LABEL a label

reg · Post by **reg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:29 pm

We are current Vault users who are renovating many of our development processes, including building and source code management. In our main development branch, we plan to use labels and label promotion to control what is contained in builds sent to test. We would GETLABEL a label that represented the code the developers have decided can go to test. Developers would be responsible for promoting this label. This would allow code to be checked in without including it in a test build.

From what I can tell, 2.0 handles this. However, when we do a build, we would like to label the code included in the build with another label. That way, even though our main label moves, we can tell what was included in a specific build. We need to Label by Label. It doesn't appear the LABEL command line can handle this. Is there another way to do this? Is an enhancement planned?

Thanks, Reg

Post by **jclausius** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:22 pm

reg:

you are correct. a label is just a "tag" against a snapshot of files. it really doesn't have any properties besides that.

you could take a look at "snapshot". you can label a snapshot multiple times. but note that overuse of snap shots (or not cleaning up deprecated snapshots) sometimes will lead to very, very, very large trees.

this has its disadvantages when the trees are sent as part of a refresh to the client or when building the entire tree from the database for security purposes.

reg · Post by **reg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:48 pm

Back to my original question. We would like to add another label based on a current label. Is there another way to do this? Is an enhancement planned?

Post by **jclausius** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:11 pm

if you will be modifying the label's contents, then the only way to do this is using a snapshot (aka - vault 1.x labels

)

one quick thing, you state,

That way, even though our main label moves, we can tell what was included in a specific build.

can you clarify the phrase"main label moves"? what is happening after the label has been applied? is it happening to the source tree or the label?

as for an enhancement, in case we can't achieve what you're asking for, i've logged a customer feature request on your behalf.

Post by **jclausius** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:51 pm

reg:

i've logged a customer feature request for label of a label. note, this could also be called "copy label". since the server is basically taking a label, and copying the contents of that label into a new label.

however, i would still like to see if there is a way we can accomplish what you asking with the features available in vault 2.0.

reg · Post by **reg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 6:29 pm

Thanks for reply. I looked more into doing label promotion and tested it. I don't think I need 1.x style snapshots. The interface wasn't what I expected, but I can do it by labelling a top level folder. Then using the label promotion on files within that folder. All that remains is the ability to label a label. This is pretty high on our list of enhancement.

can you clarify the phrase"main label moves"? what is happening after the label has been applied? is it happening to the source tree or the label?

I believe it is to the label. We still have a single source tree. The "moving" I mention is promotion in step #4. The part I can't do is indicated by ***.

For additional info, here is an example of what I'd like to accomplish.

"BUILD" is a label that is promoted as develop decides they want changes included in the build.

1) Start
a.cs
Label BUILD at version 3
b.cs
Label BUILD at version 2

2) Developer makes change to a.cs but doesn't want it in the build.
a.cs
unlabeled at version 4
Label BUILD at version 3
b.cs
Label BUILD at version 2

3) Build is created using Label "XXX". This would include
a.cs Label BUILD at version 3
b.cs Label BUILD at version 2

***After a successful build, I would like to label all the code at the BUILD label. So it would look like:
a.cs
unlabeled at version 4
Label BUILD at version 3
Label 2004-03-03 at version 3
b.cs
Label BUILD at version 2
Label 2004-03-03 at version 2

4) Developer decides a.cx changes are good, and promotes label "BUILD"
a.cs
Label BUILD at version 4
Label 2004-03-03 at version 3
b.cs
Label BUILD at version 2
Label 2004-03-03 at version 2

5) Another build is created using Label BUILD. This would include
a.cs Label BUILD at version 4
b.cs Label BUILD at version 2

***After a successful build, I would like to label all the code at the "BUILD" label. So it would look like:
a.cs
Label BUILD at version 4
Label 2004-03-04 at version 4
Label 2004-03-03 at version 3
b.cs
Label BUILD at version 2
Label 2004-03-04 at version 2
Label 2004-03-03 at version 2

charlesh · Post by **charlesh** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 3:19 pm

We have the same issue...was this feature ever implemented?

Post by **jclausius** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:30 pm

No. A feature request is logged, but it has yet to be implemented. I also added your name to this feature request.

As I mentioned in my original posts, the only way to accomplish something like this in the current release of Vault (2.0.3) is to use the Snapshot feature.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:52 pm

Is this feature ever implemented? Through the GUI, I can label a label but I want to do it through command line tool.

lbauer · Post by **lbauer** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:37 pm

Not yet. It's scheduled for a later release.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 2:00 pm

I would also like to request the label a label feature. Any info on availability would be appreciated...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 4:58 pm

Does 3.0 has label a label feature?

dan · Post by **dan** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:30 am

Sorry - label a label did not make it into 3.0

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:51 am

Really surprised that you have RENAME LABEL and do not have LABEL a LABEL in ver. 3.0. This is something we were looking for long time. I don't find anyway to implement an Enterprise level build and promotion procedure using Vault without using LABEL promotion. Can you tell what version will include this feature?

dan · Post by **dan** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 2:54 pm

After reading the feature request in our database, and then re-reading this thread, I must admit that I am actually confused now as to what exactly is being asked for. I see a few cases:

1. Duplicating an existing folder label. If a label is not promoted, this is available now, since you can just apply a label of a different name to the same version of the folder associated with that label.

2. If a folder label has been promoted, creating a label of a different name that applies to the same versions of files/folders as the original file. This is useful if you want to continue to change the original label, but still have a checkpoint of a label that existed in the past. This isn't available.

3. An entirely different way of thinking about this is having a lot of file labels of the same name, and then deciding that you want to unify them by applying a folder label of a different name above the files. In this case, you'd need to know which file label you want (e.g., "Build"), and which name you want to give it (e.g., "Release Candidate 1").

So, I guess the question is: What kind of labeling of a labeling are you specifically asking for? Where would you expect this command to exist, and what would it look like?

One other side note on this: Vault's labeling mechanism is obviously not designed right now to accomodate keeping track of two sets of changes within the same tree. Generally, we recommend branching a tree if you plan to have two development paths going at the same time, and then doing a Merge Branches once development is finished in one of the branches. Labels are usually a way to get back to a tree version that was in a known state.