Re: Renaming a file in the trunk but not in branches

[Kaz Kylheku]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, David Leskovac wrote:

> Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:27:57 -0500
> From: David Leskovac <address@hidden>
> To: address@hidden
> Subject: RE: Renaming a file in the trunk but not in branches
> 
> One additional question on this:
> Is there any way to preserve history on the new file?

A new file has no history to preserve. ;)

> My understanding is that if I copy the <oldfile>,v to <newfile>,v
> on the server and then run the commands below on the client, then
> this will affect the trunk as well as the branches. Is this true?

Not if you edit the RCS file to ``scrub'' <newfile>,v of any branch
tags, while keeping all of the RCS delta nodes and their checking
comments intact.

> If true, is there any other way to rename a file in the trunk &
> retain the history of the oldfile in the newfile while keeping the
> oldfile intact in the branches?

Meta-CVS has true renaming. A name is a versioned property
of a file so when you rename, you are simply editing that property
while retaining the original file.

This means you can merge across renames, which is arguably more
important than merely having the history there.

You want to be able to rename something on the trunk, yet still be able
to merge someone's ongoing branch work. What if someone goes to the
release branch and fixes a bug to a file that has since been renamed to
the branch? Who's going to sit there and manually hunt down these
edits?

-- 
Meta-CVS: the working replacement for CVS that has been stable since
2002.  It versions the directory structure, symbolic links and execute
permissions. It figures out renaming on import. Plus it babysits the kids
and does light housekeeping! http://freshmeat.net/projects/mcvs