externals behavior with tags

[amol gole <mo...@yahoo.com>]

I am a tortise svn user. I recently started trying the svn:externals property to 
share files between projects. I got this feature to work and I am happy with it 
so far. 


My question is related to how tags should behave with such shared files. I use 
tags as snapshots of my project in time. The tag is a copy of my trunk/branch 
when I created it. However, if I am using shared files via the externals 
property, these externally linked files will not be static - they will change if 
I do an update on my tag! This is definitely not the behavior I'm looking for. 


Immediately I can think of 2 ways to "fix" this behavior of the tag not being 
truly static:
1. In a tag, externally linked files loose their external link and are now just 
copies of the files. (yuck)
2. In a tag, the svn:externals property is changed slightly such that it points 
to the specific revision of the file when the tag was created. (using -rREV url 
filename format) 


Is this really a problem or is there another fix available that I am unaware of? 


Thanks,
AG


      

RE: externals behavior with tags

[Bob Archer <Bo...@amsi.com>]

> > Option 2 is supported, and in fact is the recommended method.
> >
> > See:
> > http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn-
> book.html#svn.advanced.externals
> 
> And if you want the externals references on your trunk to float
> with the
> trunk of the referenced item during development, one approach is to
> always make an intermediate branch where you make these and any
> other
> needed changes before making the tag.

Or, just make the changes on your working copy and create the tag from your working copy.

BOb

Re: externals behavior with tags

[Les Mikesell <le...@gmail.com>]

On 1/26/2011 4:36 PM, NN Ott wrote:
>
>     I am a tortise svn user. I recently started trying the svn:externals
>     property to share files between projects. I got this feature to work
>     and I am happy with it so far.
>
>     My question is related to how tags should behave with such shared
>     files. I use tags as snapshots of my project in time. The tag is a
>     copy of my trunk/branch when I created it. However, if I am using
>     shared files via the externals property, these externally linked
>     files will not be static - they will change if I do an update on my
>     tag! This is definitely not the behavior I'm looking for.
>
>     Immediately I can think of 2 ways to "fix" this behavior of the tag
>     not being truly static:
>     1. In a tag, externally linked files loose their external link and
>     are now just copies of the files. (yuck)
>     2. In a tag, the svn:externals property is changed slightly such
>     that it points to the specific revision of the file when the tag was
>     created. (using -rREV url filename format)
>
>     Is this really a problem or is there another fix available that I am
>     unaware of?
>
>
>
> Option 2 is supported, and in fact is the recommended method.
>
> See:
> http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn-book.html#svn.advanced.externals

And if you want the externals references on your trunk to float with the 
trunk of the referenced item during development, one approach is to 
always make an intermediate branch where you make these and any other 
needed changes before making the tag.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell@gmail.com

Re: externals behavior with tags

[NN Ott <no...@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 5:02 PM, amol gole <mo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I am a tortise svn user. I recently started trying the svn:externals
> property to share files between projects. I got this feature to work and I
> am happy with it so far.
>
> My question is related to how tags should behave with such shared files. I
> use tags as snapshots of my project in time. The tag is a copy of my
> trunk/branch when I created it. However, if I am using shared files via the
> externals property, these externally linked files will not be static - they
> will change if I do an update on my tag! This is definitely not the behavior
> I'm looking for.
>
> Immediately I can think of 2 ways to "fix" this behavior of the tag not
> being truly static:
> 1. In a tag, externally linked files loose their external link and are now
> just copies of the files. (yuck)
> 2. In a tag, the svn:externals property is changed slightly such that it
> points to the specific revision of the file when the tag was created. (using
> -rREV url filename format)
>
> Is this really a problem or is there another fix available that I am
> unaware of?
>
>

Option 2 is supported, and in fact is the recommended method.

See:
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn-book.html#svn.advanced.externals