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The centralized model can have some drawbacks. A centralized RCS requires
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that one is able to connect to the server whenever one wants to do version
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control work. This can be a bit of a problem if your server is on some other
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machine on the internet and you are not. Or, worse yet, you **are** on the
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control work. This can be a bit of a problem if your server on some other
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machine on the internet and you are not. Or, worse yet, you ''are'' on the
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internet but the server is missing!
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Decentralized Revision Control Systems (which I'll call DRCS after this
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point) deal with this problem by keeping branches on the same machine as
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the client. In Bazaar's case, the branch is kept in the same place as
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the client. In Bazaar-NG's case, the branch is kept in the same place as
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the code that is being version controlled. This allows the user to save
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his changes (**commit**) whenever he wants -- even if he is offline. The
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user only needs internet access when he wants to access the changes in
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the changes for a directory such as file and subdirectory changes.
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Performing this tracking by hand is a awkward process that over time
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becomes unwieldy. That is, until one considers version control tools such
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as Bazaar. These tools automate the process of storing data by creating
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as Bazaar-NG. These tools automate the process of storing data by creating
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a **revision** of the directory tree whenever the user asks.
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Revision control software such as Bazaar can do much more than just
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storage and performing undo. For example, with Bazaar a developer can
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take the modifications in one branch of software and apply them to a
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related branch -- even if those changes exist in a branch owned by
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somebody else. This allows developers to cooperate without giving
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write access to the repository.
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Revision control software such as Bazaar-NG can do much more than just
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storage and performing undo. For example, with Bazaar-NG developer can
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take the modifications in one branch of software and apply them to
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another, related, branch -- even if those changes exist in a branch owned
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by somebody else. This allows developers to cooperate without giving write
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Bazaar remembers the ''ancestry'' of a revision: the previous revisions
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Bazaar-NG remembers the ''ancestry'' of a revision: the previous revisions
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that it is based upon. A single revision may have more than one direct
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descendant, each with different changes, representing a divergence in the
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evolution of the tree. By branching, Bazaar allows multiple people to
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evolution of the tree. By branching, Bazaar-NG allows multiple people to
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cooperate on the evolution of a project, without all needing to work in
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strict lock-step. Branching can be useful even for a single developer.
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Introducing yourself to Bazaar
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==============================
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Introducing yourself to Bazaar-NG
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=================================
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Bazaar installs a single new command, **bzr**. Everything else is a
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subcommand of this. You can get some help with ``bzr help``. Some arguments
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are grouped in topics: ``bzr help topics`` to see which topics are available.
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Bazaar-NG installs a single new command, **bzr**. Everything else is a
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subcommand of this. You can get some help with `bzr help`. There will be
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One function of a version control system is to keep track of who changed
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what. In a decentralized system, that requires an identifier for each
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author that is globally unique. Most people already have one of these: an
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email address. Bazaar is smart enough to automatically generate an email
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email address. Bzr is smart enough to automatically generate an email
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address by looking up your username and hostname. If you don't like the
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guess that Bazaar makes, then three options exist:
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1. Set an email address via ``bzr whoami``. This is the simplest way.
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To set a global identity, use::
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% bzr whoami "Your Name <email@example.com>"
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If you'd like to use a different address for a specific branch, enter
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the branch folder and use::
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% bzr whoami --branch "Your Name <email@example.com>"
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#. Setting the email address in the ``~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf`` [1]_ by
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adding the following lines. Please note that ``[DEFAULT]`` is case
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email=Your Name <email@isp.com>
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As above, you can override this settings on a branch by branch basis
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by creating a branch section in ``~/.bazaar/locations.conf`` and
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adding the following lines::
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[/the/path/to/the/branch]
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email=Your Name <email@isp.com>
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#. Overriding the two previous options by setting the global environment
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variable ``$BZR_EMAIL`` or ``$EMAIL`` (``$BZR_EMAIL`` will take
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precedence) to your full email address.
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.. [1] On Windows, the users configuration files can be found in the
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application data directory. So instead of ``~/.bazaar/branch.conf``
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the configuration file can be found as:
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``C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Bazaar\2.0\branch.conf``.
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The same is true for ``locations.conf``, ``ignore``, and the
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``plugins`` directory.
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guess that Bazaar-NG makes, then three options exist:
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1. Setting the email address in the
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``~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf`` by adding the following lines. Please note that
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``[DEFAULT]`` is case sensitive::
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email= Your Name <email@isp.com>
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1. Override the previous setting on a
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branch by branch basis by creating a branch section in
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``~/.bazaar/branches.conf`` by adding the following lines::
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[/the/directory/to/the/branch]
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email=Your Name <email@isp.com>
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1. Overriding the two previous options by setting the global environment
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variable ``$BZREMAIL`` or ``$EMAIL`` (``$BZREMAIL`` will take precedence)
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to your full email address.
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Creating a branch
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=================
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History is by default stored in the .bzr directory of the branch. In a
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future version of Bazaar, there will be a facility to store it in a
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separate repository, which may be remote.
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We create a new branch by running ``bzr init`` in an existing directory::
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History is by default stored in the .bzr directory of the branch. There
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will be a facility to store it in a separate repository, which may be
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remote. We create a new branch by running **bzr init** in an existing
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All history is stored in a branch, which is just an on-disk directory
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containing control files. By default there is no separate repository or
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database as used in svn or svk. You can choose to create a repository if
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you want to (see the ``bzr init-repo`` command). You may wish to do this
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if you have very large branches, or many branches of a moderately sized
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you want to (see the **bzr init-repo** command). You may wish to do this
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if you have very large branches, or many branches of a moderate sized
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You'll usually refer to branches on your computer's filesystem just by
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giving the name of the directory containing the branch. bzr also supports
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accessing branches over http and sftp, for example::
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% bzr log http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev/
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% bzr log sftp://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev/
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By installing bzr plugins you can also access branches using the rsync
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See the `Publishing your branch`_ section for more about how to put your
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branch at a given location.
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accessing branches over http, for example::
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% bzr log http://bazaar-ng.org/bzr/bzr.dev/
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By installing bzr plugins you can also access branches over the sftp or
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Reviewing changes
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=================
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''patch'', ''diffstat'', ''filterdiff'' and ''colordiff''::
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=== added file 'hello.txt'
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--- hello.txt 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000
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+++ hello.txt 2005-10-18 14:23:29 +0000
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*** added file 'hello.txt'
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With the ``-r`` option, the tree is compared to an earlier revision, or
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With the ''-r'' option, the tree is compared to an earlier revision, or
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the differences between two versions are shown::
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% bzr diff -r 1000.. # everything since r1000
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% bzr diff -r 1000..1100 # changes from 1000 to 1100
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The ``--diff-options`` option causes bzr to run the external diff program,
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The --diff-options option causes bzr to run the external diff program,
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passing options. For example::
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% bzr diff --diff-options --side-by-side foo
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Some projects prefer patches to show a prefix at the start of the path
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for old and new files. The ``--prefix`` option can be used to provide
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Some projects prefer patches to show a prefix at the start of the path for
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old and new files. The --prefix option can be used to provide such a prefix.
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As a shortcut, ``bzr diff -p1`` produces a form that works with the
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command ``patch -p1``.
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Message from an editor
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======================
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If you use neither the ``-m`` nor the ``-F`` option then bzr will open an
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If you use neither the `-m` nor the `-F` option then bzr will open an
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editor for you to enter a message. The editor to run is controlled by
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your ``$VISUAL`` or ``$EDITOR`` environment variable, which can be overridden
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by the ``editor`` setting in ``~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf``; ``$BZR_EDITOR`` will
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override either of the above mentioned editor options. If you quit the
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editor without making any changes, the commit will be cancelled.
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The file that is opened in the editor contains a horizontal line. The part
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of the file below this line is included for information only, and will not
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form part of the commit message. Below the separator is shown the list of
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files that are changed in the commit. You should write your message above
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the line, and then save the file and exit.
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If you would like to see the diff that will be committed as you edit the
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message you can use the ``--show-diff`` option to ``commit``. This will include
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the diff in the editor when it is opened, below the separator and the
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information about the files that will be committed. This means that you can
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read it as you write the message, but the diff itself wont be seen in the
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commit message when you have finished. If you would like parts to be
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included in the message you can copy and paste them above the separator.
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your `$EDITOR` environment variable or
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add `editor` to ~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf; `$BZR_EDITOR` will override
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the above mentioned editor options. If you quit the editor without
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making any changes, the commit will be cancelled.
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they only determine whether unversioned files are reported as unknown or
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The ``.bzrignore`` file should normally be versioned, so that new copies
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The ''.bzrignore'' file should normally be versioned, so that new copies
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of the branch see the same patterns::
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% bzr add .bzrignore
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% bzr commit -m "Add ignore patterns"
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There are some ignored files which are not project specific, but more user
407
specific. Things like editor temporary files, or personal temporary files.
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Rather than add these ignores to every project, bzr supports a global
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ignore file in ``~/.bazaar/ignore`` [1]_. It has the same syntax as the
410
per-project ignore file.
413
358
Examining history
414
359
=================
419
The ``bzr log`` command shows a list of previous revisions. The ``bzr log
420
--forward`` command does the same in chronological order to get most
364
The **bzr log** command shows a list of previous revisions. The **bzr log
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--forward** command does the same in chronological order to get most
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366
recent revisions printed at last.
423
As with ``bzr diff``, ``bzr log`` supports the ``-r`` argument::
368
As with bzr diff, bzr log supports the -r argument::
425
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% bzr log -r 1000.. # Revision 1000 and everything after it
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371
% bzr log -r ..1000 # Everything up to and including r1000
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429
Often rather than starting your own project, you will want to submit a
487
change to an existing project. To do this, you'll need to get a copy of
488
the existing branch. Because this new copy is potentially a new branch,
489
the command is called **branch**::
430
change to an existing project. You can get a copy of an existing branch
431
by copying its directory, expanding a tarball, or by a remote copy using
432
something like rsync. You can also use bzr to fetch a copy. Because this
433
new copy is potentially a new branch, the command is called *branch*::
491
% bzr branch http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev
435
% bzr branch http://bazaar-ng.org/bzr/bzr.dev
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438
This copies down the complete history of this branch, so we can do all
495
439
operations on it locally: log, annotate, making and merging branches.
496
440
There will be an option to get only part of the history if you wish.
498
You can also get a copy of an existing branch by copying its directory,
499
expanding a tarball, or by a remote copy using something like rsync.
501
442
Following upstream changes
502
443
==========================
531
If there is a conflict during a merge, 3 files with the same basename
532
are created. The filename of the common base is appended with ".BASE",
533
the filename of the file containing your changes is appended with
534
".THIS" and the filename with the changes from the other tree is
535
appended with ".OTHER". Using a program such as kdiff3, you can now
536
comfortably merge them into one file. In order to commit you have to
537
rename the merged file (".THIS") to the original file name. To
538
complete the conflict resolution you must use the resolve command,
539
which will remove the ".OTHER" and ".BASE" files. As long as there
540
exist files with .BASE, .THIS or .OTHER the commit command will
545
% kdiff3 file.BASE file.OTHER file.THIS
472
If there is a conflict during a merge, 3 files with the same basename are
473
created. The filename of the common base is appended with .BASE, the
474
filename of the file containing your changes is appended .THIS and the
475
filename with the changes from the other tree is appended .OTHER.
476
Using a program such as kdiff3, you can now comfortably merge them into
477
one file. To commit you have to rename it to the original basename and
478
delete the other two files. As long as there exist files with .BASE, .THIS
479
or .OTHER the commit command will complain.
549
481
[**TODO**: explain conflict markers within files]
557
489
directory. One can push a branch (or the changes for a branch) by one of
558
490
the following three methods:
560
* The best method is to use bzr itself to do it.
564
% bzr push sftp://servername.com/path/to/directory
566
(The destination directory must already exist unless the
567
``--create-prefix`` option is used.)
569
* Another option is the ``rspush`` plugin that comes with BzrTools, which
570
uses rsync to push the changes to the revision history and the working
573
You can also use copy the files around manually, by sending a tarball, or
574
using rsync, or other related file transfer methods. This is usually
575
less safe than using ``push``, but may be faster or easier in some
578
Moving changes between trees
579
============================
581
It happens to the best of us: sometimes you'll make changes in the wrong
582
tree. Maybe because you've accidentally started work in the wrong directory,
583
maybe because as you're working, the change turns out to be bigger than you
584
expected, so you start a new branch for it.
586
To move your changes from one tree to another, use
591
% bzr merge --uncommitted OLDDIR
593
This will apply all of the uncommitted changes you made in OLDDIR to NEWDIR.
594
It will not apply committed changes, even if they could be applied to NEWDIR
595
with a regular merge. The changes will remain in OLDDIR, but you can use ``bzr
596
revert OLDDIR`` to remove them, once you're satisfied with NEWDIR.
598
NEWDIR does not have to be a copy of OLDDIR, but they should be related.
599
The more different they are, the greater the chance of conflicts.
492
* Rsync: rsync -avrz LOCALBRANCH servername.com/this/directory/here
494
(or any other tool for publishing a directory to a web site.)
496
* bzr push sftp://servername.com/this/directory/here
498
(The directory that must already exist)
500
* The push plugin that comes with BzrTools