[p4] What is a "Shelf"

[David Cooper]

David,

We have in the past requested to be able to sync to other users
*pending* changelists. I have used such a feature on another
system. It is extremely useful for sharing and testing changes
before commiting, and especially for testing multi-platform builds
so that submitting a change for one platform does not break the
build for another.

-- David Cooper

David Weintraub wrote:
> The newest version of Microsoft's revision control system contains a
> useful concept called a "shelf". I know some of the ideas behind this
> and the reason why you would want this feature, but I am not 100% sure
> exactly of all the functionality of this feature, and the best way to
> emulate this in Perforce.
>
> For example, I understand a shelf allows you to save your workspace
> without having to check in your code into the branch you're working
> on. I could work on one project, put my work onto a shelf, then pull
> up another shelf and work on that project. However, if this is all a
> shelf is, why not simply use multiple clients?
>
> I understand that you can share a shelf without checking it in. This
> allows me to do code reviews before I commit my source code to the
> project. But how is this different from private branches? In
> ClearCase, each developer had their own branch. Other users could
> examine your branch, and if you gave them permission, even modify the
> code on your branch. Something similar could also be done in Perforce
> (although it is much more common in ClearCase than it is in Perforce).
>
> So, what features does a shelf give you, and what would be the best
> way to emulate it in Perforce?
>
> --
> David Weintraub
> qazwart at gmail.com
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