p4 - a wrapper for the Perforce p4 command. Rick Richardson <rickr@mn.rr.com> INTRODUCTION ------------ This is a wrapper for the Perforce "p4" command. It extends "p4" by adding CVS-style commands like import, commit, update, and annotate to the regular set of Perforce commands. In addition, the Perforce "p4 submit" command was missing fundamental features, so this wrapper augments that command as well. All regular Perforce commands are available thru this wrapper, so there is no reason not to wrap the p4 command as no functionality will be lost. As of 06/30/2001, this is a work in progress. Some of the lesser used CVS options are being added as time permits, and of course there will be bugs that won't show up until more people use the wrapper. INSTALLATION ------------ Assuming that Perforce's "p4" command is in /usr/bin, and your usual search $PATH puts /usr/local/bin before /usr/bin, then just type "make install" (as root, if necessary). Another way is to move your p4 binary to "p4.orig", then edit the script and change the P4 variabe to point to p4.orig, then copy the script to any convenient directory in your $PATH. EXTENDED COMMANDS ----------------- Most extended subcommands take file and/or directory arguments, recursing on the directories. If no arguments are supplied to such a command, it will recurse on the current directory (inclusive) by default. This is the surprise-free behavior CVS users are used to. So far, the extended list of commands is: p4 annotate file|dir ... Generate an annotated listing of each "file", showing who to blame for each changed each line. The underlying engine for this command is Bob Sidebotham's p4pr.perl script. p4 checkout dir ... Currently, checks out all source code under the listed directories. p4 commit [options] [file|dir] ... A lot like the CVS commit command. Submit files which have been changed, issuing "p4 edit" commands as needed. Best used when you like to operate with the "allwrite" option on your workspace. But certainly a savior if you made changes to files and manually overrode the readonly file permission (who hasn't?). Options: -R Process directories recursively (default). -l Local directory only (not recursive). -f Force the file to be committed; disables recursion. -F msgfile Read the log message from msgfile. -m msg The -m msg option is use to specify the log message, in which case the operation is non-interactive. p4 import Add all files in current directory and below to the depot. CVS style repository vendortag releasetag options are not currently handled. p4 log [file|dir] ... Produce a long listing of the file(s) revision history. p4 rename from to Rename the file "from" to name "to". N.B. it is currently NOT SAFE to do this: p4 rename xxx yyy p4 rename yyy xxx If you decide you want to rename something back to its original name, then you must rename it three times: p4 rename xxx yyy p4 rename yyy zzz p4 rename zzz xxx This appears to be a problem within Perforce and has been mentioned on the Perforce mailing lists, but Perforce has not offered a solution as far as I can tell. p4 stat [file|dir] ... Short and sweet status summary. Stuff you need to get, and stuff you need to commit. p4 submit [p4options] [-m logmsg] [p4filespec] ... Augmented version of p4 submit that allows more than one P4-style file specification. It also allows the changelog description to be specified with -m logmsg. The limitation of one p4filespec with the Perforce version of this command is a glaring weakness in Perforce that they have not addressed despite repeated requests from users going back to 1999. For this reason, the augmented version of p4 submit is supplied, even though I prefer to use the p4 commit variation. p4 update [options] [file|dir] ... Get the latest versions of files from the repository (sync). Then resolve any conflicts. Options: -C Overwrite locally modified files with clean depot copies. -r rev Get the revision specified by "rev", which may be a revision number, a label, or any of the Perforce style "#"/"@" revision specifiers. Unlike CVS, this option is NOT STICKY. -D date Get the version which was current as of date. Date is not restricted to the weak Perforce syntax; it can be in any of the allowable date(1) formats. Unlike CVS, this option is NOT STICKY. p4 ws <wsname> [server:port [user [passwd]]] Create a new workspace named "<wsname>" in the current directory. The default server:port is perforce:1666, but may be overridden. You do not need to set any environment variables in order to use this command. It is recommended, however, that you eventually set P4CONFIG=.p4config in your .profile. This is so that the unadorned Perforce p4 command will work properly in case you stop using this wrapper. QUICKER START ------------- Make a workspace to hold (potentially all of) the company wide source tree... mkdir work cd work p4 ws my-work-tree Populate the tree with everything that other people committed (optional)... # current dir is now, say, $HOME/work p4 update Add your project... mkdir myjunk cd myjunk # current dir is now, say, $HOME/work/myjunk echo foo > xxx.c echo bar > yyy.c p4 add *.c p4 commit Or add it this way... mkdir myjunk cd myjunk # current dir is now, say, $HOME/work/myjunk echo foo > xxx.c echo bar > yyy.c p4 import Make some changes... echo foobar > xxx.c echo barfoo > yyy.c p4 commit