[p4] Sync updates the revision number of open files

[Robert McKenna]

I expected that there was no way to prevent this. The fact that the big
red flag does not appear on the initial sync is the problem.
 
Users who have a modest understanding of Perforce do not realize that
their sync of the latest build, which may include 10000+ files has
updated the revision number of an opened file without changing the local
file. That is, their client is telling them that they have and are
editing revision 12 but the local file is actually revision 10 and does
not have the changes in revisions 11 and 12. It would be much better
from the user's point of view if the revision number was not updated if
the file was open for edit, and that the user was informed of that with
a big red flag at the time of the sync. We are also accepting large
drops from a 3rd party and integrating our own changes into those drops
while continuing to make changes in the mainline. The users doing this
integration are very capable and some of their problems appear to be
related to this behavior. It's a very dynamic development process.

This is technically user error and is caused in part by the pressure to
meet deadlines. I'm trying to reduce the opportunities for error within
less than perfect Perforce practices. 

Rob McKenna

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Vance [mailto:steve at vance.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 8:16 PM
To: Robert McKenna
Cc: perforce-user at perforce.com
Subject: Re: [p4] Sync updates the revision number of open files


Perforce won't let them submit that file without resolving the merge. 
For users, that will be a big red flag.

For automated processes, just scan the output for the warning. You can 
even do a 'sync -n' to test it first.

Given these suggestions, I don't understand what the problem really is. 
How does this behavior cause a problem?

But no, there isn't any way to prevent this that I know of.

Steve

Robert McKenna wrote:
> Hi
> I having a problem in which users who have a file open for edit at say
> revison 10, sync to a newer without submitting their changes. This
does
> not overwrite the users changes but does update the revision number in
> the changelist and client view while scheduling the file for resolve.
A
> warning is issued in the command output, which is easy miss when
syncing
> large numbers of files, particularly as we use automated update tools
> and also have integrations that require extensive manual merging. This
> leaves the user confused to say the least.
>  
> Does anyone know how to prevent this? It is technically user error but
> in our situation is almost certain to happen on a regular basis.
>  
> Rob McKenna
>  
>  
>  
>  
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