/NotABranch/file.txt //depot/work/branch2/file.txt
p4 resolve
p4 submit
The merge history shows that both branches of file.txt were pure merges from a single common source, and so future integrations between the two should recognize that they don't need to be re-merged.

Related

How do I select the common base file manually for P4Merge?

I am trying to merge a file.
I have the main branch and another branch B that was branched from main.
Both branches have changes. The main branch was merged to B at some point; but the merge on B was undid directly afterwards. After some more changes on both branches I'm trying to merge again but perforce selects the incorrect base file revision from the main branch.
I need to be able to select the common base file manually so that it will do the merge correctly. Unfortunately I was unable to find any way of doing this. If anyone knows how to resolve this, that would be much appreciated.
If the merge was undone via the p4 undo command, you should be able to redo it with a regular merge operation by setting the dm.integ.undo configurable:
(p4 help undoc)
dm.integ.undo 0 Enable re-integration of undone changes
With that configurable enabled, the "credit" granted by each integration is considered to be nullified by an "undo" operation, making each previously merged revision eligible for a merge as if it had never been merged previously. (The default behavior is for the undo to be considered the same as an edit, so that it's combined with unmerged changes, but previously merged changes aren't re-merged.)
If that's not an option, the best solution is to use the -f flag. Specify the exact range of changes you want to merge, along with the -f flag, and the revision immediately before that range will be used as the base. E.g.:
p4 integ -f main/...#100,400 B/...
will use main/...#99 as the base for the resolve(s).

How can I partially integrate a file in Perforce?

I have a file on another branch which contain a change I would like to integrate. But it contains other changes too which I don't want to integrate yet.
How can I integrate the file only partially?
I first integrated and resolved the file as usual, then I did a "p4 edit" on the file after that to remove the changes I don't want to go in yet. "p4 opened" said that the file is opened for edit, so I thought the commit will submitted as an edit not an integration. I was wrong! It still updated the integration history! So if I attempt to integrate the rest of the changes later the perforce will say "all revisions integrated", and the only way to resolve the problem is integrating by disregarding the integration history, which is painful to resolve.
How can I avoid this next time?
EDIT:
To clarify I mean there are multiple changes in a single revision of file and I want to integrate only a part of it.
(edited to reflect that the question is about partially integrating a revision, not integrating a single revision of a file)
Since a revision is the smallest atom of change in Perforce's metadata, you won't be able to record that a subset of a revision was integrated -- and since you don't want to record that the entire revision was integrated (thereby "ignoring" the rest of the revision for future integrations), rather than doing this as an integrate, I'd do it as an edit:
p4 edit target
p4 print -o theirs source#n
p4 print -o base source#n-1
p4 merge3 base theirs target > target
rm base theirs
(edit target)
p4 submit
Another option would be to initially open the file for integrate and then clear the resolve record by reverting (use the -k flag to keep local changes) and reopening for edit:
p4 integrate source#n,n target
p4 resolve
p4 revert -k target
p4 edit target
In general if there are multiple independent changes you're making to a file such that you might want to be able to cherry-pick and/or track them independently at a later date, submitting them as independent changelists will make that much much much easier. Shelving can help with this if you realize only after making a big change that it'd make more sense as a series of smaller changes -- shelve your big change, revert some parts, submit the smaller change, then unshelve the big change and continue.

How to revert to an earlier revision of a project in Perforce following a deletion?

Let's say I have a project under //depot/MyProject. At changelist 1001, this project took a major change in direction, changing everything about it. At changelist 2001, it got p4 deleted. The depot is now at change 3000.
I'd like to restore //depot/MyProject back to its state at changelist 1000. Specifically, I'd like the revision history to record the fact that change 3001 is an integration of change 1000 - i.e. the last version of this project before the major change.
Can Perforce do this at all? Or do I have to rename it into something like //depot/MyProjectOriginal, because //depot/MyProject is now tainted with all those deleted revisions?
(the naive attempt to p4 integrate //depot/MyProject/...#1000 //depot/MyProject/... fails with an "all revision(s) already integrated" message)
You cannot force the integration.
You have two options: you can create a branch using changelist 1000 as the base; or sync to changelist 1000, check out all files, and then submit (a.k.a rolling back).
Option 1
If you do want the history of your changes between 1001-3000 (i.e. a fresh start from changelist 1000) then this is the better option. Using P4V, create a new branchspec and then perform an integrate from your current project to the new branch at changelist 1000. This will be submitted as changelist 3001, when you compare differences between revisions, you will not see of the changes between 1001-3000.
In the P4 visualizer this will appear as a new branch creation at 1000.
Option 2
Sync to changelist 1000, check out all files, and then submit. There should not be any conflicts to resolve. This will be submitted as changelist 3001, however when you review history you will see the everything.
I hope this makes sense, any questions, please ask.
I don't believe that you can integrate files on top of one another like that. I think that you have two options.
If you are willing to move the files, you can do a
p4 integ //depot/MyProject/...#1000 //depot/MyOriginal/Project/...
and that will integrate MyProject at changelist 1000 to the new location.
If you'd like to keep the project at the same place, you can do that as well. It's really easiest in p4v - you can right click on the folder in workspace or depot view and choose "rollback...". In the subsequent dialog, you can then pick a changelist (or date, revision, etc) to roll the folder back to. In your case, I think that you would choose changelist 1000. Stick the files into a new pending changelist (I think that this is always good practice). You can then run a preveiw (to see what would happen), save the contents to a new changelist (so that you can inspect file contents before submitting), or just go for broke and pull the trigger and submit (I generally wouldn't recommend this).
HTH
Just do:
p4 copy //depot/MyProject/...#1000 //depot/MyProject/...
This also make a nice revision graph.
Though there is an accepted answer and plenty of other solutions, none of them works for me coz I need to rollback a large directory (with GBs of data)
Here is the way I used, which works fine for huge directory:
(Suggested to do in a new and clean workspace, though not strictly required)
Assuming the directory to rollback is //depot/foo/bar and you want to rollback to changelist 1234
Make sure no one is locking any files, and make sure the directory you are trying to rollback exists in your client spec
p4 copy -v //depot/foo/bar/...#1234 //depot/foo/bar/...
p4 submit
p4 copy -v is the meat of the solution. It tells Perforce server to perform virtual copy, which means Perforce copies the files but not actually in your workspace. This avoid huge data transfer for file content (when copying and when submitting). In my case, by using "rollback" in P4V (which is doing non-virtual copy), it took over an hour just for copy, and over an hour for submit for my folder. With virtual copy, whole process took me around 1 minute.
The most important thing is, it keep a sensible history. You can see your files being updated and rolled back, and all previous history exists.
use
p4 integrate -f //depot/MyProject/...#1000 //depot/MyProject/...
The -f flag means force an integration even if they have already been integrated.
From http://www.perforce.com/perforce/doc.current/manuals/cmdref/integrate.html

exclude a changelist from p4 sync

Is there any easy way to exclude a specific changelist from p4 sync?
I want to sync up my code, but I don't want to fetch the changes from changelist #1337
Like: p4 sync //depot/source/... - //depot/source/...#1337?
The best way to accomplish this is just sync to head, and then use the 'Back out submitted changelist' function in P4V ('Submitted' pane, right-click the undesired changelist, select 'Back out submitted changelist').
This will create a new pending changelist in your workspace with the undesired changes removed.
It is possible by syncing to a range and using two commands to "skip" the changelist.
p4 sync //depot/source/... - //depot/source/...#0,#1337
p4 sync //depot/source/... - //depot/source/...#1337,#head
Note: you may have to specify the changelist on either side of the one you want to skip - not sure if the range is inclusive.
HTH,
Dennis
Ok this should work depending on what you want to do. Man I really miss git :(
If you simply want to sync and temporarily ignore a changelist you can do what the first reply said and back out the change list. Just remember to not check that change list in unless you want to wipe out the ignored changelist for the branch. However this approach will not work if you need to make changes to files that exist in the ignored changelist.
If you need to work with the same files from the ignored changelist you can do the following. One thing to note however, is that the ignored changelist will be pulled out of the remote branch until you are ok with them being in your code. (there is one other option but requires someone else to do something)
If you want to ignore a change list, and not get rid of it completely but simply be able to work on your code with it off to the side, the following will work.
Back out the changelist as previously stated.
Submit the backed out changelist to wipe out the changes in the remote branch. (don't worry)
Now do another back out but this time back out the chagelist created by the previous back out and shelve it. This back out of the back out will be a pending change list that is basically a copy of the one you wanted to ignore. Once its shelved you can go about your work, even in the same files. The down side is that now the ignored changelist only exist on your work space and its up to you to submit it or decide what to do with it at some point.
You can keep the ignored change list shelved until you know what you want to do with it. If, after you work on your code, you want to re integrate that chagelist and merge it with yours you can simply unshelf it and resolve conflicts.
So the (other option)
You could do the above with help from another dev with a perforce account (perhaps the one who's changelist you want to ignore) in this case you could have them back out the changelist and submit, then you could sync, then they could back out their back out. In this case the remote branch would not need to stay in weird state while you worked on your code. The big downside is, that you would have to do this every time you wanted to sync.
A better option would be branching before an issue like this arrises but that is not as easy or light weight in perforce as it is in git.
Hope one of these options help or spark a finale and perfect solution from some one else.

Can I integrate checked out files into a different branch on perforce

We were working on a design, and for that we created the skeleton of the classes in our main branch. Now, we are starting to code, and for that we got a new branch. So, it would be nice if I can move all the new files in the main branch into the new branch. However, I cannot check them in yet. So, is it possible to integrate the checked out changelist? Thanks.
The Perforce support web site explains how to do this: Perforce Knowledge Base: Branching work in progress. It would be nicer if it was a single step that didn't require running eight different commands.
Since release 2013.1, the way to branch work in progress is to shelve the work and unshelve it on the branch. In detail:
Shelve your outstanding changes:
$ p4 shelve ...
Change 182535 created with 10 open file(s).
Shelving files for change 182535.
edit //info.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/master/code/arenavm.c#26
# etc.
Unshelve them on the branch (using the -b option, which maps the file name through a branch specification):
$ p4 unshelve -b mps/branch/2013-06-05/diag -s 182535
... //info.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/branch/2013-06-05/diag/code/arenavm.c - must resolve //info.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/master/code/arenavm.c#=182535 before submitting
# etc.
Resolve any merges resulting from the unshelve, using p4 resolve -as to quickly do the "safe" ones, and then doing the rest with p4 resolve as usual.
$ p4 resolve -as
//gdr-peewit/info.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/branch/2013-06-05/diag/code/arenavm.c - copy from //info.ravenbrook.com/project/mps/master/code/arenavm.c
# etc.
$ p4 resolve
No file(s) to resolve.
(The example output is from a real use case I ran just now.)
I never found a way to do that within perforce, but you can at least partially automate it.
Usually when I had to do something like that I'd check out the files in the branch I want to move things to, then use WinMerge to diff the branches and copy the changes over. Once that's done you can revert the changes in the original branch and check them in in the new branch.
It's not the best solution (no automatic checkout/add/delete of files on the new branch), but was the fastest method I came up with.
Not really.
You can of course simply open the files for edit in the new branch, and manually copy the changed files from the workspace of your main branch to the new branch's workspace. This is probably the easiest way if it just a few files.
Here are a few scripts that can be handy if a larger number of files are involved.
E.g., with the P4Shelf script you can create an archive of all your changed files, and later automatically open them in any branch with the changes restored.
Also, check out some other nifty scripts for Perforce by Jim Tilander.
To rephrase Gareth Rees' answer above in simple terms,
p4 unshelve -b target_branchspec -s changelist
:)
The easy answer is - no you can't. A quick perusal of the Perforce docs didn't come up with a ready cite for this, unfortunately, but in my experience any attempt to pull the rug out from under the Perforce server will result in your changes being lost which will leave you an unhappy camper.
Make a back up, create a new work area on the new branch, and re-apply your changes, perhaps using the diff/merge strategy outlined in Herms answer.

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