CODEWITHSUNDEEP
tfsmergebranch
adv12
adv12

Reputation: 8551

Two-step branch reintegration with TFS

On our TFS server, we have a trunk that is used for day-to-day development. Nine months ago, I made a feature branch for what has become a fairly large refactoring of the code. While I have been working on my branch, the other developer has been working directly on the trunk and building releases from there. (Yes, I know this is bad practice.) This means I can't merge my branch back into the trunk until it's been heavily tested, as new "production" builds are made from the trunk almost daily. (Again, yes, I know this is bad practice.)

In order for other employees to test my branch before reintegration, I need a version with the last nine months of incremental updates from the trunk. What I would like to do is merge the last nine months of changes from the trunk into my branch and then, after testing, merge my branch into the trunk. Is this a common scenario? Is it possible with TFS? If so, what terminology should I use to search for tutorials, etc? Or, if it can be described succinctly here, what are the steps?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 187

Answers (1)

Wouter de Kort
Wouter de Kort

Reputation: 39898

Merging changes back from a Main branch to a Dev branch is a common practice. I'm afraid however, that waiting nine months before you do it is not a common practice. Merging the changes after nine months is going to be hell.

The documentation you are looking for can be found here: Merge folders and files. The ALM Rangers have also published a guide on how to structure your branches and which options you have: Version Control Guide.

Upvotes: 4

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