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The centralized model can have some drawbacks. A centralized RCS requires
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that one is able to connect to the server whenever one wants to do version
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control work. This can be a bit of a problem if your server on some other
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machine on the internet and you are not. Or, worse yet, you ''are'' on the
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control work. This can be a bit of a problem if your server is on some other
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machine on the internet and you are not. Or, worse yet, you **are** on the
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internet but the server is missing!
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Decentralized Revision Control Systems (which I'll call DRCS after this
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a **revision** of the directory tree whenever the user asks.
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Revision control software such as Bazaar can do much more than just
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storage and performing undo. For example, with Bazaar developer can
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take the modifications in one branch of software and apply them to
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another, related, branch -- even if those changes exist in a branch owned
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by somebody else. This allows developers to cooperate without giving write
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storage and performing undo. For example, with Bazaar a developer can
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take the modifications in one branch of software and apply them to a
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related branch -- even if those changes exist in a branch owned by
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somebody else. This allows developers to cooperate without giving
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write access to the repository.
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Bazaar remembers the ''ancestry'' of a revision: the previous revisions
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that it is based upon. A single revision may have more than one direct
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==============================
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Bazaar installs a single new command, **bzr**. Everything else is a
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subcommand of this. You can get some help with `bzr help`. There will be
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subcommand of this. You can get some help with ``bzr help``. Some arguments
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are grouped in topics: ``bzr help topics`` to see which topics are available.
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One function of a version control system is to keep track of who changed
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what. In a decentralized system, that requires an identifier for each
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author that is globally unique. Most people already have one of these: an
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email address. Bzr is smart enough to automatically generate an email
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email address. Bazaar is smart enough to automatically generate an email
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address by looking up your username and hostname. If you don't like the
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guess that Bazaar makes, then three options exist:
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1. Set an email address via ``bzr whoami``. This is the simplest way.
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To set a global identity, use::
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% bzr whoami 'Your Name <email@example.com>'
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If you'd like to use a different address for a specific branch, enter
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the branch folder and use::
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% bzr whoami --branch 'Your Name <email@example.com>'
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1. Setting the email address in the
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``~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf`` [1]_ by adding the following lines. Please note that
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``[DEFAULT]`` is case sensitive::
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email= Your Name <email@isp.com>
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As above, you can override this settings on a branch by branch basis by
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creating a branch section in ``~/.bazaar/locations.conf`` and adding the
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[/the/directory/to/the/branch]
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email=Your Name <email@isp.com>
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1. Overriding the two previous options by setting the global environment
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variable ``$BZREMAIL`` or ``$EMAIL`` (``$BZREMAIL`` will take precedence)
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to your full email address.
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To set a global identity, use::
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% bzr whoami "Your Name <email@example.com>"
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If you'd like to use a different address for a specific branch, enter
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the branch folder and use::
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% bzr whoami --branch "Your Name <email@example.com>"
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#. Setting the email address in the ``~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf`` [1]_ by
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adding the following lines. Please note that ``[DEFAULT]`` is case
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email=Your Name <email@isp.com>
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As above, you can override this settings on a branch by branch basis
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by creating a branch section in ``~/.bazaar/locations.conf`` and
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adding the following lines::
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[/the/path/to/the/branch]
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email=Your Name <email@isp.com>
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#. Overriding the two previous options by setting the global environment
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variable ``$BZR_EMAIL`` or ``$EMAIL`` (``$BZR_EMAIL`` will take
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precedence) to your full email address.
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.. [1] On Windows, the users configuration files can be found in the
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application data directory. So instead of ``~/.bazaar/branch.conf``
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Creating a branch
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=================
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History is by default stored in the .bzr directory of the branch. There
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will be a facility to store it in a separate repository, which may be
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remote. We create a new branch by running **bzr init** in an existing
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History is by default stored in the .bzr directory of the branch. In a
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future version of Bazaar, there will be a facility to store it in a
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separate repository, which may be remote.
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We create a new branch by running ``bzr init`` in an existing directory::
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% bzr add hello.txt
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If you add the wrong file, simply use **bzr remove** to make it
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unversioned again. This does not delete the working copy.
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If you add the wrong file, simply use ``bzr remove`` to make it
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unversioned again. This does not delete the working copy in this case,
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though it may in others [2]_.
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.. [2] ``bzr remove`` will remove the working copy if it is currently
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versioned, but has no changes from the last committed version. You
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can force the file to always be kept with the ``--keep`` option to
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``bzr remove``, or force it to always be deleted with ``--force``.
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All history is stored in a branch, which is just an on-disk directory
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containing control files. By default there is no separate repository or
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database as used in svn or svk. You can choose to create a repository if
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you want to (see the **bzr init-repo** command). You may wish to do this
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if you have very large branches, or many branches of a moderate sized
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you want to (see the ``bzr init-repo`` command). You may wish to do this
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if you have very large branches, or many branches of a moderately sized
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You'll usually refer to branches on your computer's filesystem just by
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giving the name of the directory containing the branch. bzr also supports
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accessing branches over http, for example::
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accessing branches over http and sftp, for example::
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% bzr log http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev/
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By installing bzr plugins you can also access branches over the sftp or
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% bzr log sftp://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev/
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By installing bzr plugins you can also access branches using the rsync
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See the `Publishing your branch`_ section for more about how to put your
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branch at a given location.
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Reviewing changes
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=================
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''patch'', ''diffstat'', ''filterdiff'' and ''colordiff''::
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*** added file 'hello.txt'
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=== added file 'hello.txt'
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--- hello.txt 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000
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+++ hello.txt 2005-10-18 14:23:29 +0000
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With the ''-r'' option, the tree is compared to an earlier revision, or
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With the ``-r`` option, the tree is compared to an earlier revision, or
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the differences between two versions are shown::
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% bzr diff -r 1000.. # everything since r1000
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% bzr diff -r 1000..1100 # changes from 1000 to 1100
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The --diff-options option causes bzr to run the external diff program,
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The ``--diff-options`` option causes bzr to run the external diff program,
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passing options. For example::
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% bzr diff --diff-options --side-by-side foo
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Some projects prefer patches to show a prefix at the start of the path for
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old and new files. The --prefix option can be used to provide such a prefix.
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Some projects prefer patches to show a prefix at the start of the path
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for old and new files. The ``--prefix`` option can be used to provide
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As a shortcut, ``bzr diff -p1`` produces a form that works with the
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command ``patch -p1``.
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The **commit** command takes a message describing the changes in the
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revision. It also records your userid, the current time and timezone, and
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the inventory and contents of the tree. The commit message is specified
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by the ''-m'' or ''--message'' option. You can enter a multi-line commit
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by the ``-m`` or ``--message`` option. You can enter a multi-line commit
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message; in most shells you can enter this just by leaving the quotes open
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at the end of the line.
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Message from an editor
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======================
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If you use neither the `-m` nor the `-F` option then bzr will open an
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If you use neither the ``-m`` nor the ``-F`` option then bzr will open an
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editor for you to enter a message. The editor to run is controlled by
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your `$EDITOR` environment variable or
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add `editor` to ~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf; `$BZR_EDITOR` will override
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the above mentioned editor options. If you quit the editor without
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making any changes, the commit will be cancelled.
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your ``$VISUAL`` or ``$EDITOR`` environment variable, which can be overridden
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by the ``editor`` setting in ``~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf``; ``$BZR_EDITOR`` will
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override either of the above mentioned editor options. If you quit the
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editor without making any changes, the commit will be cancelled.
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The file that is opened in the editor contains a horizontal line. The part
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of the file below this line is included for information only, and will not
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form part of the commit message. Below the separator is shown the list of
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files that are changed in the commit. You should write your message above
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the line, and then save the file and exit.
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If you would like to see the diff that will be committed as you edit the
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message you can use the ``--show-diff`` option to ``commit``. This will include
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the diff in the editor when it is opened, below the separator and the
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information about the files that will be committed. This means that you can
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read it as you write the message, but the diff itself wont be seen in the
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commit message when you have finished. If you would like parts to be
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included in the message you can copy and paste them above the separator.
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If you've made some changes and don't want to keep them, use the
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**revert** command to go back to the previous head version. It's a good
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idea to use **bzr diff** first to see what will be removed. By default the
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idea to use ``bzr diff`` first to see what will be removed. By default the
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revert command reverts the whole tree; if file or directory names are
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given then only those ones will be affected. **revert** also clears the
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given then only those ones will be affected. ``bzr revert`` also clears the
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list of pending merges revisions.
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such as editor backups, object or bytecode files, and built programs. You
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can simply not add them, but then they'll always crop up as unknown files.
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You can also tell bzr to ignore these files by adding them to a file
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called ''.bzrignore'' at the top of the tree.
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called ``.bzrignore`` at the top of the tree.
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This file contains a list of file wildcards (or "globs"), one per line.
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Typical contents are like this::
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If a glob contains a slash, it is matched against the whole path from the
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top of the tree; otherwise it is matched against only the filename. So
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the previous example ignores files with extension ``.o`` in all
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subdirectories, but this example ignores only config.h at the top level
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subdirectories, but this example ignores only ``config.h`` at the top level
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and HTML files in ``doc/``::
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To get a list of which files are ignored and what pattern they matched,
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use ''bzr ignored''::
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use ``bzr ignored``::
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config.h ./config.h
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The **bzr log** command shows a list of previous revisions. The **bzr log
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--forward** command does the same in chronological order to get most
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The ``bzr log`` command shows a list of previous revisions. The ``bzr log
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--forward`` command does the same in chronological order to get most
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recent revisions printed at last.
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As with bzr diff, bzr log supports the -r argument::
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As with ``bzr diff``, ``bzr log`` supports the ``-r`` argument::
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% bzr log -r 1000.. # Revision 1000 and everything after it
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% bzr log -r ..1000 # Everything up to and including r1000
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458
You can delete files or directories by just deleting them from the working
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directory. This is a bit different to CVS, which requires that you also
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**bzr remove** makes the file un-versioned, but does not delete
435
the working copy. This is useful when you add the wrong file, or decide
436
that a file should actually not be versioned.
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``bzr remove`` makes the file un-versioned, but may or may not delete
463
the working copy [2]_. This is useful when you add the wrong file,
464
or decide that a file should actually not be versioned.
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Often rather than starting your own project, you will want to submit a
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change to an existing project. You can get a copy of an existing branch
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by copying its directory, expanding a tarball, or by a remote copy using
461
something like rsync. You can also use bzr to fetch a copy. Because this
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new copy is potentially a new branch, the command is called *branch*::
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change to an existing project. To do this, you'll need to get a copy of
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the existing branch. Because this new copy is potentially a new branch,
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the command is called **branch**::
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% bzr branch http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.dev
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operations on it locally: log, annotate, making and merging branches.
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There will be an option to get only part of the history if you wish.
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You can also get a copy of an existing branch by copying its directory,
499
expanding a tarball, or by a remote copy using something like rsync.
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501
Following upstream changes
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502
==========================
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518
Merging from related branches
489
519
=============================
491
If two branches have diverged (both have unique changes) then **bzr
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merge** is the appropriate command to use. Merge will automatically
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If two branches have diverged (both have unique changes) then ``bzr
522
merge`` is the appropriate command to use. Merge will automatically
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523
calculate the changes that exist in the branch you're merging from that
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524
are not in your branch and attempt to apply them in your branch.
501
If there is a conflict during a merge, 3 files with the same basename are
502
created. The filename of the common base is appended with .BASE, the
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filename of the file containing your changes is appended .THIS and the
504
filename with the changes from the other tree is appended .OTHER.
505
Using a program such as kdiff3, you can now comfortably merge them into
506
one file. To commit you have to rename it to the original basename and
507
delete the other two files. As long as there exist files with .BASE, .THIS
508
or .OTHER the commit command will complain.
531
If there is a conflict during a merge, 3 files with the same basename
532
are created. The filename of the common base is appended with ".BASE",
533
the filename of the file containing your changes is appended with
534
".THIS" and the filename with the changes from the other tree is
535
appended with ".OTHER". Using a program such as kdiff3, you can now
536
comfortably merge them into one file. In order to commit you have to
537
rename the merged file (".THIS") to the original file name. To
538
complete the conflict resolution you must use the resolve command,
539
which will remove the ".OTHER" and ".BASE" files. As long as there
540
exist files with .BASE, .THIS or .OTHER the commit command will
545
% kdiff3 file.BASE file.OTHER file.THIS
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[**TODO**: explain conflict markers within files]
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directory. One can push a branch (or the changes for a branch) by one of
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the following three methods:
521
* Rsync: rsync -avrz LOCALBRANCH servername.com/this/directory/here
523
(or any other tool for publishing a directory to a web site.)
525
* bzr push sftp://servername.com/this/directory/here
527
(The directory that must already exist)
529
* The rspush plugin that comes with BzrTools
560
* The best method is to use bzr itself to do it.
564
% bzr push sftp://servername.com/path/to/directory
566
(The destination directory must already exist unless the
567
``--create-prefix`` option is used.)
569
* Another option is the ``rspush`` plugin that comes with BzrTools, which
570
uses rsync to push the changes to the revision history and the working
573
You can also use copy the files around manually, by sending a tarball, or
574
using rsync, or other related file transfer methods. This is usually
575
less safe than using ``push``, but may be faster or easier in some
532
578
Moving changes between trees
533
579
============================
547
593
This will apply all of the uncommitted changes you made in OLDDIR to NEWDIR.
548
594
It will not apply committed changes, even if they could be applied to NEWDIR
549
with a regular merge. The changes will remain in OLDDIR, but you can use **bzr
550
revert OLDDIR** to remove them, once you're satisfied with NEWDIR.
595
with a regular merge. The changes will remain in OLDDIR, but you can use ``bzr
596
revert OLDDIR`` to remove them, once you're satisfied with NEWDIR.
552
598
NEWDIR does not have to be a copy of OLDDIR, but they should be related.
553
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The more different they are, the greater the chance of conflicts.