How to tell which branch you're in? IntelliJ's non-functional community.

Hi,

I'm having problems using IntelliJ efficiently with branches. There are serious issues connected to this. I've posted some of my problems earlier, without anyone having the same issues or offering any assistance. Now - how can that be? Isn't anyone switching branches? Is the community not interested in a fully functional IDEA?

And how come IntelliJ don't show which branch you're in? That's just ridiculous. And it's even more so because it doesn't switch branch for files that's the same, and committing them to a new branch seems impossible.

No wonder Eclipse is drawing more and more attention. I'd like my $500 back, thank you.

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7 comments
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Permanently deleted user

Isn't anyone switching branches?


Of course we are using branches, but we don't use IDEA's built-in SVN
integration, but rather our own standalone Java-based, platform-independent
SVN client SmartSVN. And we never had serious issues with that. ;)

Tom

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I always create a separate project for any branches I need to work on. That way I start with a clean checkout and do not need to bother with switching branches.

Bas

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+1 for copies of projects
We start doing that 4 years ago with CVS, then stayed with it for SVN. It makes your life much easier.

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well i'm using branches, but I check them out to dedicated folders and switch sandboxes from one branch to the other one

I use built in svn IDEA support, but also Tortoise at times

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Hello Haakon,

I started with a branch switching approach, but moved to a separate directory
checkout fairly quickly. I did see some of the issues you mention, but I
don't think I'd try again even if they were fixed (which some of them might
have been, since).

IMO, having separate checkout directories is a much cleaner approach. Not
to mention it is the only decent way one can work on two or more branches
at the same time.

Besides, don't be so quick to praise Eclipse here, just the other day I witnessed
one of my Eclipse colleagues manually cleaning up/reverting/fixing files
after a "successful" branch switch.

That's not to say you don't have a point when complaining about buggy branch
switching, just that you might find it easier if you tried a different approach.

HTH,
Andrei


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Mark me down as another person that checks out each branch I am working on to a separate directory from the command line. When I check out branches I put the release number in the working copy folder's name and then I can just look up at the title bar to see which branch I am on.

If you want IntelliJ to show you which branch you are on I am sure you can create a feature request: http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA

I am not sure I have ever seen a good use for switch. Maybe you are blaming Intellij for your lack of a good version control policy?

You can also hit the command line and execute "svn info".

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I keep separate branch directories as well. I use IDEA's Path Variable to point to the content root of the branch directory I'm working on and when switch that (when the Project is closed!) to change to another branch.

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