When we create a branch from our main trunk in TFS we also change the web.config to point to different databases, web services, etc. When we make a bug fix we do it in the release branch and merge back to the trunk. I'd like a way to click on the root node for the branch and merge the whole thing back to the trunk except for the web.config which has release-branch-specific settings which should not be merged back.
Is there a way to break the branch link for this file or is there some other method to permanently exclude the release web.config when merging back to the trunk?
You have two options to do this today:
Use "tf merge /discard". When performed on a file across branches it tells the merge engine that you do not want this specific change merged between these two branches. The downside of this approach is that you will need to run tf merge /discard each time you check in a change to the file. Here is what the syntax would look like if you wanted to discard the change from moving from releasebranch to trunk:
tf merge $/releasebranch/.../web.config $/trunk/.../web.config /discard
The second option is to cloak the web.config in the target branch when you are performing the merge. That is if you are merging into trunk, cloak the web.config file in the trunk branch in your workspace. When you perform the merge, since the target of the merge is cloaked, the change will not flow over the branch. The downside here of course is that you have to remember to perform the merges in workspaces with this configuration each time.
Bonus: I created this uservoice suggestion to improve this experience. Vote for it if this is something you would like to see improved.
Related
The current workflow for our developers is
Create a new branch from develop for each bug
Make your changes, and commit them
Create a Pull request
The issue :
I am working on bug 1, branch name develop_bug1 . I commit my changes in the file file1.jsp and create a PR
I now start working on bug 2, branch name develop_bug2. I find out that changes need to be made in the same file file1.jsp as bug 1. When I checkout develop_bug2, my changes from develop_bug1 aren't present.
What if I finish my changes for bug 2 and commit and create a PR? Will it overwrite changes for bug 1?
Not sure where to start
Changes on the two branches will not be present in the other branch or the develop branch until the two bug branches are merged. They are entirely separate ‘copies’ of the code.
Because both involve changes to the same file (file1.jsp) there are going to be so-called merge conflicts, which need to be managed.
Let’s assume that develop_bug1 is to be merged back into develop first (either because it is more urgent or because is has less changes).
Step 1: Merge develop_bug1 into develop. There will be no conflicts.
Step 2: Merge develop into develop_bug2. This is sometimes called rebasing. There will be merge conflicts which you will need to resolve. Your IDE will help you deal with the conflicts by selecting which version of each change to accept.
Step 3: Merge the updated develop_bug2 (which now includes changes originating in develop_bug1) into develop. There will be no conflicts.
If none of the PRs gets merged, then there are no conflicts in both of two branches.
If one of the PRs gets merged, then the second PR will get conflicts, we should resolve the conflicts first, push to remote, and then the second PR could be merged.
PS: always pull the lasted code into local branch before we raising a PR.
We have very large project and we have to branch some of the sources. Branched sources should be stored in a different location (within the same TFS server).
The problem is that due to active development of the main project we have to merge changes from trunk every day.
So the question is: how should I branch sources to provide the easiest merging from trunk.
The desired scenario is:
pull changes from trunk. Resolve conflicts and merge changed sources.
push merged changes to branch (that is stored in different location - not as a branched version in the same location)
Is this possible without any complex scripts?
I am using Visual Studio 2013 for work with TFS source control.
You can have branch relationships been different locations in TFVC. You can branch from one team project to another and maintain the relationship.
If you currently have two locations that do not have a branch relationship you need to create one by doing a baseless merge first. One you have some a baseless merge you can then merge s normal As if they are in the same team project.
I would however recommend that you fix the problem that has lead to this situation. If you are going a single product then you should all be in the same team project.
http://nakedalm.com/one-team-project/
I am using TFS2012 express. I have a project which has two branches.These two branches have similar file and code. Actually one is release code(one which i gave to customers) and another is testing code. I always change code in testing code branch. So sometime i need to checkin this changes to both the branch. Also some changes i don't want to check-in to both and only to testing code branch. So how i can do it in tfs? Problem is how to checkin only certain changes to both branch and some changes to only one branch?
You can always check in the changes to testing branch. If you need certain changes in the release branch as well, you can use Merge command to do that.
When you do Merge, you can choose "Selected change sets" instead of All changes. When resolving conflicts in mergetool, you can choose/make the changes you like in the result panel at the bottom which is editable.
s/w versions:
TFS2008 server, VS2010, windows xp
I have the following branch structure in TFS
$/Root/Main Branch
$/Root/Dev/Project1
Project1 was branched off the Main Branch, few months ago. Now I need to merge the latest code in the Main Branch to the Project1 branch. During that time, some new folders were added to the Main Branch.(Main Branch/CoreDataClasses/..). So when I try to merge this new folder into the Project1 branch using the merge wizard, I don't see the Project1 branch in the list of target branches. Why is TFS not showing me my dev branch in the target branches list?
Do your merge from the root (where you branched), not the individual folder(s). Remember that merges aren't destructive until you check in, so you can choose to only check in the new folders if you want to hold off other changes.
With Tfs I've had much better experience merging from branch to the trunk and I think this might be the case here. Of course this might take a rethink of your strategy but it's doable.
I know this may be way offside but if you're doing cross branch merging a lot then definitely consider a distributed version control system like mercurial. I've used Tfs lots and really like it but when it comes to branching and merging it is a distant second to hg merge (mercurial command)
The folder structure between source and target have to be the at least 80% the same. If there was too many restructuring of the folder layout then I suggest you use the cmd line Merge with the force switch when doing the merge. See "Merge Command".
For personal projects I use Git for SCM, but at work we use TFS. One thing that I like about Git is that it allows a person to easily squash all the changes made in a branch when pulling the changes back into the master branch.
The benefit of this is that if their is anything wrong with the changes they can easily be removed be reverting back to the version before the merge even if no tag was created.
Is this. or the equivalent possible in TFS? Is this where shelving changes fits into the equation?
Thanks.
Performing a merge in TFS results in a single commit; all of the changes from the source branch get rolled up into one changeset pended against the target branch. So as far as I understand your question, the answer is "yes".