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  9.  
  10. <H1>
  11. Basic Perforce FAQ</H1>
  12.  
  13. <H3>
  14. Note - the intended audience for this FAQ is a person using Perforce for
  15. software development. There's a separate <A HREF="admin.html">FAQ for system
  16. administrators</A>, and eventually we'll have one for advanced Perforce
  17. users.</H3>
  18. <I>This FAQ assumes that there is a Perforce Administrator who knows some
  19. of the more complex parts of Perforce, who can provide help, counseling,
  20. and deal with policy-specific issues.&nbsp; This FAQ is taken from an initial
  21. set of questions provided by
  22. <A HREF="mailto:rmg@perforce.com">Richard Geiger</A>
  23. and <A HREF="mailto:jab@pobox.com">Jeff Bowles</A>.</I>
  24.  
  25. <BR>&nbsp;
  26. <OL>
  27. <H4>
  28. <B>Initial List</B></H4>
  29.  
  30. <LI>
  31. <A HREF="#begin...">Where do I begin?</A></LI>
  32.  
  33. <LI>
  34. <A HREF="#whatisSCM">What is S.C.M.?</A></LI>
  35.  
  36. <H4>
  37. Getting and modifying files</H4>
  38.  
  39. <LI>
  40. <A HREF="#checkoutsource">How do I check out a source tree?</A></LI>
  41.  
  42. <LI>
  43. <A HREF="#changefiles">How do I make a change to a file
  44. and check it in?</A></LI>
  45.  
  46. <LI>
  47. <A HREF="#changeeditor">What if I have a favorite editor and want
  48. to use it when I do a change submission?</A></LI>
  49.  
  50. <LI>
  51. <A HREF="#addfile">How do I add a new directory?</A></LI>
  52.  
  53. <LI>
  54. <A HREF="#removefile">How do I remove a directory?</A></LI>
  55.  
  56. <LI>
  57. <A HREF="#olderversion">How do I check out some older
  58. version of a file?</A></LI>
  59.  
  60. <LI>
  61. <A HREF="#oldertree">How do I check out an entire
  62. tree as of some date?</A></LI>
  63.  
  64. <LI>
  65. <A HREF="#alltree">How do I check out an entire tree
  66. corresponding to some build or release?</A></LI>
  67.  
  68. <H4>
  69. Comparing what you've gotten to the reference copy</H4>
  70.  
  71. <LI>
  72. <A HREF="#diff">How do I compare a working
  73. file to the base?</A></LI>
  74.  
  75. <LI>
  76. <A HREF="#difftree">How do I compare a whole tree
  77. to the base?</A></LI>
  78.  
  79. <LI>
  80. <A HREF="#diffoptions">How do I get my favorite diff
  81. behaviors with p4 diff?</A></LI>
  82.  
  83. <LI>
  84. <A HREF="#updatetree">How do I update a tree from the base?</A></LI>
  85.  
  86. <LI>
  87. <A HREF="#comparefiles">How do I compare a working file
  88. to an older version (other than the base)?</A></LI>
  89.  
  90. <H4>
  91. Getting information about a file or workspace</H4>
  92.  
  93. <LI>
  94. <A HREF="#p4have">How do I get a list of all
  95. files I have open on all my client workspaces?</A></LI>
  96.  
  97. <LI>
  98. <A HREF="#p4describe">How do I examine the change
  99. log for a file?</A></LI>
  100.  
  101. <H4>
  102. Abandoning work and starting over</H4>
  103.  
  104. <LI>
  105. <A HREF="#p4revert">How do I abandon my changes
  106. and pick up a clean copy from the base?</A></LI>
  107.  
  108. <LI>
  109. <A HREF="#individual_change">How do I propagate an individual
  110. change made in one branch to another?</A></LI>
  111.  
  112. <LI>
  113. <A HREF="#deletefile_weird">I created a file that begins with a dash, and
  114. want to 'p4 delete' it and cannot. What can I do?</A></LI>
  115. <H4>
  116. Changing your workspace (moving it, deleting it)</H4>
  117.  
  118. <LI>
  119. <A HREF="#deleteclient">How do I delete a client workspace?</A></LI>
  120.  
  121. <LI>
  122. <A HREF="#moveclient">How do I move a client workspace?</A></LI>
  123. <h4>Miscellaneous problems</h4>
  124. <LI>
  125. <A HREF="#sync_fails">I can't &quot;p4 sync&quot; a particular file. What might be going on?</li>
  126. </OL>
  127. <OL>
  128. <HR>
  129. <LI>
  130. <A NAME="begin..."></A><B>Where do I begin?</B></LI>
  131.  
  132. <BR>Start with <A HREF="http://perforce.com/perforce/doc.982/cmdguide/quickstart.html">chapters
  133. #3-5 of the user's guide</A> - that's referred to as the <I>Quick Start</I>
  134. to the product.&nbsp; <A HREF="http://perforce.com/perforce/technical/">All</A>
  135. of the documentation is on-line.
  136.  
  137. <P>It's probably best to create a small workspace (the term is "client")
  138. to play in, so that you can experiment with a few files and not necessarily
  139. the 16,000 files that you're planning to manage with source control.
  140. <BR>&nbsp;<HR>
  141. <LI>
  142. <A NAME="whatisSCM"></A><B>What is S.C.M.?</B></LI>
  143.  
  144. <BR>Short answer: it's a way to maintain revisions of files so that you
  145. can easily recreate a version of a file from any moment in time.
  146.  
  147. <P>The &quot;S.C.M.&quot; translates to &quot;Source Code Management&quot; or perhaps &quot;Software
  148. Code Management&quot; or &quot;Software Control Management&quot; - the better systems
  149. let you manage large sets of files, have multiple people working with the
  150. same body of files (a development team of 1 person isn't much fun),&nbsp;
  151. and work on different platforms (such as Windows/NT and Unix) transparently.
  152.  
  153. <P>There are a lot of S.C.M. products around - this FAQ won't try to spend
  154. a lot of time enumerating them or contrasting them.
  155. &nbsp;
  156. <HR>
  157. <LI>
  158. <A NAME="checkoutsource"></A><B>How do I check out a source tree?</B></LI>
  159.  
  160. <BR>&nbsp;
  161. <BR>Another way to phrase the question is &quot;How do I get files and begin
  162. editing them?&quot;.&nbsp; This question will answer the first part of the question
  163. - the next FAQ will answer the rest.
  164. <BR>&nbsp;
  165. <H5>
  166. To get a set of files...</H5>
  167. Each of the following cases assumes you have a &quot;Perforce client&quot; (a.k.a.
  168. 'workspace') already. If not, see the FAQ to create one.
  169. <BR>&nbsp;
  170. <BR><I>Case #1: you need to get all the files - the most recent revision
  171. of each file.</I>
  172. <BR>&nbsp;
  173. <UL>Type
  174.  
  175. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  176. p4 sync</FONT></TT>
  177.  
  178. <P>That will get you a read-only copy of the &quot;head &quot;revision of every file
  179. that your client can see.</UL>
  180. <I>Case #2: You need to get the files in a specific directory - the most
  181. recent revision of each file.</I>
  182. <BR>&nbsp;
  183. <UL>You'll want to &quot;cd&quot; (chdir) to the directory you want to get.&nbsp;
  184. Then type p4 sync ... to get the files that should go into that directory.
  185. For example:
  186.  
  187. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  188. cd&nbsp; <I>directoryname</I><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  189. p4&nbsp; sync ...</FONT></TT>
  190.  
  191. <P>That will get you a read-only copy of the &quot;head&quot; revision of every file
  192. <I>in that directory and its subdirectories </I>that your client can see.</UL>
  193. <I>Case #3: You need to get the files from some `label' someone made for
  194. you.</I>
  195. <BR>&nbsp;
  196. <UL>If the label name is "BUILD_28", you'll be updating your client (a.k.a.
  197. workspace) the "the revision of each file that is included in label 'BUILD_28'."&nbsp;
  198. Note that this means that your local copy of files not included in 'BUILD_28'
  199. are removed.
  200.  
  201. <P>Some examples:
  202. <BR>&nbsp;
  203. <OL>
  204. <OL>&nbsp;
  205. <CENTER><TABLE BORDER WIDTH="80%" NOSAVE >
  206. <TR>
  207. <TD><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync @BUILD_28</FONT></TT></TD>
  208.  
  209. <TD>Update the local copies of files on the current client to be the exact
  210. revision specified in label "BUILD_28".&nbsp; The local copy of files not
  211. included in the label, but managed by Perforce, are removed from the client.</TD>
  212. </TR>
  213.  
  214. <TR NOSAVE>
  215. <TD><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">cd&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>directoryname</I></FONT></TT>&nbsp;
  216. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4&nbsp;&nbsp; sync&nbsp; ...@BUILD_28</FONT></TT></TD>
  217.  
  218. <TD NOSAVE>Update the local copies of files <I>in directoryname (and underneath
  219. that tree)</I> on the current client to be the exact revision specified
  220. in label "BUILD_28".&nbsp;
  221.  
  222. <P>The local copy <I>in directoryname (and underneath that tree) </I>of
  223. files not included in the label, but managed by Perforce, are removed from
  224. the client. Files not under <I>directoryname</I> aren't touched.</TD>
  225. </TR>
  226.  
  227. <TR>
  228. <TD><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync&nbsp; <I>directoryname</I>/...@BUILD_28</FONT></TT></TD>
  229.  
  230. <TD>Should do exactly the same thing as the previous example. (Neat, huh?)</TD>
  231. </TR>
  232.  
  233. <CAPTION ALIGN=BOTTOM>&nbsp;</CAPTION>
  234. </TABLE></CENTER>
  235. &nbsp;</OL>
  236. </OL>
  237. &nbsp;</UL>
  238. &nbsp;
  239. <BR>&nbsp;<HR>
  240. <LI>
  241. <A NAME="changefiles"></A><B>How do I make a change
  242. to a file and check it in?</B></LI>
  243.  
  244. <BR>&nbsp;
  245. <H5>
  246. To edit a set of files...</H5>
  247. Normally, you will edit a file using three steps:
  248. <UL>
  249. <LI>
  250. Open the file for the 'edit' operation - you can open more than one file
  251. at a time;</LI>
  252.  
  253. <LI>
  254. Do the editing in your favorite editor, and make the contents of the files
  255. into what you want.</LI>
  256.  
  257. <LI>
  258. Submit the modifications as one 'atomic' change so that they're available
  259. to other people.</LI>
  260. </UL>
  261. &nbsp;
  262. <H5>
  263. Step #1:</H5>
  264.  
  265. <UL>The basic edit command is
  266. <BR>&nbsp;
  267. <BR>&nbsp;<TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  268. <I>filename</I></FONT></TT>
  269. <BR>&nbsp;
  270. <BR>or,
  271. <BR>&nbsp;
  272. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  273. <I>filename1&nbsp; filename2&nbsp;</I>&nbsp;&nbsp; </FONT></TT><I>(and
  274. so on)</I>
  275. <BR>&nbsp;
  276. <BR>and occasionally,
  277. <BR>&nbsp;
  278. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  279. <I>directoryname</I>/...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </FONT></TT><I>(edit
  280. all files in `directoryname' and its subdirectories)</I>
  281. <BR>&nbsp;</UL>
  282.  
  283. <H5>
  284. Step #2:</H5>
  285.  
  286. <UL>Do the editing using your favorite editor - Perforce isn't directly
  287. involved in this step.&nbsp; You can always run through "Step #1" on other
  288. files, if you decide you need to edit more files.
  289.  
  290. <P><I>In Perforce, the 'working' copy of the file is a local copy stored
  291. in the "client area". The modified contents are sent back to the server
  292. only when you do a 'p4 submit'.</I></UL>
  293.  
  294. <H5>
  295. Step #3:</H5>
  296.  
  297. <UL>The basic "submit my changes" command is:
  298. <BR>&nbsp;
  299. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp; submit&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  300. </FONT><I><FONT COLOR="#000000">(submit all modifications)</FONT></I></TT>
  301. <BR>&nbsp;
  302. <BR>or, occasionally,
  303. <BR>&nbsp;
  304. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 submit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  305. <I>filename&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </I></FONT></TT><I>(submit only this one
  306. file's modifications, leave the rest checked out)</I>
  307.  
  308. <P><B>When you run...</B>
  309. <BR>&nbsp;
  310. <BR><B><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 submit</FONT></TT></B>
  311. <BR>&nbsp;
  312. <BR><B>...you'll be dumped into the editor, to write a description of why
  313. you made these changes. </B>See the manual for more details.
  314. <BR>&nbsp;</UL>
  315. <HR>
  316. <LI>
  317. <A NAME="changeeditor"></A><B>What if I have a favorite editor and
  318. want to use it when I do a change submission?</B></LI>
  319.  
  320. <BR>&nbsp;
  321. <BR>You can either set the environment variable "P4EDITOR" to be the name
  322. of the editor you want to run, or if you're on Windows/NT, use:&nbsp;<BR>
  323. <BR>
  324. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp; set&nbsp; P4EDITOR=<I>commandname</I></FONT></TT>
  325. <BR><B>&nbsp;</B><HR>
  326. <LI>
  327. <A NAME="addfile"></A><B>How do I add a new directory?</B></LI>
  328.  
  329. <BR>&nbsp;
  330. <BR>You don't need to add a directory, explicitly.&nbsp; You simply add
  331. files in that directory, using
  332.  
  333. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cd&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>directoryname</I><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; add&nbsp;&nbsp;
  334. <I>filename</I></FONT></TT>
  335.  
  336. <P>or,
  337.  
  338. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; add&nbsp;&nbsp;
  339. <I>directoryname</I>/<I>filename1&nbsp; directoryname/filename2&nbsp;</I>&nbsp;&nbsp;
  340. </FONT></TT><I>(and so on)</I>
  341.  
  342. <P>The final step, which is to run&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  343. submit</FONT> </TT>, will make these new files available to other Perforce
  344. clients.
  345.  
  346. <P>Perforce infers the existence of new directories whenever it sees a
  347. new directory it hasn't seen before.
  348. &nbsp;
  349. <HR>
  350. <LI>
  351. <A NAME="removefile"></A><B>How do I remove a directory?</B></LI>
  352.  
  353.  
  354. <P>&nbsp;
  355. <BR>You don't need to remove a directory, explicitly.&nbsp; You simply
  356. remove files in that directory, using
  357. <BR>&nbsp;
  358. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cd&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>directoryname</I><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; delete&nbsp;&nbsp;
  359. <I>filename</I></FONT></TT>
  360. <BR>&nbsp;
  361. <BR>or,
  362. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; delete&nbsp;&nbsp;
  363. <I>directoryname</I>/<I>filename1&nbsp; directoryname/filename2&nbsp;</I>&nbsp;&nbsp;
  364. </FONT></TT><I>(and so on)</I>
  365.  
  366. <P>and occasionally,
  367. <BR>&nbsp;
  368. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; delete&nbsp;&nbsp;
  369. <I>directoryname</I>/...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </FONT></TT><I>(remove
  370. all files in `directoryname' and its subdirectories)</I>
  371.  
  372. <P>The penultimate step, which is to run&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  373. submit</FONT> </TT>, will these deletions to other Perforce clients.
  374.  
  375. <P><B>The final step is to remove the empty directories on your client:&nbsp;"p4
  376. delete / p4 submit"&nbsp;removed the files, but not the directories.</B>
  377. &nbsp;
  378. <HR>
  379. <LI>
  380. <A NAME="olderversion"></A><B>How do I check out some
  381. older version of a file?</B></LI>
  382.  
  383. <BR>&nbsp;
  384. <BR>You'll need to retrieve that revision first, then&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  385. edit </FONT></TT>the file. That's the easy part. The hard part is deciding
  386. how to submit the change. (Let's save that for later in the answer.)
  387.  
  388. <P>For example, if you want to edit revision #12 of xyz.java, you'll need
  389. to type:
  390. <BR>&nbsp;
  391. <BR><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT COLOR="#990000"> p4&nbsp;&nbsp; sync&nbsp;
  392. <I>xyz.java#12</I><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;
  393. <I>xyz.java</I></FONT></TT>
  394.  
  395. <P>The first command, of course, isn't needed if you already have revision
  396. #12 of <I>xyz.java</I>. (You can tell which revision you have by typing&nbsp;
  397. <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 files&nbsp; <I>xyz.java</I> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">.</FONT></TT>
  398.  
  399. <P><B><FONT COLOR="#000000">You'll be told, when you run </FONT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4&nbsp;&nbsp;
  400. edit&nbsp; xyz.java</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">, that you're not editing
  401. the most recent revision and that you'll need to resolve later revisions
  402. prior to submitting your changes.&nbsp; </FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000000">(If
  403. you think about it, that makes sense.)</FONT>
  404. <BR>Now the file's opened for "edit", and you can do whatever you want
  405. to the file. Submitting it, however, is going to be a problem: you don't
  406. want to inadvertently overwrite the contents of later revisions of the
  407. files.
  408.  
  409. <P><I>Case #1: you really do want to <U>overwrite</U> the later revisions
  410. for some reason.</I>
  411. <BR>&nbsp;
  412. <UL>When you run the command...
  413.  
  414. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  415. p4 submit</FONT></TT>
  416.  
  417. <P>you'll be told that the your changes need to be resolved against more
  418. recent revisions prior to submitting.&nbsp; <B>Write down the change number
  419. it gives in the error message (e.g. "submit -c 12345")</B>, although you
  420. can always find it again by running&nbsp; the command&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4&nbsp;
  421. changes -s pending </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">.</FONT></TT>
  422. <BR>&nbsp;
  423. <BR>&nbsp;
  424. <BR>&nbsp;</UL>
  425. <I>Case #2: You don't want to overwrite anything - you were just experimenting
  426. with an old version of a file to debug something.</I>
  427. <BR>&nbsp;
  428. <UL>From <A HREF="#p4revert">another question</A>
  429. in this FAQ: use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 revert <I>filename</I>
  430. </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to discard the modifications you've made
  431. to <I>filename</I> and retrieve a fresh copy of the <U>exact same revision</U>
  432. you had prior to typing</FONT>&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 edit
  433. <I>filename</I> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">.</FONT></TT>
  434. <BR>&nbsp;</UL>
  435. <HR>
  436. <LI>
  437. <A NAME="oldertree"></A><B>How do I check out an
  438. entire tree as of some date?</B></LI>
  439.  
  440. <BR>&nbsp;
  441. <H5>
  442. For release 98.2...</H5>
  443.  
  444. <UL>There's an entry in the <A HREF="http://perforce.com/perforce/doc.982/user/relnotes.txt">release
  445. notes</A> that says:</UL>
  446. &nbsp;
  447. <UL>
  448. <CENTER><TABLE COLS=1 WIDTH="70%" NOSAVE >
  449. <TR NOSAVE>
  450. <TD NOSAVE><I><FONT COLOR="#009900">&nbsp;</FONT><FONT COLOR="#660000">Wherever
  451. revision specifications are supported, @date and "@datetime" can now be
  452. used in addition to @change and @label.&nbsp; The format for date is YYYY/MM/DD,
  453. and the format for datetime is YYYY/MM/DD:HH:MM:SS.&nbsp; If no time is
  454. given, midnight is assumed.</FONT></I></TD>
  455. </TR>
  456. </TABLE></CENTER>
  457. &nbsp;</UL>
  458.  
  459. <UL>That means that the command&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync
  460. ...@<I>1998/09/02 </I></FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">will retrieve all
  461. files that map to the current directory (and its subdirectories!), at the
  462. revisions that were current at midnight on September 2, 1998.</FONT></UL>
  463.  
  464. <H5>
  465. <FONT COLOR="#000000">For releases prior to 98.2...</FONT></H5>
  466.  
  467. <UL><FONT COLOR="#000000">You'll need to use&nbsp;</FONT>&nbsp; <FONT COLOR="#990000"><TT>p4
  468. changes&nbsp;</TT>&nbsp; </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to find the change
  469. number <U>immediately prior</U> to the desired date, and then use the command&nbsp;&nbsp;</FONT>&nbsp;
  470. <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync ...@<I>changenum</I> </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to
  471. retrieve the fileset you want.</FONT></UL>
  472. &nbsp;
  473. <HR>
  474. <LI>
  475. <A NAME="alltree"></A><B>How do I check out an entire
  476. tree corresponding to some build or release?</B></LI>
  477.  
  478.  
  479. <P>In general, you'll need to have a piece of data from your build person:
  480. the label name used for that build.&nbsp; (You can always hunt for it,
  481. using the command&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT COLOR="#000000">&nbsp;</FONT>&nbsp;
  482. <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 labels </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">.)</FONT>
  483.  
  484. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">If the label is&nbsp;<I> release3.2label</I>,
  485. you can update your client area to this by typing:</FONT>
  486.  
  487. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 sync&nbsp;
  488. @release3.2label</FONT></TT>
  489.  
  490. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">This will update your client to this label, <U>removing
  491. local copies of files that aren't in the label.</U></FONT>
  492. <BR>&nbsp;
  493. <BR>If you want subdirectory xyz to be updated, but no other directories
  494. on your client, you would type:
  495.  
  496. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 sync&nbsp;
  497. xyz/...@release3.2label</FONT></TT>
  498. <BR>&nbsp;<HR>
  499. <LI>
  500. <A NAME="diff"></A><B>How do I compare a working
  501. file to the base?</B></LI>
  502.  
  503. <BR>&nbsp;
  504. <BR>Use&nbsp;<TT><FONT COLOR="#990000"> p4 diff <I>filename</I> </FONT></TT>,
  505. which will compare the <U>local copy</U> of a file you've opened for edit
  506. or an integrate operation against the revision of the file you were original
  507. given.
  508.  
  509. <P>For example, say you've opened&nbsp; <I>xyz.java</I> using the command:
  510. <BR>&nbsp;
  511. <BR><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT COLOR="#990000"> p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  512. <I>xyz.java</I></FONT></TT>
  513. <BR>&nbsp;
  514. <BR>To see your modifications, type:
  515. <BR>&nbsp;
  516. <BR><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <FONT COLOR="#990000">p4&nbsp;&nbsp; diff&nbsp;&nbsp;
  517. <I>xyz.java</I></FONT></TT>
  518. <BR>&nbsp;
  519. <BR>Note that this is not comparing your local&nbsp; copy of the file against
  520. the most recent changes that other people have checked in - it's comparing
  521. against the revision you were working against. (That's&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  522. diff <I>filename#head </I></FONT>.)</TT><HR>
  523. <LI>
  524. <A NAME="difftree"></A><B>How do I compare a whole
  525. tree to the base?</B></LI>
  526.  
  527. <BR>&nbsp;
  528. <BR>Use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 diff <I>directory/...</I> </FONT></TT>,
  529. which will compare the <U>local copy</U> of every file in <I>directory</I>
  530. that is opened for edit or an integrate operation against the revision
  531. of the file you were original given.
  532.  
  533. <P>For example, say you've opened&nbsp; <I>xyz.java</I>&nbsp; and<I> z.java
  534. </I>in directory dir1 using the command:
  535. <BR>&nbsp;
  536. <BR><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT COLOR="#990000"> p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  537. <I>dir1/xyz.java&nbsp; dir1/z.java</I></FONT></TT>
  538. <BR>&nbsp;
  539. <BR>To see your modifications, type:
  540. <BR>&nbsp;
  541. <BR><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <FONT COLOR="#990000">p4&nbsp;&nbsp; diff&nbsp;&nbsp;
  542. <I>dir1/...</I></FONT></TT>
  543. <BR>&nbsp;
  544. <BR>Note that this is not comparing your local&nbsp; copy of the file against
  545. the most recent changes that other people have checked in - it's comparing
  546. against the revision you were working against. (That's&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  547. diff <I>dir1/...#head </I></FONT>.)</TT>
  548. &nbsp;
  549. <HR>
  550. <LI>
  551. <A NAME="diffoptions"></A><B>How do I get my favorite
  552. diff behaviors with p4 diff?</B></LI>
  553.  
  554. <BR>&nbsp;
  555. <BR>The environment variable $DIFF is the command line that's run when
  556. you run:
  557.  
  558. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 diff&nbsp;<I>
  559. file1&nbsp; file2</I></FONT></TT>
  560.  
  561. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">If, for example, the command </FONT><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">"diff
  562. -c"</FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">&nbsp; produces "context output format",
  563. then the sequence:</FONT>
  564.  
  565. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DIFF="diff
  566. -c"<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; export
  567. DIFF<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 diff&nbsp;<I>
  568. file1&nbsp; file2</I></FONT></TT>
  569.  
  570. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">will produce that type of output for the differences
  571. between the two files.</FONT>
  572.  
  573. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">Note that&nbsp;</FONT> <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  574. diff2&nbsp; <I>file1&nbsp; file2 </I></FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">doesn't
  575. honor this variable,&nbsp; because the "diff" operation is run on the server
  576. and only the formatted output is returned to the user.</FONT>
  577. <BR>&nbsp;<HR>
  578. <LI>
  579. <A NAME="updatetree"></A><B>How do I update a tree from
  580. the base?</B></LI>
  581.  
  582. <BR>&nbsp;
  583. <BR>Use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync <I>directory/...</I> </FONT></TT>,
  584. which will retrieve the most recent revision of every file in <I>directory</I>
  585. (and its subdirectories!) that you haven't already got a copy of.
  586. <BR>&nbsp;
  587. <BR>This makes several assumptions:
  588. <UL>
  589. <LI>
  590. That there's something to get - if you have already updated <I>directory</I>
  591. to the most recent revisions and nothing's been changed since,&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  592. sync </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">won't retrieve the revisions again.
  593. (</FONT> <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync -f <I>directory/...#have</I>
  594. </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">will do that.)</FONT></LI>
  595.  
  596. <LI>
  597. <FONT COLOR="#000000">That <I>directory</I> is located under your local
  598. Perforce's client root.&nbsp;&nbsp;</FONT> The command...<BR>
  599. <BR></LI>
  600.  
  601. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 info</FONT></TT>
  602. <BR>&nbsp;
  603. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000">will tell you what your client's root directory
  604. is.</FONT>
  605. <LI>
  606. <FONT COLOR="#000000">That <I>directory</I> is mapped in from the Perforce
  607. depot using your client specification. The command...</FONT><BR>
  608. <BR></LI>
  609.  
  610. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cd <I>directory</I><BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 where <I>xxx</I></FONT></TT>
  611.  
  612. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">will product output that looks something like:</FONT>
  613. <BR><TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; xxx - file(s) not in client
  614. view.</FONT></TT>
  615. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000">if the directory's not included in your client
  616. view. (You'll want to see the documentation for help on this, but you'll
  617. know where to start: <U>client specification</U>.)</FONT></UL>
  618. &nbsp;
  619. <HR>
  620. <LI>
  621. <A NAME="comparefiles"></A><B>How do I compare a working
  622. file to an older version (other than the base)?</B></LI>
  623.  
  624. <BR>&nbsp;
  625. <BR>Use&nbsp;<TT><FONT COLOR="#990000"> p4 diff <I>filename#revision</I>
  626. </FONT></TT>, which will compare the <U>working copy</U> of a file you've
  627. opened for edit or an integrate operation against the revision of the file
  628. you specify using "#revision".
  629.  
  630. <P>For example, say you've opened&nbsp; <I>xyz.java</I> using the command:
  631. <BR>&nbsp;
  632. <BR><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<FONT COLOR="#990000"> p4&nbsp;&nbsp; edit&nbsp;&nbsp;
  633. <I>xyz.java</I></FONT></TT>
  634. <BR>&nbsp;
  635. <BR>Various "diff" commands follow:
  636. <BR>&nbsp;
  637. <UL>
  638. <DL>&nbsp;
  639. <CENTER><TABLE BORDER WIDTH="80%" NOSAVE >
  640. <TR NOSAVE>
  641. <TD><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 diff <I>xyz.java</I></FONT></TT></TD>
  642.  
  643. <TD NOSAVE>Compares your working copy against the revision your edits are
  644. on - if you are editing revision #4 of a file, this will compare your working
  645. copy against revision #4.</TD>
  646. </TR>
  647.  
  648. <TR>
  649. <TD><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 diff <I>xyz.java#2</I></FONT></TT></TD>
  650.  
  651. <TD>Compares your working copy against the revision #2.</TD>
  652. </TR>
  653.  
  654. <TR>
  655. <TD><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 diff xyz.java#head&nbsp;</FONT></TT></TD>
  656.  
  657. <TD>Compares your working copy against the most recent revision in the
  658. depot.</TD>
  659. </TR>
  660.  
  661. <CAPTION ALIGN=BOTTOM>&nbsp;</CAPTION>
  662. </TABLE></CENTER>
  663. &nbsp;</DL>
  664. </UL>
  665. <HR>
  666. <LI>
  667. <A NAME="p4have"></A><B>How do I get a list
  668. of all files I have open on all my client workspaces?</B></LI>
  669.  
  670. <BR>&nbsp;
  671. <BR>If your username is <I>joe</I>, then the following command will show
  672. you your opened files for all workspaces:
  673.  
  674. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 opened -a
  675. | grep <I>joe</I></FONT></TT>
  676.  
  677. <P>If you don't have "grep" (i.e. you're on Windows) you'll need to search
  678. the output of&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 opened</FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">
  679. for this.</FONT>
  680. <BR>&nbsp;<HR>
  681. <LI>
  682. <A NAME="p4describe"></A><B>How do I examine the change
  683. log for a file?</B></LI>
  684.  
  685. <BR>&nbsp;
  686. <BR>Use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 filelog <I>filename</I> </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to
  687. get the list of <U>revisions</U> since a file was created in a particular
  688. codeline.</FONT>
  689.  
  690. <P>Use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 changes -i <I>directory/...</I>
  691. </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to get the list of <U>change numbers</U>
  692. since a file stored originally in Perforce.</FONT>
  693.  
  694. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">You'll recall that the difference between a <U>revision</U>
  695. and a <U>change number</U> is that the revision is specific to a file...</FONT>
  696. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000"><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; x.c#1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  697. </TT><I>(revision #1 of file x.c)</I></FONT>
  698. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000"><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; x.c#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  699. </TT><I>(revision #2 of file x.c)</I></FONT>
  700. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000"><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; y.java#1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  701. </TT><I>(revision #1 of file y.java)</I></FONT>
  702. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000"><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; y.java#2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  703. </TT><I>(revision #2 of file y.java)</I></FONT>
  704. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000"><TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; y.java#3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  705. </TT><I>(revision #3 of file y.java)</I></FONT>
  706. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000">The change number is a list of revisions that
  707. got changed as part of one atomic change to the Perforce depot. For example,
  708. change #12345 might be a change to add comments to x.c and y.java, and
  709. this change might've created revision #2 of<I> x.c</I> and #3 of <I>y.java.</I></FONT><HR>
  710. <LI>
  711. <A NAME="p4revert"></A><B>How do I abandon my
  712. changes and pick up a clean copy from the base?</B></LI>
  713.  
  714. <BR>&nbsp;
  715. <BR>Use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 revert <I>filename</I> </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to
  716. discard the modifications you've made to <I>filename</I> and retrieve a
  717. fresh copy of the <U>exact same revision</U> you had prior to typing</FONT>&nbsp;
  718. <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 edit <I>filename</I> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">.</FONT></TT>
  719.  
  720. <P>Use&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 revert <I>directory/...</I> </FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to
  721. discard all the modifications you've made to any file in <I>directory</I>
  722. (or its subdirectories).</FONT><HR>
  723. <LI>
  724. <A NAME="individual_change"></A><B>How do I propagate an
  725. individual change made in one branch to another?</B></LI>
  726.  
  727.  
  728. <P>Let's say you have a main codeline, and a child codeline ("branch")
  729. called <I>methusalah</I>.
  730.  
  731. <P>If you wanted to propogate change number 900 from the main codeline to <I>methusalah</I>,
  732. you'd type:
  733. <BR>&nbsp;
  734. <OL><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 integrate -b <I>methusalah</I>&nbsp; @900,@900</FONT></TT></OL>
  735.  
  736.  
  737. <P>Of course, if you wanted to propogate change number 902 from methusalah to
  738. the main codeline, you'd type:
  739. <BR>&nbsp;
  740. <OL><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 integrate -b <I>methusalah</I>&nbsp; -r
  741. @902,@902</FONT></TT><BR>
  742. <BR></OL>
  743. <FONT COLOR="#000000">The subsequent&nbsp; resolve/submit combination is
  744. left as an exercise.</FONT>
  745.  
  746. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">It's a good idea to include the original change
  747. number in the change description for the integration.</FONT>
  748. <BR>&nbsp;<HR>
  749. <LI>
  750. <A NAME="deletefile_weird"></A>
  751. <b>I created a file that begins with a dash, and
  752. want to 'p4 delete' it and cannot. What can I do?</b>
  753. <p>
  754. Let's say that the name of the file is <i>&quot;-filename&quot;</i>.
  755. <p>
  756. Run &quot;<font COLOR="#990000">p4 delete dummy -filename</font>&quot;
  757. to delete the file - ignore the comment about the dummy filename, its
  758. purpose is to stop the option/argument processing and let everything else
  759. on the command line be interpreted as filenames.
  760. <p>
  761. <i>Or, you could run &quot;<font COLOR="#990000">p4 delete ./-filename</font>&quot;, which uses the Unix directory separator ('/') to construct a
  762. filename that refers to the same file, but doesn't begin with a dash.
  763. (NT uses might use '\'.)</i>
  764. </LI>
  765. <br>&nbsp;
  766. <hr>
  767.  
  768.  
  769. <LI>
  770. <A NAME="deleteclient"></A><B>How do I delete a client workspace?</B></LI>
  771.  
  772. <BR>&nbsp;
  773. <BR><FONT COLOR="#000000">Use&nbsp;</FONT>&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4
  774. client -d&nbsp; <I>workspacename</I>&nbsp;</FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;
  775. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to do this. The steps are:</FONT>
  776. <UL><li><FONT COLOR="#000000">Set $P4CLIENT to the name of the workspace, or
  777. make sure that every command you run for this task uses the syntax</FONT>
  778.  
  779. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 -c
  780. <I>workspacename</I>&nbsp; cmd</FONT></TT>
  781. <BR>&nbsp;
  782. <LI>
  783. <FONT COLOR="#000000">Run&nbsp;</FONT>&nbsp; <FONT COLOR="#990000"><TT>p4
  784. opened&nbsp;</TT>&nbsp; </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000">to make sure that
  785. no files are opened for any operations in this workspace. If there are,
  786. use the command...</FONT></LI>
  787.  
  788.  
  789. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 revert
  790. <I>filelist</I></FONT></TT>
  791.  
  792. <P><FONT COLOR="#000000">... to revert them.</FONT>
  793. <LI>
  794. <FONT COLOR="#000000">Remove the workspace entry on the Perforce server...</FONT></LI>
  795.  
  796.  
  797. <P><TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; p4 client
  798. -d <I>workspacename</I></FONT></TT>
  799. <BR>&nbsp;
  800. <LI>
  801. <FONT COLOR="#000000">Remove the files and directories on the local disk
  802. that correspond to the client area.</FONT></LI>
  803. </UL>
  804. &nbsp;
  805. <HR>
  806. <LI>
  807. <A NAME="moveclient"></A><B>How do I move a client workspace?</B></LI>
  808.  
  809.  
  810. <P>It's easy, but requires a little planning.
  811. <BR>&nbsp;
  812. <OL>
  813. <LI>
  814. Figure out the new client "root". Let's say it's "/home/jojo/newroot".</LI>
  815.  
  816. <LI>
  817. If you're using the Windows GUI program against this particular Perforce
  818. client, exit the GUI.</LI>
  819.  
  820. <LI>
  821. Move the entire subtree from its old place to "/home/jojo/newroot".</LI>
  822.  
  823. <BR>Run&nbsp; <TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 client<I>&nbsp;</I></FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">
  824. , which will dump you into the editor - you'll be changing the client specification.
  825. Change the "Root:" field to the name "/home/jojo/newroot" and save the
  826. file.</FONT>
  827. <BR>&nbsp;</OL>
  828. <hr>
  829. <LI>
  830. <A NAME="sync_fails"><b>I can't &quot;p4 sync&quot; a particular file. What might be going on?</b></li>
  831. <p>
  832. Let's say that you can retrieve all the files in the
  833. directory (using the depot name syntax) //bas/BIN/src/krn/rsec/
  834. except the file //bas/BIN/src/krn/rsec/rsecstoc.c.
  835. <p>
  836. It could be several things:
  837. <ol>
  838. <li>The other files it gets are in the directory
  839. <tt>//bas/bin/src/krn/rsec/...</tt>
  840. If that's the case, you're up against upper-case/lower-case issues.
  841. (The NT version of the server ignores case; the Unix version of
  842. the server does not.) If this is the case, it'll be easiest to
  843. go to a Unix client and rename the file to be in the same directory
  844. as the files that are succeeding. ("p4 help rename" gives the steps
  845. for renaming a file.)
  846. <li>You might not have permissions on this file from this IP address
  847. for this user. Use "p4 protect -o" and "p4 where" to make sure that
  848. isn't the case.
  849. <li>The client spec might not be mapping that file as you expect.
  850. The command
  851. &quot;<TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 where  //bas/BIN/src/krn/rsec/rsecstoc.c<I>&nbsp;</I></FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">&quot;
  852. will process
  853. the argument filename through the client spec [processing] code to
  854. tell you where it would be mapped.
  855. <li>The top-most revision of that file might be a "delete" revision,
  856. so that there's nothing to get(!).
  857. (&quot;<TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 files  //bas/BIN/src/krn/rsec/rsecstoc.c<I>&nbsp;</I></FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">&quot;
  858. will tell you the type of the top-most revision of the file.)
  859. <li>There might be nothing to get, because it thinks you have the
  860. most recent revision. "p4 have //bas/BIN/src/krn/rsec/rsecstoc.c" will
  861. tell you if you already have a revision for that file, or at least
  862. whether the database thinks you do.
  863. (&quot;<TT><FONT COLOR="#990000">p4 sync -f //bas/BIN/src/krn/rsec/rsecstoc.c<I>&nbsp;</I></FONT></TT><FONT COLOR="#000000">&quot;
  864. will force getting a fresh revision.)
  865. </ol>
  866. </OL>
  867.  
  868. <P><I>Last modified on 11 November 1998.</I>
  869. </BODY>
  870. </HTML>
# Change User Description Committed
#1 5415 michael Move user FAQ to //guest branch and provide pointers.
Remove old branching FAQ.
Update p...age to reference Perforce Software documentation. «		 19 years ago