We have a TFS branch structure like Main > Integration > Several Branches under this.
The problem is that I created a folder 'feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration'outside the above hierarchy when I started coding. After finishing coding I converted the folder to a branch.
But the new branch has no parent and I want to put it under Integration. It seems that its impossible to do this in TFS, since when I try to re-parent I get an empty list of possible parents. Is there a way to put the new branch under Integration?
If you want the folder to appear under the integration branch then you can just move it (right click in Source Control explorer and select move).
$/Root/Integration
$/Root/feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration
becomes
$/Root/Integration/feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration
When the integration branch gets merged with either main or your development branches the folder will be added to those branches as part of the merge.
If you want to give the feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration folder a branching relationship with integration then you need to perform a baseless merge. Note you should only do this if the feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration folder is a full replication of the integration branch.
In TFS / VS 2012 you can perform a baseless merge from the GUI.
Right click on the integration branch in Source control explorer and
select merge. This will be your source branch.
In the target branch dropdown you won't be able to see the
feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration folder.
Select "Browse" and then navigate to the location of the
'feat-IIS6toIIS7Migration' folder.
Keep hitting next until VS performs the merge.
I would expect there to be a fair few merge conflicts and you'll need to resolve a lot of them manually.
In the future it would be better to create the branch for your development before you start work, then you can take regular merges so you don't have a big merge at the end of your development.
Related
I am very new to TFS. I have below Structure where I have my entire SOLUTION checked into my TFS online Repository.
Now, we are done with this Feature/Version.
What we want to do is...Leave this version AS IS and create a new Version / Branch out of this. This way if we ever have to go back to this version we can easily go back to it.
But Whenever I right Click on Root and Choose "Branch" Then I get an error that "The Bracnh Already Exists". I would like to name the new Branch "Release 2.0" or Something. But I cant Branch out my current Solution.
Creating New Folder option is Disabled.
Why is it disabled? I have full access to TFS/
You can't branch from the team project root. Reorganize everything to be in a trunk folder (TFVC convention is main, but you can call it whatever you want), and branch off of that.
For what it's worth, branches shouldn't be infinitely branching -- you should branch off of a trunk to do development, then merge back in when development is done. There are numerous reasons why this is the case, but I suggest doing some reading on TFVC branching strategies to find one that's appropriate for your organization.
I started using TFS and I was not using branches for my project, but now I need to manage releases, so my Idea is to make Branch from the project and for every release create new branch from the main branch.. so
In VS2015 Source Control Explorer, i click on TFS project > Branching and Marging > Convert To Branch and this error happened
TF203028: You cannot create a branch at $/ProjectA because a branch alreadyexists at $/ProjectA/Main. If $/ProjectA/Main is not a branch convert it back to a folder and retry the operation.
the problem is that I don't see any branches in source control manager neither in TFS website, I created empty branch earlier but I deleted it. What to do ? I don't want to create new project with Main branch and copy/paste the source codes because I want to preserve the commits.
In TFS, you never really delete anything. In fact, if you look under Tools -> Options -> Source Control -> Team Foundation Server, there is an option to show deleted items:
To actually delete an item, have a look at the tf destroy command.
I believe that you can simple rename the folder, and that will maintain your history, should you not wish to permanently delete the old branch.
I have the Development branch forked from the Main branch.
Could I merge the Development branch back to the Main so that Main branch code would be equal the Development branch?
What is the most safe and reliable solution for this?
The easiest way I've found to do this is to do a merge using Visual Studio and the Source Control Explorer.
In the Source Control Explorer, right-click on your development branch and select Branching and Merging > Merge
In the Target Branch drop-down select your trunk ("Main") as the destination. This is likely the default selection if you've branched from Main originally.
There are two options:
All changes up to a specific versions: You choose based on a revision and merge it all up to that revision in one fell swoop. If you have a lot of changes, this can save you some time, but also is riskier in terms of resolving conflicts if there have been a lot of changes in Main.
Selected changesets: You select single or groups of changesets to merge back and then repeat this process until you've merged back what you need. Less risky option, but much more time consuming. I personally prefer this approach so that I can see the changes going back into the trunk and know what to expect as changes.
TFS will instruct you if there are merge conflicts while you are merging. This occurs when you change something in the trunk after you've branched to your development. If one of the changes you've made in development conflict with the changes you've made in the trunk, you will have the chance to resolve this in Visual Studio.
If you do not have any conflicts, your development changes will move into the Trunk and simply merge with the changes you already have there.
I admit one work place they merged the Trunk to the Branches, but its not supposed to work that way.
The generally accepted method is merge the Branch back into the Trunk.
It sounds like you are working in the Trunk ("I can create some additional folder or additional files in the trunk") and wanting to merge into the Branch.
I recommend doing it the standard way: only work in Branches merging back to the Trunk, never coding directly in the Trunk.
Currently we have a branch structure like this: Develop --> Release. I want to change it so that it looks like what the TFS Branching Guidance document calls "Basic Branch Plan". It looks like this Develop <-- Main --> Release.
I was going to do this:
Rename Develop to Main (creating Main --> Release)
Creating a branch from this Main reusing the "Develop" name (creating Develop <-- Main --> Release)
Will I have problems with TFS reusing an old branch name for a new branch? Know any gotchas or things to look out for?
Additional Info
I did this in a test instance creating test branches without any files, pending changes, history, etc. (not a good real test) and TFS let me do the rename and branch without difficulty. However, I won't feel comfortable with this unless I can take our production TFS project collection, restore it in the test instance, and test the rename/branch on real data. There is a lot of history and branches there and I don't know what will happen. As noted in the answer, there are other considerations before doing this.
I'm preparing to do similar steps (except I'm moving subfolder locations of both parent and a child while grandchildren stay put.)
QUESTIONS:
When are you planning the rename?
Are there any child branches under Develop branch that you didn't mention?
Do you have any shelvesets against Develop that might be impacted by the rename?
General answer: Proceed with caution. From my reading branch renaming in TFS2010 can cause a few unexpected side effects. TFS will be doing the following steps (under the hood) for your scenario:
Rename Develop to Main ==> Branch Main branch from Develop, then delete Develop branch
Create new "Develop" branch from Main
I recommend reading the following posts:
Renaming Branches in TFS 2010 (ChandruR’s Blog)
"MSDN Blogs > ChandruR's Blog > Renaming branches in TFS 2010
So my recommendations for this case:
Avoid renaming branches - a cleaner solution would be to, at the right point in your release merge all changes to a parent branch and then re-branch to create a new branch hierarchy.
Or for the brave of heart :)
You will need to time the rename of your branch, to a point in your release where you can merge to all related branches. The steps to follow are:
..."
Renaming branches in TFS2010 - But it works on my PC!
“In TFS 2010 behind the scenes a rename is actually a branch and delete process, this meant we ended up with the new branch, but also a deleted branch of the old name. This is not obvious unless you have ‘show deleted items in source control explorer’ enabled…”
"Now implemented as a branch + delete behind the scenes (new name is branched from the old, then the old name is deleted). This allows traceability in History, but allows us to get around the problems with merging renames (see Add, Rename, Add scenario). "
.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Get all devs to merge (or abandon) all safe changes in child branches of Dev. Also prune any inactive branches before the rename.
Read above articles.
Search to find the page (that I haven't found yet) that describes exactly what will happen in simpler terms based on real experience.
Specifically I'd like to know what happens to shelvesets on the Develop branch after it is renamed to Main. (Next step can answer this.)
You might consider making a "Sandbox" Team Project (or Team Project Collection) then try out your scenario to see if there are major issues.
Pick right timing (see link#1) and go for it.
Check history, do a merge between the renamed branches, check history again.
Allow developers back in.
Good luck, and post back with any new information (including your end results)! -zs
We are using TFS Continuous Development model
Main Trunk
-> Various Development branches
-> Various Release branches
All merging back to main trunk
Now we need some major changes to our folder structure and solutions
How do you handle folder restructure in above model of TFS usage?
do i need to draw line and create new structure from latest Main trunk and lock all branches and do updates then creates branches with restructured new trunk.
Or am i underestimating TFS, would be able to handle major folder structure updates and propagate over to branches. As long as i know if we move around folders in branch or trunk it don't like it.
TFS can handle this, and does it by "renaming" each file by changing it's TFS location path.
I've been able to do this in a child branch, merging it up into the trunk, and then back into another branch.
It does get a little tricky, and you are sometimes presented with confusing dialog boxes because it can't automatically resolve renaming changes.
When I got this box, I resolved any actual content changes in files. I was then able to cancel out of manually resolving every renaming change without any problems, and everything worked perfectly.