CODEWITHSUNDEEP
tfsmergebranch
Brett F
Brett F

Reputation: 148

Is there an alternative to performing a baseless merge in TFS 2015?

So I've just arrived onsite where I'm a contractor....and they've only started using a source control tool (TFS 2015) recently. But it's really just used as a repository that gets backed up. They just use folders and no branches.

Here's the issue: We've got a large app migration project that will require that all code be touched to varying degrees. At the same time, we can't do a global code freeze as there will likely be emergency code changes that will need to be implemented in production well ahead of the app migration project code changes being implemented. My thought was to convert the base folder for any given app to a branch and call it appName-main. I'd then branch -main to -appMigration where the app migration project work would happen. Great, everything's fine...until an emergency change comes along that needs to be implemented on the main well ahead of the appMigration project being complete in our new data center. So I go ahead and branch -main again, this time to -EmergencyChange001 and after some work is done, it is eventually complete. At this point I'd like to merge -EmergencyChange001 into both the -Main and -AppMigration branches. The only way I can see of doing so is to perform a baseless merge, but there's lots of strong advice against doing so. Is this one scenario that would warrant a baseless merge, or is there a better alternative to it? Thanks in advance.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1792

Answers (1)

Eddie Chen - MSFT
Eddie Chen - MSFT

Reputation: 29968

Baseless merge can be used in your scenario but I would recommend you to avoid to use it as much as possible in your work since it may bring much more issues in the future. Some information for you reference:

Pitfalls of Baseless Merge,

How do I avoid having to merge every file in our repository after a baseless merge?

Just as James's mentioned in the comments, in your condition,

-EmergencyChange001 = -Main + Emergency Change

As soon as you merge -EmergencyChange001 to -Main, the latest -Main will be the same as the -EmergencyChange001. So merge -EmergencyChange001 to -Main and then merger -Main to -appMigration would better then baseless merge.

Upvotes: 5

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