Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Moving directories to a new branches tree-root (tree root id?)

[Ben Burns]

On Monday 05 April 2004 19:46, Aaron Bentley wrote:
> Ben Burns wrote:
> > Okay, so I understand that arch does not currently look at the tree-root
> > at all.  I will argue though that it should, as well as looking at parent
> > directory id's.
>
> That would mean you could never rename the tree root.  This is
> unacceptable for me.  I keep several copies of tla around in my home
> directory, each with a different name.

Yeah, fair enough, arch can't name/rename the tree root, it is always the same 
directory that holds the {arch} directory.  I am not expecting any changes in 
that respect.  But other than this, I cannot see how the "." directory is any 
different that any other directory in the source tree.  Each is just (or 
should be) a container with an id.

What I think I am asking for is that added files and directories go into the 
right container :)

>
> > First of all, lets assume that bigtree is a largish project that someone
> > else maintains that may contain a subproject (neatly stored in a
> > directory) I am interested in.  I may have no ability to influence the
> > contents or development of bigtree, and we can assume that development
> > just continues on that branch.
>
> Okay, but why don't you use the whole of bigtree, and simply make
> changes to your subdir?

Well, for one, I may be interested only the contents of that subdirectory...  
Everything else is trash as far as I am concerned.  Or I want to use that 
subdirectory in a config, possibly in another project.  For example, imagine 
that tom's tla was all in one big tree, and he didn't use configs, you want 
to make your own branch of just hackerlib to include in another project...  
You want to keep up with the changes to hackerlib in tom's tla...  Currently 
you can do pretty much everything but correctly track files and directories 
added to the big tree.

>
> > Here's what I cannot do:
> > I can NOT easily merge changesets from the bigtree into my subproject
> > that contain files added to directories I have moved!!  Directories and
> > files end up in the (from my perspective) wrong directory. (original path
> > in bigtree?).
>
> When you move the subdirectory, you move its id, too.  Files are added
> to the directory with a given id, not the directory with a given name.
> But the tree root is your frame of reference.  You can't move something
> with respect to itself.
>
> But that's beside the point; we're talking about the tree-root here,
> aren't we?  You haven't made *all* your subdirectories tree-roots, have
> you? (and by
Maybe we are not talking about the tree-root, which of course there can only 
be one.  I am talking about the directory in the root of the source tree, 
which can have an id, and whose id can be moved... (logically moving the 
directory, which will no longer be the tree root...).

Although the tree-root always stays in the same place, the id of the tree root 
can move.  

So, no, I have not made all my subdirectories tree roots.  However, if you do 
an init-tree in a subdirectory of a project, the new branch's tree root has 
the same id as the original subdirectory id... I expected that arch would 
correctly place files added (in a changeset) to the bigtree's subdirectory 
into the subproject branch.

>
> > extention, the tree-root id).
> >
> > Is there any reason arch couldn't work this way?
>
> No reason.  Just make the "tree-root" a subdirectory instead.  Add a
> symlink if you need to.
>
> Aaron

Ben