Question

We are in a transition from source control Clearcase to SVN and we cannot find a similar workflow in svn as we had in Clearcase.

In Clearcase we had one integration view from where the builds were done. Each developer also has its own “developer view” where development is done. Periodically (when some work item is done), code from dev views is delivered into integration view. Then both views were synchronized together and we were good to go. The “developer view” can be used for years in this scenario.

We try to achieve the same workflow in SVN using branches but we are having the following problem:

1. If, as mentioned in the svn doc, we
   merge into the trunk using the
   –reintegrate flag, our branch become useless and need to be
   recreated. It is not pratical,
   especially when using Eclipse (we do
   not want to recreate our workspace
   or even deleted the “old” project
   because the launch configuration is
   lost).
2. If we merge without that
   option, we end up, few commit/merge
   later with various unexpected
   conflict like “local obstruction,
   incoming add upon merge” even if the
   file was added only once.

So my question is how can we have one branch per developper? If it is not possible, how do you work with Eclipse, SVN and branches. One last thing, we want to keep the trunk pristine, so working directly in the trunk is not and option 🙂

Thanks for your insight,

-Martin

Answer 1

Generally, a branch per developer is frowned at and is definitely not the recommended flow in SVN. In DVCS like Git, Hg, developers can have local branches to work on and such branches are cheap. Maybe you can consider using git-svn or even shift to Git / Hg and have less painful merges.