http://www.secnetix.de/olli/FreeBSD/perforce-ref.txt

Perforce (p4) FreeBSD Howto / Reference

Copyright (C) 2007-2009 Oliver Fromme, Munich.  All rights reserved.
<olli@freebsd.org>  <olli@fromme.com>  <olli@secnetix.de>


Note, this is not a tutorial and not an introduction to
p4 or to revision control systems in general.  This is
only a reference of typical actions and "daily doing",
especially when using the FreeBSD Perforce repository.

================================================================

Prerequisites:

    $ mkdir ~/p4
    $ cd ~/p4
    $ $EDITOR ~/.p4config

    P4PORT=perforce.freebsd.org:1666
    P4USER=<your p4 user name>
    P4PASSWD=<your p4 password>
    P4CLIENT=<your client name, see below>

    $ chmod 600 ~/.p4config

================================================================

Get server and client info:

    $ p4 info

View help page about p4 command (e.g. p4 "sync" command):

    $ p4 help sync

View list of commonly used commands:

    $ p4 help simple

Viel list of all commands:

    $ p4 help commands

Show where I am, relative to depot, client and local host:

    $ p4 where

Make sure sure to have up-to-date files from server:

    $ p4 sync

================================================================

View abbreviated revision history of a file:

    $ p4 filelog myfile.c

View complete commit messages:

    $ p4 filelog -l myfile.c

List all {users, clients, branches} known to the server:

    $ p4 {clients, users, branches}

View a {user, client, branch} definition:

    $ p4 {user, client, branch} -o myname

Create or edit a {user, client, branch} definition:

    $ p4 {user, client, branch} myname

================================================================

Please see note #3 below regarding the "p4 submit" command.

Add a new file:

    $ $EDITOR newfile.c
    $ p4 add newfile.c
    $ p4 submit

Edit an existing file:

    $ p4 edit myfile.c
    $ $EDITOR myfile.c
    $ p4 submit

List files opened for editing by this client:

    $ p4 opened

View unified diffs of all unsubmitted local changes:

    $ p4 diff -du

View unified diff of a particular file:

    $ p4 diff -du myfile.c

Rename a file:

    $ p4 integrate -i oldname.c newname.c
    $ p4 resolve
    $ p4 delete oldname.c
    $ p4 submit

List the files that were modified in this branch:

    $ p4 diff2 -q -b my_branch

Merge changes from current into my branch
(called "IFC", see note #1 below):

    $ p4 integrate -b my_branch
    $ p4 resolve -as
    $ p4 resolve -du
    $ p4 diff -du       (review changes)
    $ p4 submit

Generate patch of my_branch against branch integrated from
(only right after a fresh IFC, otherwise see note #2 below):

    $ p4 diff2 -u -b my_branch

Note that the patch does not contain new files, i.e. files
that did not exist in the branch integrated from!  You'll
have to add these separately.  Another possibility is to
omit the -u option and use the following post processing
script:  http://people.freebsd.org/~scottl/awkdiff

================================================================

Additional notes:

1.

When doing an IFC (integrate from current), it is customary
to include the change number against which you integrate
in the commit message:  "IFC @xxxxxx"

In order to find that number, use this command:

    $ p4 changes -m 20

and look for the latest change made by "importer".  Use that
change number in the commit message.

2.

If you want to provide a patch set for public consumption,
make the patch against that change number (note that the
default of diff2 is to use the current head revision, which
is probably not what you want):

    $ p4 diff2 -u -b my_branch @xxxxxx #head

That means:  Produce a patch set of my_branch at its head
revision against the branch it was integrated from (presumably
the FreeBSD vendor branch) when it was at change level xxxxxx.

You can omit "@xxxxxx #head" only if you did a fresh IFC
right before, and you're sure there haven't been any commits
since then.

(Note:  Some shells treat the "#" character specially,
therefore you might have to quote it, i.e. write '#head'
in single quotes.)

3.

When doing a "p4 submit" and you stay in the editor for too
long, a network time-out might occur, aborting the commit
halfway through.  This is not disaster, but it's annoying
and somewhat non-intuitive to recover from.

Therefore, if you intend to write a long commit message,
it might be a good idea to prepare the message in advance,
then fire up "p4 submit" and copy the prepared text into
the template.

================================================================