# Introduction to Perforce

## Basic Terminology

- Depot: the central repository where file revisions are stored and managed by the Perforce Server.
- Workspace: the area on your computer where you work with your copies of files that are under Perforce control.
- Perforce Server: the program that manages file revisions.
- Changelist: A group of files, with a description explaining how you’ve changed them (for example, “Fix bug #123”). Changelists are assigned numbers by the Perforce Server so you can track them. Changelists enable you to group related files and submit them together.

The following diagram shows the relationship between workspace and depot.

## Basic Tasks

- Retrieve a file: Retrieve a copy of a file version from the depot. Note: Perforce also uses the term "sync" to mean "retrieve a file." This usage is different from the Eclipse term "synchronize."
- Check out: enables you to change the file.
- Mark for add or delete: indicates that the file is added to or deleted from the depot when the changelist is submitted .
- Revert a file: Discard any changes you have made to an open file. If you open a file for edit and make changes, then change your mind and revert the file, Perforce reloads the last version you got from the depot and discards your changes.
- Submit a changelist: Update the depot to reflect any changes you’ve made to files in the changelist. Submitting is an all-or-nothing operation: if there’s a problem submitting one file in a changelist, none of the other files in the changelist are updated.

## Perforce File Decorations

File decorations indicate status as follows.

| Marked for add
| Marked for delete
| Checked out by you
| Checked out by another user
| Locked
| Version in workspace is not latest version
| Workspace version is up to date
| Needs resolve (conflicting changes have been made)

For more details about configuring P4Eclipse, see Setting Preferences.

This product includes software developed by the Eclipse Project (http://www.eclipse.org/).