When to label and when to branch..

[ronnyek]

I've got a web project that until now, required no branching etc... However heres my situation...

I need to start making some changes to a small portion of the site, one subfolder of maybe 50 (also playing with some project references). It would seem like if I could label existing version as a build, I could make the changes, and so long as I could get a version based on the label, be good to go.

Otherwise I'd have to branch the entire project, and risk having merging problems with new development is complete.

I couldnt really find any material that touched on this subject, so any advice I could get in a response would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[ronnyek]

Is labeling to mark recursively entire version of a branch, so I can check out labeled versions, and branches themselves to physical branch (for say major versions?)

[dan]

Eric has a good (and entertaining) writeup of when to branch and why. It is available here:

http://software.ericsink.com/scm/scm_branches.html

[ronnyek]

I just read that, and it did give me a pretty good understanding of when to branch etc... exactly as I thought.

Am I correct in understanding if I select my root of my webproject, and set a label say "Build 1.0.23 - 8:00am 3/3/2006" or whatever, I can then get that version in any point in time after the fact (regardless of the latest files?)

[lbauer]

A label is a good, lightweight way to "tag" a project or file at a particular version or point in time. Project labels are recursive -- you can get a subproject or file at that label as well.

Branching creates a new folder in the tree.

You would branch if you need to continue development in both the trunk and the branch.

http://www.ericsink.com/scm/scm_branches.html

If you only need to be able to get the project at an earlier version, then you could label.

Sometimes users do both.

http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic.php?t=9