We have 3 central mercurial repositories, one is the stable version that is the code that went out in the last release, and the other two are dev repositories.
Most of the time I will be working on one of the dev repositories (but occasionally may have to make a change to the other dev repository or to the stable repository).
Do I create three directories on my local machine and create a mercurial repository in each, or is there a way in which I can work from a single repository on my machine and synchronise my local repository with the appropriate central one?
What’s the best approach here?
3 directories is the best approach.
You can work with a single local clone, but you will have quite a bit of work ensuring you don’t push things to a repository that you’re not supposed to.
Having 3 distinct local folders makes it easier to ensure you’re working in the right one, and ensure you’re not accidentally pushing to the production/release repository.