This info is for reference to the core developers. Use of anonymous Subversion for outsiders is not explicitly covered here, but for now and as long as the load on the server remains manageable, will be identical, with the exception that only core developers can commit changes.
We assume that Subversion is installed and basic Subversion techniques are understood; for background information, Version Control with Subversion provides an excellent reference. One of its authors has also put together The Top Ten Subversion Tips for CVS Users which is very helpful.
There are two main development branches for R. For reference, we call them r-devel, and r-release-branch.
From the beginning of the release process for R-x.y.0 the two versions work towards
Version Name Branch URL (after https://svn.r-project.org/) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R-x.(y+1).0 r-devel [none] R/trunk/ R-x.y.z r-release-branch R-x-y-branch R/branches/R-x-y-branch/Note that R-patched is also used for the current r-release-branch. The "Branch" column refers to the Subversion branch name. The logic is that all releases (R-x.y.z, z>=0) are made from the branch named "R-x-y-branch".
NB: With Subversion we will develop as follows:
In what follows, I use the reference names also as directory names. All developers are encouraged to use the same names, to provide us with a common reference.
(By a development branch, I mean either the trunk or the release branch.)
I shall assume the bash shell in the following, for simplicity, and create the three development directories under $RTOP.
export REPOS=https://svn.r-project.org/R export RTOP=~ #adjust as necessary
cd $RTOP svn co $REPOS/trunk r-devel/R
The checked out directory will be called "$RTOP/r-devel/R". Change the "r-devel/R" argument to call it something else.
cd $RTOP svn co $REPOS/branches/R-2-4-branch r-release-branch/R
svn co $REPOS/R/tags/R-1-2-3 R
Notice that release versions are under the tags directory, not the branches directory. You should not change a released version and commit the changes back, but unlike CVS, Subversion will not prevent you from doing this. If you do it accidentally, please undo your change immediately.
svn up
If you have uncommitted changes that conflict with other updates, you will need to fix the conflicts and call svn resolved to tell Subversion that they are fixed before you'll be able to commit that file.
If you want to make completely sure that the files come from a given branch, use svn switch https://svn.r-project.org/R/branches/somebranch.
If you are on a slow connection, you can also use the switch command instead of doing a new checkout, e.g.
svn switch $REPOS/R/branches/R-2-4-branch
To switch to the trunk revision from a branch revision, use
svn switch $REPOS/R/trunk
I do not know if Subversion is capable of getting things wrong, e.g. if interrupted in the middle of an update.
or just
svn commit
in which case all changes in the current working directory will be committed, and you'll be asked for a change comment.
Notice that commits work on the trunk, branch and tag revisions, but they should never be made on the tags. Tags represent the status of the files at a given time in the past and should not be changed.
Almost all changes should be made on the r-devel trunk first. After testing and committing them there, bug fixes and some other minor changes should be ported to the r-patched branch aka r-release-branch . Make note of the revision number of your commit to the trunk. For example,
$ svn commit -m'Sample commit' Adding tests\added.file Sending tests\minitab.R Transmitting file data .. Committed revision 140.was revision 140. The changeset you want is -r 139:140, i.e. the changes between r139 and r140. However, for a simple changeset we can use a simpler notation, -c 140. (This requires svn >= 1.4.0.)
Change to the r-release-branch directory, merge your changes, check and fix any conflicts, and commit.
export REPOS=https://svn.r-project.org/R export RTOP=~ #adjust as necessary cd $RTOP/r-release-branch/R svn merge -c 140 $REPOS/trunk svn status # Look for C, indicating a conflict # fix conflicts... (remember to use svn resolved for each) svn commit -m 'ported r140 (sample changes to tests) from trunk'
svn merge -c -140 $REPOS/...
export REPOS=https://svn.r-project.org/R export RTOP=~/R-devel #adjust as necessary export TAG=R-2-4-branch cd $RTOP/r-devel/R svn merge -c 140 $REPOS/branches/$TAG svn status # Look for C, indicating a conflict # fix conflicts... (remember to use 'svn resolved ..' for each) svn commit -m 'merged r-patched change r140 into the trunk'
(A) Creating the branch (keeping a "log-file" to be re-used)
===================
export REPOS=https://svn.r-project.org/R
mkdir r-experimental
cd r-experimental
svn cp -m'Create R-tk' $REPOS/trunk $REPOS/branches/R-Tk > R-Tk-updates
cat R-Tk-updates # Keeps a record of revision numbers when your branch was last in sync with the trunk
svn checkout $REPOS/branches/R-Tk R
(B) Hacking on the branch
=====================
Just like on the release branch:
svn update
#..hack, hack, hack....
svn commit -m'hacked blah'
(C) Updating from r-devel (aka "main trunk")
========================================
# Use log-file'to find when we did our last merge, e.g. r141 :
tail -1 R-Tk-updates
svn log -r HEAD $REPOS # Find the HEAD revision, e.g. r143
svn merge -r 141:143 $REPOS/trunk
# resolve conflicts if any
svn commit -m 'ported r141:143 from main'
# Update log-file, saving the revision number, for the next merge:
echo merged to r143 >> R-Tk-updates
(D) Merging the hack back into r-devel
==================================
# Look up the revision number when we created the branch, e.g. r141 :
head R-Tk-updates
cd ~/r-devel/R
svn info # find the current revision number of the repository, e.g. r143
svn merge -r 141:143 $REPOS/branches/R-Tk # resolve conflicts if any
svn commit -m'merged Tk branch r141:143 into trunk'
(E) All done, so clean up
==================================
svn delete -m'Deleting R-Tk' $REPOS/branches/R-Tk
(F) Oops, more work to do on R-Tk: resurrect it
==================================
svn log -v $REPOS/branches | grep -B 2 R-Tk # look up when it was deleted (in r144)
svn copy -m'Resurrecting R-Tk branch' -r 143 $REPOS/branches/R-Tk $REPOS/branches/R-Tk