Using svn 1.5.1 merge tracking with existing branches

We are planning to switch our subversion 1.4.x repositories over to 1.5.1
shortly ‹ this effectively means that developers can start using the merge
tracking functionality right away.

Our current development model is as follows ==>

Main development work is done on the trunk -- new features etc are done on
branches [ based off the trunk]. Developers frequently merge changes from
the trunk to their feature branches and on occasion merge their work back
from branch to trunk. The actual revision# and command itself is added as
a part of the comment during the merge-commit operation.

Example:

Create a new branch ³mybranch² from trunk at rev# X

After some trunk commits the changes are sucked into mybranch

svn merge ­r X:Y trunk <mybranch-WC>

.. Later on more trunk commits are merged to mybranch

svn merge ­r Y:Z trunk <mybranch-WC>

Finally the branch commits are merged back to trunk..

svn merge trunk_at_X mybranch <trunk-WC-at latestrev>

Going forward the simplest solution would have been to have developers (a)
cut a new branch from trunk and (b) start using the new merge / reintegrate
process for trunk -> br and br->trunk [reintegrate] merges.

However that does not seem likely any time soon since many developers are
not ready to merge back their changes to trunk from their feature branches
. So my question is how can I convert the current process so that I can
start using ³ svn ‹reintegrate mybranch <trunk-WC>² on existing branches.
There is no prior merge history in 1.4.x other than comments. At this point
I canıt use the above option ‹ merge complains about not having the
necessary information to ‹reintegrate.

Cheers
murli
Received on 2008-08-25 21:39:42 CEST