The Perforce Sample Depot

The Perforce Sample Depot provides you with a working example of a Perforce Server that can be used for testing or training. The Sample Depot demonstrates a typical depot organization along with some sensible naming conventions. It provides enough files and revision history to enable you to perform interesting and meaningful SCM tasks.

The Sample Depot contains several example projects, such as Jam, a software build tool written in C. The Sample Depot is not, however, intended to be a current archive of source code. For the latest Jam source code, see the Jam project in the Perforce Public Depot.

The Sample Depot demonstrates several methods for arranging your source code or Web development repository. Both the source code and Web development directories are organized to support a "mainline" development model. Perforce advocates use of a mainline model for concurrent development. More information on the mainline model can be found in white papers on the Perforce Web site. In particular, see the High-level Best Practices in Software Configuration Management and Software Life-Cycle  Modeling white papers. For further reference, see the book Practical Perforce.

The Sample Depot requires a Perforce Server version 2005.2 or later. Installation instructions are below.

The Sample Depot is organized as follows:

  • Software Development Projects
      //depot/Jam
      //depot/Jamgraph
      //depot/Talkhouse
  • Web Site Development
      //depot/www
  • Miscellaneous Shared Files
      //depot/Misc
    		•

     

    Software Development Branching Methodology

    The Sample Depot contains three software development projects:
    Jam, Jamgraph, and Talkhouse.

    Ongoing development work occurs in the MAIN branch under each software project's name.
    For example:

      //depot/Jam/MAIN
      //depot/Jamgraph/MAIN
    or, in the case of the Talkhouse project, a main-dev branch:
      //depot/Talkhouse/main-dev
    Branches might be created for feature development. Such branches isolate development work that might destabilize the MAIN branch.
    For example:
      //depot/Jamgraph/DEV
    When code is ready for release, a release branch is created under the project name.
    For example:
      //depot/Jam/REL2.1
      //depot/Jam/REL2.2
      //depot/Jamgraph/REL1.0
      //depot/Talkhouse/rel1.0
      //depot/Talkhouse/rel1.5
    		  

    Web Site Branching Methodology

    For Web site development, the example workflow is as follows.

    Web page authors edit files under:

      //depot/www/dev
    Files are copied to a staging area for final review before going live:
      //depot/www/review
    After passing review, files are copied to a live branch for publishing:
      //depot/www/live
    For a discussion of various strategies for using Perforce for Web site development, see Web Content Management with Perforce.

     

    Miscellaneous Shared Files

    Perforce can be used to store files that are shared between your development and corporate staff. For example, manuals and marketing documents are stored in the following path:

      //depot/Misc
    Word documents, Excel spread sheets, and Powerpoint slides can be managed  using the Perforce Plug-in for Microsoft Office (P4OFC) available from our Web site.

     

     

    Installation

    The installation of the Sample Depot assumes that you have first installed a Perforce Server and client application. A 2005.2 or later version Perforce Server is required. To download Perforce for your platform, go to the Perforce Downloads page. For instructions on how to install Perforce, see the Ten Minute Test Drive page.

    To install and use the Sample Depot:

    1. Download the the Sample Depot from our ftp site. The Sample Depot is contained in a .zip file: 
      	ftp://ftp.perforce.com/perforce/tools/sampledepot.zip

      The size of the sampledepot.zip file is about 1.9MB and this file uncompresses to just over 5MB.

    2. Uncompress the sampledepot.zip file using a standard compression utility such as unzip or WinZip. For example, on Windows, select Start > Program Files > Accessories > Command Prompt from the menu. When the DOS command shell appears, issue the following command:
      	cd C:
	unzip sampledepot.zip
      Again, if you don't have the unzip program on your computer, use WinZip or another compression utility that can extract .zip format files.

      When the sampledepot.zip file is uncompressed, it creates a directory named PerforceSample. The PerforceSample directory contains three items:

      The PerforceSample directory is referred to as your P4ROOT location.

    3. To create your sample Perforce database, restore the checkpoint file by issuing the following command:
      	p4d -r C:\PerforceSample -jr C:\PerforceSample\checkpoint

      The preceding step creates the Perforce database files in your C:\PerforceSample (P4ROOT) directory. Your Perforce database is now installed.

    4. To ensure that the database format is consistent with the Perforce Server version that you are using, cd to your P4ROOT directory and issue the following command: 
      	p4d -r . -xu

    5. Start the Perforce Server.

      On Windows, start the Perforce Server by issuing the following command at the command prompt: 

      	p4d -r C:\PerforceSample -p 1492
      When the server starts, it displays the message "Perforce Server starting...". The Perforce Server is now started and listening for client connections on port number 1492.

      NOTE: The DOS command shell window remains open and appears inactive when the Perforce Server is running and listening for client connections. For the purpose of simplicity, this installation example uses the command shell start method. In most cases, however, Windows users start the Perforce Server as a Windows Service and not use a DOS command shell.

      On Unix, assuming you unzipped the sampledepot.zip file in your /tmp directory, start your Perforce Server by issuing the following command: 

      	p4d -r /tmp/PerforceSample -p 1492

    You are now ready to use Perforce Sample Depot! You can inspect the contents of the Sample Depot using either P4V, a graphical user interface, or P4, the command line interface. To verify your connection to the Sample Depot using P4, open a new command shell instance and issue the following command: 

    	p4 -p 1492 info
    For help with Perforce command syntax and options, issue the following command: 
    	p4 -p 1492 help
    To stop the Perforce Server, issue the following command: 
    	p4 -p 1492 admin stop

    For basic instructions on using P4V to connect a Perforce Server, see the Ten Minute Test Drive, or consult the P4V Help menu.

    For additional information on setting up the Perforce Server or using Perforce applications, see the main documentation page on our Web site. If you encounter any problems installing or using the Sample Depot, please contact Perforce Support at support@perforce.com.