3. The Release Engineer Experience

3. The Release Engineer
Experience
The AccuRev experience for a Release Engineer or Quality Engineer includes working with the StreamBrowser™, creating new streams and snapshots, comparing streams, and rearranging the stream hierarchy.
Opening the StreamBrowser
The StreamBrowser allows you to easily see and control your development stream hierarchy graphically.
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Alternative: Select View > View Streams from the AccuRev main menu.
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The StreamBrowser appears, showing the streams in your depot.
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In the filter at the bottom of the StreamBrowser tab, make sure that All Workspaces or Current User is selected in the drop-down field.
These settings include your "private" workspace streams in the display.
Currently, there is only one "public" development stream: the depot’s “base stream” or “root stream”. It has the same name as the depot.
Creating an Integration Stream Based on the Base Stream
In environments with multiple congruent projects, it can be useful to create an integration stream and promote your changes there, rather than directly to the base stream.
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Click the New Stream button () on the AccuRev toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and select New Stream from the context menu.
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The newly created integration stream appears in the StreamBrowser, as a direct “child” of the base stream.
Creating a Snapshot Stream to Capture the Current State of Development
The team just wrapped up a release and wants to save the version of the files that comprised that release. In AccuRev, you accomplish this by creating a snapshot stream.
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Click the New Snapshot button () on the AccuRev toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and select New Snapshot from the context menu.
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The newly created snapshot stream appears in the StreamBrowser.
Reparenting Your Workspaces
Your work on the first project has concluded, and you are ready to take advantage of the integration stream. AccuRev makes it easy to move your workspace from stream to stream -- from acme to acme_int, for example -- using simple drag-and-drop gestures.
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The StreamBrowser shows that your workspace stream is now based on the integration stream.
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AccuRev displays an informational message letting you know that you need to update the reparented workspace. Click Ok to clear the message and then update your workspace as described in the following section.
Updating Your Workspace
An Update is always required after reparenting a workspace.
To update each workspace that you reparented.
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Tip: Consider displaying the Incoming Changes mode to preview the changes that will occur in your workspace after you update.
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Click the Update button ().
Promoting Your Changes from the Integration Stream to the Base Stream
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Click the Edit button on the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Edit from the context menu.
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Click the Keep button () on the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Keep from the context menu.
Enter a comment, and click Ok.
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Click the Promote button () on the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Promote from the context menu.
This promotes the new version of the file to the integration stream. The process remains the same no matter which stream the workspace is based on: > Edit; > Keep; > Promote.
Tip: You can choose to skip the Keep operation: AccuRev automatically performs any required Keep operations when you Promote a file.
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(optional) Edit/Keep/Promote additional files.
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Click the Show Active Files button () under the integration stream (example: acme_int).
This opens a subwindow showing the files you just promoted to the integration stream.
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Click the Promote button () on the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Promote from the context menu.
The files have now been promoted from the integration stream to the base stream.
Creating a Second Snapshot of the Base Stream
Your work on release 2.0 is done. Create a snapshot of the base stream to capture the versions of all the files used to create 2.0.
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Click the New Snapshot button () on the AccuRev toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and select New Snapshot from the context menu.
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The newly created snapshot stream appears in the StreamBrowser.
Comparing the Contents of the Two Snapshot Streams
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Click the Show Diff By Files button () on the AccuRev toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and select Show Diff By Files from the context menu.
A “show difference” icon is added to the mouse pointer.
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A list appears, containing the files you promoted above.
Observing the Differences Between Snapshots at the Individual File Level
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Right-click and select Show Difference from the context menu.
Seeing Inheritance in the Stream Hierarchy
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Note the version-ID of some file in the workspace (example: acme/1). The direction of the separator character varies with the operating system.
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Modify that file (right-click and choose Edit from the context menu).
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Click the Promote button () on the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Promote from the context menu.
This is a shortcutthe Promote command in the GUI performs an automatic Keep on the modified file.
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Tip: The Outgoing Changes mode () displays all files that have been promoted from a child stream or workspace.
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The version of the file in the integration stream (example: acme/2) is the same as the version in the base stream. This version has been automatically inherited from the base stream.
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The version-ID of the file in this workspace is not the same as in its parent, the integration stream. This fact is reflected in the file’s (stale) status indicator. Inheritance by workspaces is not automatic, but occurs only when you Update the workspace.
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Click the Update button () on the toolbar.
The same file version (example: acme/2) has now been loaded into the workspace. The file’s status no longer includes the (stale) indicator.
Using a Basis Time to Block Inheritance
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Right-click and select Change Stream from the context menu.
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Select a Basis Time of Now, then click Ok.
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Select the same file, then right-click and select Promote from the context menu.
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Tip: The Outgoing Changes mode () displays all files that have been promoted from a child stream or workspace.
Note the version of the file in the stream (example: acme/3).
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The version of the file in the integration stream is not the same as the version in the base stream. The basis time prevents automatic inheritance from the base stream.
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Click the Update button () on the toolbar. Then click View Full Log.
No new file versions are loaded into the workspace.
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Right-click then select Change Stream from the context menu.
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Select a Basis Time of None (cancelling the basis time setting), then click Ok.
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The version of the file in the integration stream (example: acme/8) is the same as the version in the base stream. As soon as the basis time is removed from the integration stream, it inherits the new file version from the base stream.
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Double-click the workspace below the integration stream, then click the Update button () on the toolbar. Then click View Full Log.
The new file version is loaded into the workspace.
Viewing the History of a Stream
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Click the Show History button () on the AccuRev toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click then select Show History from the context menu.
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Select the most recent promote transaction.
The file versions involved in the transaction appear in the bottom pane of the History Browser.
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Locate the oldest promote transaction, and note the timestamp for use in the next operation.
Using a Time-based Stream to Reproduce a Previous Configuration
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Right-click then select New Stream from the context menu.
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Specify the basis time by clicking the Specified radio button, then entering a time just after that of the base stream’s first promote transaction (the time you noted above). Then click Ok.
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Double-click the workspace to open it, then click the Update button () on the toolbar. Then click View Full Log.
Older versions of files are loaded into the workspace, and now you are able to test the previous configuration.
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Newer versions of files are loaded into the workspace.
Making Fixes to a Previous Release
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Alternative: Right-click then select New Stream from the context menu.
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All files in the workspace with (modified) status appear in the Details pane.
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Tip: Use the Modified status filter button () to show only those files with a (modified) status.
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Click the Promote button () in the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Promote from the context menu.
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A default group icon appears below the new maintenance stream.
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Promoting Changes from the Maintenance Stream to the Integration Stream
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A Change Palette tab opens.
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If any files in the Change Palette have (overlap) status (yellow highlight), select them and then click the Merge button () on the Change Palette toolbar.
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The AccuRev Merge tool appears.
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Select all the files in the Change Palette tab, click the Promote button () in the File Browser toolbar.
Alternative: Right-click and choose Promote from the context menu.
If you merged one or more files, they are displayed in a separate pane at the bottom of the Change Palette tab. You must Promote these files separately from the files in the upper pane, which did not need to be merged.
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No files are displayed in the Change Palette tab, showing that all the changes in the maintenance stream have already been promoted to the integration stream.
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Borland