[p4] Deleted branches affecting the Perforce performance

[Robert Cowham]

> > > Perforce needs an archive command. I have been asking for one for 
> > > several years now.
> >
> > Yes, I aggree. Archive command and/or remove command.
> >
> > 1) Archive - to save obsolete files, and remove them from 
> internal db
> 
> Preserving the metadata and allowing for the possibility that 
> they might be restored to the server some day?  This would 
> probably require huge architectural changes.  I don't expect 
> to ever see it.

One scenario I was talking to a games development company where all the data
for a game could be 2Tb or more. They mentioned the AlienBrain feature of
being able to "retire" a bucket of information, and if ever required bring
it back. However, the suggestion I gave them, which I know others on the
list have used, is to move the archive files (,v etc) to offline storage but
leave metadata (perhaps retaining head versions of files). See the paper
about this at the Perforce User Conference by Richard Baum:

http://www.perforce.com/perforce/conf2005/index.html

Robert