Re: Question regarding change set and release managment

Yao, Li Xun (Eric) wrote, On 04/27/2010 08:06 PM:
> Question: 

Requirement 1:
> multi developers working on different change sets at the same time

Requirement 2:
>  and we want to have whichever change set pass user acceptance testing move to production first. 

Requirement 3:
> We don't want to have each change set impact each other since 
> some change set may need to rework several times. 

Current methodology:
> To do this I have to create branch for each change set and merge the 
> change set back to chunk after the testing is completed, 
> and then create release tag in trunk for production deployment. 


Question:
> If there anyway to do it without branch?
> 
Yes. The developers can not check any changes from their sandbox in until Requirements 2 and 3 have
been satisfied.  This however would risk loosing any known working states of the developers while
they rework.


Branches however help the developers stay sane while working under Requirements 2 and 3.


with what little you have written, it sounds as if the organization either is suffering from
"Branch-a-holic"
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/pitfalls.html#BranchAholic
or
"Merge-mania"
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/pitfalls.html#MergeMania

and someone (you?) is trying to take them to a "Merge-a-phobia" state
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/pitfalls.html#MergePhobia

 Brad Appleton has some decent ideas on how to work business practices (Requirements 2 and 3) into
configuration management systems
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/

my guess at why your org is suffering either "Branch-a-holic" or "Merge-mania" is because you are
Branching per task:
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/patterns.html#BranchPerTask
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/branch-creation.html#BranchPerTask
instead of Branching per major task, with a smattering of "Personal Activity Branch"'s as
workers/task leads see fit:
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/branch-creation.html#BranchPerMajorTask
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/acme/branching/branch-creation.html#PersonalBranch
but these are only guesses with limited information, use at your own risk.

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-- 
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter