Can a branch "inherits" another branch ?

[guilmori]

Hi,

I would like to know how to achieve the following using Vault.

Our trunk contains our main development line for next release (ex: 1.1).
Even though release 1.1 is not finished yet, we need to start development of release 1.2.

We would like the branch 1.2 to "inherits" branch 1.1.
By that I mean that modifications done to branch 1.1 are automatically replicated in branch 1.2.
Vault would also alerts the developers in branch 1.2 when modification in branch 1.1 result in a merge conflicts in branch 1.2.

Thanks,
Guillaume.

[Beth]

You can make branches and then merge changes. It's not automatic since Vault won't know what you want merged where. That's the best route to take. Make a 1.2 branch and then periodically merge changes from 1.1 to 1.2.

If you make shares, changes are automatically replicated, but that means both folders look exactly alike, which means it would copy 1.2 code over to the 1.1 folder as well as placing the 1.1. code into 1.2.

[guilmori]

If I'm not mistaken, merging branches does not copy all check-in details of the origin branch history.
The target branch receives one big check-in that contains everything being merged, tagged to the user who is doing the merge.
So in target branch history, we lose who did what...
Is there any reason why merge branches has been implemented this way ?

Also, how can I keep track of what has already been merged into the target branch ?
The wizard displays history of the origin branch since the start of the world...
Isn't Vault should keep track of this ?

Thanks!

[Beth]

As for the why, I'll have to see if someone else can answer that part. I have a feature request open though that asks for the history from a branch to be maintained in the location it was merged to. I can add your "vote" if you would like.

F: 5992

To keep track of what has already been merged, you will make use of comment and labels. If you look at the history of the area you merged to, you will see the merge documented in the comment. You may wish to add to that merge comment to make it more meaningful. If you want a quick and easy bookmark to find a date of the last merge, you might want to put a label on your branch to indicate your merge points.

Vault displays all change sets because a user has the option to merge multiple places. This allows for changes in one to be mergeable to locations other than where it was branched from. One can also go pick and choose what items to go where. You might merge changesets 13-25 to one branch and merge changes 26-42 to a different branch.

I think I may have a request for some way to show what items were merged to a particular branch that I can add your vote to, or I can log it if I find that I don't have one already logged. Just let me know if you'd like one put in.

[StuartHemming]

As for the why, I'll have to see if someone else can answer that part. I have a feature request open though that asks for the history from a branch to be maintained in the location it was merged to. I can add your "vote" if you would like.

That was one of mine. Glad to see it's still alive and kicking.

--
Stuart