~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

======================

Bazaar in five minutes

======================

Introduction

============

Bazaar is a distributed version control system that makes it easier for

people to work together on software projects.

Over the next five minutes, you'll learn how to put your files under

version control, how to record changes to them, examine your work, publish

it and send your work for merger into a project's trunk.

If you'd prefer a more detailed introduction, take a look at

`Learning More`_.

Installation

============

This guide doesn't describe how to install Bazaar but it's usually very

easy. You can find installation instructions at:

- **GNU/Linux:** Bazaar is probably in your GNU/Linux distribution already.

- **Windows:** `installation instructions for Windows`_.

- **Mac OS X:** `installation instructions for Mac OS X`_.

For other platforms and to install from source code, see the Download_

and Installation_ pages.

.. _installation instructions for Windows: http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/WindowsDownloads

.. _installation instructions for Mac OS X: http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/MacOSXBundle

.. _Download: http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/Download

.. _Installation: http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/InstallationFaq

Introducing yourself

====================

Before you start working, it is good to tell Bazaar who you are. That

way your work is properly identified in revision logs.

Using your name and email address, instead of John Doe's, type::

  $ bzr whoami "John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>"

Bazaar will now create or modify a configuration file, including your

name and email address.

Now, check that your name and email address are correctly registered::

  $ bzr whoami

  John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>

Putting files under version control

===================================

Let's create a directory and some files to use with Bazaar::

 $ mkdir myproject

 $ cd myproject

 $ mkdir subdirectory

 $ touch test1.txt test2.txt test3.txt subdirectory/test4.txt

**Note for Windows users**: use Windows Explorer to create your

directories, then right-click in those directories and select

``New file`` to create your files.

Now get Bazaar to initialize itself in your project directory::

  $ bzr init

If it looks like nothing happened, don't worry. Bazaar has created a

branch_ where it will store your files and their revision histories.

.. _branch: http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/Branch

The next step is to tell Bazaar which files you want to track. Running

``bzr add`` will recursively add everything in the project::

 $ bzr add

 added subdirectory

 added test1.txt

 added test2.txt

 added test3.txt

 added subdirectory/test4.txt

Next, take a snapshot of your files by committing them to your branch. Add

a message to explain why you made the commit::

  $ bzr commit -m "Initial import"

As Bazaar is a distributed version control system, it doesn't need to

connect to a central server to make the commit. Instead, Bazaar stores your

branch and all its commits inside the directory you're working with; look

for the ``.bzr`` sub-directory.

Making changes to your files

============================

Let's change a file and commit that change to your branch.

Edit ``test1.txt`` in your favourite editor, then check what have you done::

 $ bzr diff

 === modified file 'test1.txt'

 --- test1.txt   2007-10-08 17:56:14 +0000

 +++ test1.txt   2007-10-08 17:46:22 +0000

 @@ -0,0 +1,1 @@

 +test test test

Commit your work to the Bazaar branch::

  $ bzr commit -m "Added first line of text"

  Committed revision 2.

Viewing the revision log

========================

You can see the history of your branch by browsing its log::

  $ bzr log

  ------------------------------------------------------------

  revno: 2

  committer: John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>

  branch nick: myproject

  timestamp: Mon 2007-10-08 17:56:14 +0000

  message:

    Added first line of text

  ------------------------------------------------------------

  revno: 1

  committer: John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>

  branch nick: myproject

  timestamp: Mon 2006-10-08 17:46:22 +0000

  message:

    Initial import

Publishing your branch on Launchpad

===================================

Launchpad is a suite of development and hosting tools for

software projects. You can use it to publish your branch.  (You can 

also publish branches onto your own server or other hosting services.)

If you don't have a Launchpad account, follow the `account signup guide`_

and `register an SSH key`_ in your new Launchpad account.

.. _account signup guide: https://help.launchpad.net/CreatingYourLaunchpadAccount

.. _register an SSH key: https://launchpad.net/people/+me/+editsshkeys

Replacing ``john.doe`` with your own Launchpad username, type [#]_::

 $ bzr push lp:~john.doe/+junk/myproject

.. [#] Use of the ``lp:`` URL scheme requires bzr 0.92 or later.

**Note**: ``+junk`` means that this branch isn't associated with any particular

project in Launchpad.

Now, anyone can create their own copy of your branch by typing::

 $ bzr branch lp:~john.doe/+junk/myproject

You can also see information about your branch, including its revision

history, at https://code.launchpad.net/people/+me/+junk/myproject

Creating your own copy of another branch

========================================

To work with someone else's code, you can make your own copy of their

branch. Let's take a real-world example, Bazaar's GTK interface::

  $ bzr branch lp:~bzr/bzr-gtk/trunk bzr-gtk.john

  Branched 292 revision(s).

Bazaar will download all the files and complete revision history from the

bzr-gtk project's trunk branch and create a copy called bzr-gtk.john.

Now, you have your own copy of the branch and can commit changes with

or without a net connection. You can share your branch at any time by

publishing it and, if the  bzr-gtk team want to use your work, Bazaar

makes it easy for them to merge your branch back into their trunk branch.

Updating your branch from the main branch

=========================================

While you commit changes to your branch, it's likely that other people will

also continue to commit code to the parent branch.

To make sure your branch stays up to date, you should merge changes from

the parent into your personal branch::

  $ bzr merge

  Merging from saved parent location: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~bzr/bzr-gtk/trunk

  All changes applied successfully.

Check what has changed::

  $ bzr diff

If you're happy with the changes, you can commit them to your personal

branch::

  $ bzr commit -m "Merge from main branch"

  Committed revision 295.

Merging your work into the parent branch

========================================

After you've worked on your personal branch of bzr-gtk, you may want to

send your changes back upstream to the project. The easiest way is to

use a merge directive.

A merge directive is a machine-readable request to perform a

particular merge.  It usually contains a patch preview of the merge

and either contains the necessary revisions, or provides a branch

where they can be found.

Replacing ``mycode.patch``, create your merge directive::

 $ bzr send -o mycode.patch

 Using saved parent location: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~bzr/bzr-gtk/trunk

You can now email the merge directive to the bzr-gtk project who, if

they choose, can use it merge your work back into the parent branch.

Learning more

=============

You can find out more about Bazaar in the

`Bazaar User Guide <../user-guide/index.html>`_.

To learn about Bazaar on the command-line::

  $ bzr help

To learn about Bazaar commands::

  $ bzr help commands

To learn about the ''foo'' topic or command::

  $ bzr help foo