The Perforce Merge Quest tool enables you to graph the structure of your Perforce server by defining a hierarchy that you can use to propagate change between codelinesA set of files that evolve collectively. One codeline can be branched from another, allowing each set of files to evolve separately.. There are no restrictions on the number of connections a codeline can have or the types of codelines that can be connected. You control the display of codelines by manually arranging and connecting them on the canvas. After you define a hierarchy, you can export it as an XML file that other users can import and use.
To display the Merge Quest view, right-click the desired server connection in the P4 Connections view and choose Open Merge Quest.
To define a branching hierarchy, first define the codelines:
Then, define the relationships:
To define the relationship between two codelines, you define connections that specify how changes are propagated:
You can connect files using the following methods:
Alternately, you can click one of the codeline connectors in the palette (Branch Spec or Depot Path), then drag a line from one codeline icon to another.
To define the connections:
You can specify a source or target that doesn't exist — Merge Quest will create it.
To propagate change from one codeline to another:
You can export Merge Quest diagrams as XML files, which you can (manually) store on a file system, Web site or in a Perforce depot. Other users can import your files to obtain your diagrams.
To export a diagram, click and specify the location where you want to store it. To import a diagram, click
and browse to the file or specify its location.
For typical software development, Perforce recommends the mainline model. The mainline, where code is stabilized, resides above softer development codelines and below firmer release codelines. Code is expected to become increasingly stable as change flows from development to mainline to release.