[p4] Sync updates the revision number of open files

[Ken Williams]

Hi Robert,

I think the crux of the problem may be that users don't always realize there
are files that need to be resolved.  I've seen this sometimes - for
instance, if I sync to head in Eclipse, then build, the build may fail
because a couple files are unchanged on disk pending a resolve.

If your users use a graphical front-end to Perforce like P4Win, there's an
option to sort files in pending changelists by resolve status, which
immediately shows pending resolves.  Might be a step in the right direction,
it's been helpful for me.

 -Ken 


On 2/3/07 12:20 AM, "Robert McKenna" <robertm at bioware.com> wrote:

> 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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>> 
>>   
> 
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