Working with several branches and working copies

If you'd be using linux you could be using symlinks:
for each branch a separate working copy:
branch1
branch2
...
branchN

and a symlink to current branch you are working on

current -> branchM

and of course your idea project defined against "current" symlink

when you want to switch you just

ln -sfn branchZ current

not sure Windows has something like this, Mac OS does.

Johan Andersson wrote:

I have searched and googled for hours and have found nothing about this.
I have a project that is very complex and I want to make a branch with a separate working copy so I can do some major changes and when a user needs a minor fix I can just switch back to the other branch and working copy, fix it and switch back to the big job.
In the end I want to merge the branches and start all over again
This seems like a normal straighforward way to work but Ive seen nothing in the documentation or on the web.
Regards
Johan Andersson

---
Original message URL: http://www.jetbrains.net/devnet/message/5231284#5231284

Unfortunately Im using Windows Vista but Ill look into it.
The problem would be knowing which branch Im currently working with. There would be no obvius way to see that while codeing away.
/Johan

I've encountered this problem too. The annoying thing is you can't have two
modules with the same name (one for each branch), and removing one from the
project and adding the other means that any other modules that depend on
the module being swapped out will lose the dependency.

That aside, if you want to take the symlink approach, take a look at junctions.
They've been a feature of NTFS for a long time, but not officially supported
until Vista AFAIK.

Unfortunately Im using Windows Vista but Ill look into it.

The problem would be knowing which branch Im currently working with.
There would be no obvius way to see that while codeing away.

/Johan

---
Original message URL:
http://www.jetbrains.net/devnet/message/5231298#5231298