some help with branches

[Mike Shamberger]

Hi,

I am having a problem with branches and new files.  I have a dev branch that
is rooted on another branch called promotion.  In order to promote changes,
I merge the dev branch into the promotion branch and then create a release
branch off the promotion branch.  I then re-root the dev branch on to the
promotion branch by removing and re-creating it.  I have added a new file to
the dev branch and then do a diff to show differences between the dev and
promotion branch.  For example:

address@hidden cvsroot]$ cvs -q rdiff -r dev -r promotion public
Index: public/includes/careers/how_to_apply.shtml
diff -c public/includes/careers/how_to_apply.shtml:1.1.4.1
public/includes/caree
rs/how_to_apply.shtml:removed
*** public/includes/careers/how_to_apply.shtml:1.1.4.1  Wed Sep 27 12:30:47
2000
--- public/includes/careers/how_to_apply.shtml  Wed Sep 27 17:02:43 2000
***************
*** 1,30 ****
- <!-- How to apply BEGIN (/includes/careers/how_to_apply.shtml) -->
- <!--
- <P>
**** SNIP *****
- <!-- How to apply END (/includes/careers/apply.shtml) -->
\ No newline at end of file
--- 0 ----

I then check out the promotion branch:
cvs co -r promotion public

and try to perform the merge:
cvs -q update -j dev

and nothing happens.  Why is the merge from the dev branch not occurring to
the promotion branch for this particular file?  The only difference between
this file and others that merged was that it is a new file in a new
directory.
        If I go into the promotion branch and add the directory and then perform
the merge, I was able to get the file to merge in from the dev branch to the
promotion branch.  Is this working as designed?  I am using cvs 1.10.8 on
red had linux.

Thanks,
Mike