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"Arthur Barrett" <arthur.barrett at march-hare.com> wrote in message news:foaj6r$ik1$1 at paris.nodomain.org... > Eric, > >> A perfect example for how renames are important are in Java programming. >> In Java, the class name must match the filename. So for example, a file >> called TestExample.java would contain a class called TestExample. >> Furthermore, it's path within my project determines its package. So my >> src/eric/test/TestExample.java class would actually be referred to as >> eric.test.TestExample() in my code. If I renamed my class from >> TestExample to Example, and moved it to src/eric/functional/Example.Java >> I would be forced to then rename my class obect to Example.java. And >> then within my code, I would start referring to it as >> eric.functional.Example(). >> >> So when I merge my branch back, if those file renames/moves aren't >> carried over in some way or another, I would find myself with build >> errors all over the place, and be forced to figure out which filenames >> have changes and rename them a second time. > > > Yes - not having a Java developer on staff means that we are just > oblivious to this sort of thing till someone raises it. > > As much as non-Java programmers think that this behaviour of the java > compiler is ludicrous, it's not about to change, and there is a lot of > Java development going on so we need to support it well. > > Tony has his head stuck in some pretty complex code right now but I have > asked him to read this thread and comment on it ASAP. > > Based on your description I think that yes EVS v1 should support 'merge > renames' - whether that is the default or an option - it's a part of the > 'rename problem' for Java developers. Me wanting it in v1 doesn't > automatically make it happen though, our next planning meeting is on the > 18th. Thanks - I appreciate the effort. I can also see this is a major issue for anyone who builds / develops web applications which contain links between different files. Again, a change of an HTML filename/location would require changing any embeded links within referencing pages. Consequently, not carrying forward moves/renames would cause all referencing links to be broken, and even worse, no easy way to detect which links broke. As an aside, I checked with SVN guys who informed me that they do carry forward move/renames when merging branches. However, SVN handles the situation by not truly "renaming" the file, but rather by an atomic delete/add of the file in question. Consequently, when merging branches, it carries forward the delete/addition. Keep in mind that they have encountered problems with this technique as well - primarily with loss of changes made to the original file which is deleted at merge time, and not necessarily carried over into the newly added file. http://www.orcaware.com/pipermail/svnmerge/2007-May/000913.html http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=898 Just some more food for thought... Will still try to get more info how CC and Perforce handle it... Thanks, Eric