Branch Development Scenarios

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Simplicity and low-overhead are two major design goals of CS-RCS. Therefore, by default, CS-RCS maintains only a single active branch per-user. This is normally not a limitation because in most situations the current changes are checked-in before switching from branch to branch. However, sometimes an urgent fix must be performed on another branch. Example 2 below illustrates how you can work concurrently with two branches (or more).

Note: When switching branches, CS-RCS is optimized to replace only working files that differ from branch to branch.


Example 1 - Normal Development Scenario

The following is a normal development scenario:

1.

Switch to branch A.

2.

Fix a few problems.

3.

Test and check-in all changes.

4.

Switch to branch B (or the trunk).

5.

Fix a few problems.

6.

Test and check-in all the changes.

7.

Switch again as desired and/or perform merges.

Example 2 - Concurrent Branch Development

Normal development has begun with the following steps:

1.

Work on branch A or on the trunk.

2.

Fix a few problems.

Suddenly, you are informed that urgent fixes are required on branch B.

To perform urgent fixes on branch B:

1.

Define the Local work folder for the branch. To do this, execute the Project | Workstation properties… command. Select branch B and specify the desired Local work folder, for example, C:\Work\ProjectX_BranchB.

2.

Switch to branch B.

3.

Open your development tool and select the project in the branch work folder. Fix the problems.

4.

You may check-in all changes to branch B.

5.

Switch to branch A.

6.

Continue with branch A fixes.

7.

You may check-in all changes to branch A or switch again to branch B.

Note: Examine carefully where your development tool creates the executable files. If they are created using a relative paths, you must test the executables located in the branch work folder.