[p4] Exclusive locking binary files

[Don Williamson]

The standard solution to this problem is to build your own layer on top of P4 for your content teams: don't let them use P4Win (as good as it is).

So your asset browsing/content editing tool always gets latest before checking out and locking for the artist. Lacking that you could also build the same functionality into a couple of plugins for photoshop, or whatever, that ensure the version being edited is the latest.

I've never deployed this for a team before but it might be of use to you:

   http://www.perforce.com/perforce/products/plugins-p4gt.html

I would expect these plugins to have an option to get latest before check-out. If not, that needs to be addressed.

- Don

----- Original Message ----
From: Craig James <Craig.James at thq.com>
To: perforce-user at perforce.com
Sent: Friday, February 8, 2008 3:06:31 AM
Subject: Re: [p4] Exclusive locking binary files


I 
forgot 
to 
state 
that 
the 
test 
files 
had 
the 
+l 
exclusive 
open 
option
enabled.

Cj

-----Original 
Message-----
From: 
perforce-user-bounces at perforce.com
[mailto:perforce-user-bounces at perforce.com] 
On 
Behalf 
Of 
Craig 
James
Sent: 
Friday, 
8 
February 
2008 
8:56 
AM
To: 
perforce-user at perforce.com
Subject: 
[p4] 
Exclusive 
locking 
binary 
files

Hi 
everyone,

 

I'm 
hitting 
a 
problem 
with 
locking 
that 
comes 
at 
a 
different 
angle 
to
the 
issue 
described 
in 
this 
thread
http://maillist.perforce.com/pipermail/perforce-user/2007-September/0224
30.html.

 

We 
are 
using 
2007.2 
and 
the 
basic 
problem 
is... 

 

1.  
  
  
 
Both 
users 
sync 
and 
keep 
P4Win 
open

2.  
  
  
 
User 
1 
checks 
out 
a 
binary 
file 
using 
P4Win, 
changes 
and 
checks
it 
in

3.  
  
  
 
User 
2 
now 
checks 
out 
the 
same 
file 
using 
P4Win 
(without 
F5
refreshing 
perforce 
win 
client), 
changes 
file 
and 
goes 
to 
check 
it 
in 
-
but 
finds 
the 
file 
has 
been 
changed 
and 
cannot 
merge 
their 
own 
changes
in

 

This 
is 
quite 
a 
problem 
for 
us 
as 
it 
doesn't 
enforce 
a 
sequential 
user
workflow 
on 
binary 
files 
(such 
as 
bitmap/photoshop 
images 
or 
3d 
models).
Falling 
back 
on 
resolving 
differences 
at 
check-in 
is 
just 
not 
an 
option.

 

If 
User 
2 
refreshes 
P4Win 
before 
checking 
out 
(with 
F5), 
perforce 
will
ask 
the 
user 
if 
they 
wish 
to 
edit 
current 
or 
sync 
before 
edit.  
Relying
on 
users 
to 
do 
this 
is 
problematic.

 

There 
are 
two 
pieces 
of 
design 
here 
that 
do 
not 
suit 
what 
we 
are 
looking
for:

 

1.  
  
  
 
P4Win 
doesn't 
refresh 
the 
file 
status 
before 
open-for-edit.

2.  
  
  
 
There 
is 
no 
server-side 
feature 
to 
prevent 
clients 
from
opening-for-edit 
a 
binary 
file 
at 
an 
earlier 
revision.

 

The 
first 
is 
a 
problem 
for 
us 
if 
we 
only 
work 
through 
P4Win 
and 
the
second 
is 
a 
problem 
also 
for 
any 
p4 
command 
line 
open-for-edits.

 

Ideally 
we'd 
be 
looking 
for 
either/or/both:

1.  
  
  
 
Option 
in 
P4Win 
to 
force 
refresh 
of 
file 
status 
before
opening-for-edit.  
I'd 
gather 
there 
is 
a 
performance 
reason 
this 
is
there 
but 
that 
is 
a 
trade 
off 
we'd 
be 
prepared 
to 
manage 
in 
the 
wider
case

2.  
  
  
 
A 
server-side 
flag 
that 
prevents 
a 
file 
from 
being 
opened 
at 
an
earlier 
revision 
- 
something 
like 
the 
check 
for 
the 
exclusive 
open 
flag.
This 
would 
actually 
solve 
it 
for 
both 
the 
P4Win 
client 
and 
the 
command
line 
but 
would 
seem 
to 
be 
a 
more 
significant 
change.

 

If 
there 
was 
a 
trigger 
on 
open-for-edit 
we 
might 
be 
able 
to 
work 
around
this 
ourselves 
but 
from 
the 
thread 
above, 
this 
appears 
to 
not 
be
available 
- 
is 
this 
correct?

 

The 
only 
option 
I 
can 
see 
atm 
is 
to 
force 
each 
client 
to 
refresh 
every
minute 
(when 
inactive) 
but 
this 
is 
still 
open 
to 
holes 
where 
the 
above
can 
still 
happen.

 

I'm 
keen 
to 
hear 
whether 
anyone 
else 
has 
come 
across 
this 
issue 
and
resolved 
it 
some 
other 
way?

 

Thanks,

Cj

 

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