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Bazaar is a distributed version control system that makes it easier for
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people to work together on software projects.
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Over the next five minutes, you'll learn how to put your files under
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version control, how to record changes to them, examine your work, publish
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it and send your work for merger into a project's trunk.
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If you'd prefer a more detailed introduction, take a look at
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This guide doesn't describe how to install Bazaar but it's usually very
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easy. You can find installation instructions at:
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- **GNU/Linux:** Bazaar is probably in your GNU/Linux distribution already.
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- **Windows:** `installation instructions for Windows`_.
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- **Mac OS X:** `installation instructions for Mac OS X`_.
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For other platforms and to install from source code, see the Download_
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and Installation_ pages.
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.. _installation instructions for Windows: http://bazaar-vcs.org/WindowsDownloads
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.. _installation instructions for Mac OS X: http://bazaar-vcs.org/MacOSXBundle
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.. _Download: http://bazaar-vcs.org/Download
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.. _Installation: http://bazaar-vcs.org/InstallationFaq
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Before you start working, it is good to tell Bazaar who you are. That
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way your work is properly identified in revision logs.
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Using your name and email address, instead of John Doe's, type::
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$ bzr whoami "John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>"
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Bazaar will now create or modify a configuration file, including your
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name and email address.
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Now, check that your name and email address are correctly registered::
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John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>
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Putting files under version control
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===================================
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Let's create a directory and some files to use with Bazaar::
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$ touch test1.txt test2.txt test3.txt subdirectory/test4.txt
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**Note for Windows users:** use Windows Explorer to create your
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directories, then right-click in those directories and select
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``New file`` to create your files.
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Now get Bazaar to initialize itself in your project directory::
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If it looks like nothing happened, don't worry. Bazaar has created a
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branch_ where it will store your files and their revision histories.
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.. _branch: http://bazaar-vcs.org/Branch
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The next step is to tell Bazaar which files you want to track. Running
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``bzr add`` will recursively add everything in the project::
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added subdirectory/test4.txt
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Next, take a snapshot of your files by committing them to your branch. Add
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a message to explain why you made the commit::
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$ bzr commit -m "Initial import"
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As Bazaar is a distributed version control system, it doesn't need to
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connect to a central server to make the commit. Instead, Bazaar stores your
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branch and all its commits inside the directory you're working with; look
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for the ``.bzr`` sub-directory.
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Making changes to your files
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============================
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Let's change a file and commit that change to your branch.
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Edit ``test1.txt`` in your favourite editor, then check what have you done::
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=== modified file 'test1.txt'
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--- test1.txt 2007-10-08 17:56:14 +0000
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+++ test1.txt 2007-10-08 17:46:22 +0000
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Commit your work to the Bazaar branch::
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$ bzr commit -m "Added first line of text"
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Committed revision 2.
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Viewing the revision log
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========================
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You can see the history of your branch by browsing its log::
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------------------------------------------------------------
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committer: John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>
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branch nick: myproject
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timestamp: Mon 2007-10-08 17:56:14 +0000
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Added first line of text
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------------------------------------------------------------
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committer: John Doe <john.doe@gmail.com>
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branch nick: myproject
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timestamp: Mon 2006-10-08 17:46:22 +0000
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Publishing your branch with sftp
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================================
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There are a couple of ways to publish your branch. If you already have
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an SFTP server or are comfortable setting one up, you can publish your
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Otherwise, skip to the next section to publish with Launchpad_, a free
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hosting service for Bazaar.
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.. _Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/
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Let's assume you want to publish your branch at ``www.example.com/myproject``::
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$ bzr push --create-prefix sftp://your.name@example.com/~/public_html/myproject
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2 revision(s) pushed.
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Bazaar will create a ``myproject`` directory on the remote server and
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push your branch to it.
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Now anyone can create their own copy of your branch by typing::
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$ bzr branch http://www.example.com/myproject
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**Note:** to use sftp, you may need to install ``paramiko`` and
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``pyCrypto``. See http://bazaar-vcs.org/InstallationFaq for details.
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Publishing your branch with Launchpad
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=====================================
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Launchpad is a suite of development and hosting tools for free
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software projects. You can use it to publish your branch.
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If you don't have a Launchpad account, follow the `account signup guide`_
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and `register an SSH key`_ in your new Launchpad account.
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.. _account signup guide: https://help.launchpad.net/CreatingYourLaunchpadAccount
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.. _register an SSH key: https://launchpad.net/people/+me/+editsshkeys
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Replacing ``john.doe`` with your own Launchpad username, type [#]_::
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$ bzr push lp:~john.doe/+junk/myproject
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.. [#] Use of the ``lp:`` URL scheme requires bzr 0.92 or later.
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**Note:** ``+junk`` means that this branch isn't associated with any particular
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project in Launchpad.
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Now, anyone can create their own copy of your branch by typing::
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$ bzr branch lp:~john.doe/+junk/myproject
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You can also see information about your branch, including its revision
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history, at https://code.launchpad.net/people/+me/+junk/myproject
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Creating your own copy of another branch
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========================================
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To work with someone else's code, you can make your own copy of their
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branch. Let's take a real-world example, Bazaar's GTK interface::
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$ bzr branch lp:~bzr/bzr-gtk/trunk bzr-gtk.john
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Branched 292 revision(s).
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Bazaar will download all the files and complete revision history from the
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bzr-gtk project's trunk branch and create a copy called bzr-gtk.john.
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Now, you have your own copy of the branch and can commit changes with
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or without a net connection. You can share your branch at any time by
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publishing it and, if the bzr-gtk team want to use your work, Bazaar
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makes it easy for them to merge your branch back into their trunk branch.
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Updating your branch from the main branch
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=========================================
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While you commit changes to your branch, it's likely that other people will
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also continue to commit code to the parent branch.
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To make sure your branch stays up to date, you should merge changes from
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the parent into your personal branch::
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Merging from saved parent location: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~bzr/bzr-gtk/trunk
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All changes applied successfully.
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Check what has changed::
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If you're happy with the changes, you can commit them to your personal
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$ bzr commit -m "Merge from main branch"
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Committed revision 295.
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Merging your work into the parent branch
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========================================
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After you've worked on your personal branch of bzr-gtk, you may want to
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send your changes back upstream to the project. The easiest way is to
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use a merge directive.
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A merge directive is a machine-readable request to perform a
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particular merge. It usually contains a patch preview of the merge
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and either contains the necessary revisions, or provides a branch
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where they can be found.
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Replacing ``mycode.patch``, create your merge directive::
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$ bzr send -o mycode.patch
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Using saved parent location: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~bzr/bzr-gtk/trunk
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You can now email the merge directive to the bzr-gtk project who, if
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they choose, can use it merge your work back into the parent branch.
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You can find out more about Bazaar in the
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`Bazaar User Guide <../user-guide/index.html>`_.
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To learn about Bazaar on the command-line::
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To learn about Bazaar commands::
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To learn about the ''foo'' topic or command::