Re: should we branch or tag every time we add a file?

[Eric Siegerman]

On Sun, Aug 10, 2003 at 11:58:09PM -0400, Larry Jones wrote:
> If you want to get a previous release, you either need to have a tag or
> you need to get it by date.  In either case, CVS won't include files
> from the future.

But if you want to change that previous release (to create a
patch release due to an urgent bug fix, for example), and commit
your changes, you need a branch.

(If you *don't* want to create patch releases, the branch won't
be used; but having it doesn't do any real harm; but it does
clutter up the repo with empty branches that you have to keep
track of, or at least remember to ignore in the "cvs log"
output.)

Thus, depending on your needs in the future, you might need
either a tag, or a branch, or both.

If you have a tag, though, it's easy to create a branch based on
that tag, but it's difficult to go the other way.

A good approach can be to create only a tag, for now.  If you
later need to patch the release, you can create a branch at that
time to hold your changes.  In the meantime, you've avoided
cluttering up your repo with unnecessary branches.

--

|  | /\
|-_|/  >   Eric Siegerman, Toronto, Ont.        address@hidden
|  |  /
When I came back around from the dark side, there in front of me would
be the landing area where the crew was, and the Earth, all in the view
of my window. I couldn't help but think that there in front of me was
all of humanity, except me.
        - Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot