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1 \chapter{Encontrar y arreglar sus equivocaciones}
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2 \label{chap:undo}
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3
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4 Errar es humano, pero tratar adecuadamente las consecuencias requiere
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5 un sistema de control de revisiones de primera categoría. En este
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6 capítulo, discutiremos algunas técnicas que puede usar cuando
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7 encuentra que hay un problema enraizado en su proyecto. Mercurial
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8 tiene unas características poderosas que le ayudarán a isolar las
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9 fuentes de los problemas, y a dar cuenta de ellas apropiadamente.
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10
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11 \section{Borrar la historia local}
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12
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13 \subsection{La consignación accidental}
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14
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15 Tengo el problema ocasional, pero persistente de teclear más rápido de
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16 lo que pienso, que aveces resulta en consignar un conjunto de cambios
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17 incompleto o simplemente malo. En mi caso, el conjunto de cambios
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18 incompleto consiste en que creé un nuevo archivo fuente, pero olvidé
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19 hacerle \hgcmd{add}. Un conjunto de cambios``simplemente malo'' no es
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20 tan común, pero sí resulta muy molesto.
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21
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22 \subsection{Hacer rollback\footnote{El significado igual que en los
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23 ambientes de sistemas manejadores de bases de datos se refiere a
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24 la atomicidad e integridad al devolver un conjunto de acciones que
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25 permitan dejar el repositorio en un estado consistente previo} una transacción}
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26 \label{sec:undo:rollback}
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27
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28 En la sección~\ref{sec:concepts:txn}, mencioné que Mercurial trata
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29 modificación a un repositorio como una \emph{transacción}. Cada vez
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30 que consigna un conjunto de cambios o lo jala de otro repositorio,
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31 Mercurial recuerda lo que hizo. Puede deshacer, o hacer \emph{roll back},
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32 exactamente una de tales acciones usando la orden \hgcmd{rollback}.
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33 (Ver en la sección~\ref{sec:undo:rollback-after-push} una anotación
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34 importante acerca del uso de esta orden.)
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35
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36 A continuación una equivocación que me sucede frecuentemente:
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37 consignar un cambio en el cual he creado un nuevo fichero, pero he
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38 olvidado hacerle \hgcmd{add}.
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39 \interaction{rollback.commit}
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40 La salida de \hgcmd{status} después de la consignación confirma
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41 inmediatamente este error.
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42 \interaction{rollback.status}
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43 La consignación capturó los cambios en el archivo \filename{a}, pero
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44 no el nuevo fichero \filename{b}. Si yo publicara este conjunto de
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45 cambios a un repositorio compartido con un colega, es bastante
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46 probable que algo en \filename{a} se refiriera a \filename{b}, el cual
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47 podría no estar presente cuando jalen mis cambios del repositorio. Me
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48 convertiría el sujeto de cierta indignación.
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49
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50 Como sea, la suerte me acompaña---Encontré mi error antes de publicar
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51 el conjunto de cambios. Uso la orden \hgcmd{rollback}, y Mercurial
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52 hace desaparecer el último conjunto de cambios.
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53 \interaction{rollback.rollback}
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54 El conjunto de cambios ya no está en la historia del repositorio, y el
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55 directorio de trabajo cree que el fichero \filename{a} ha sido
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56 modificado. La consignación y el roll back dejaron el directorio de
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57 trabajo exactamente como estaba antes de la consignación; el conjunto
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58 de cambios ha sido eliminado totlamente. Ahora puedo hacer \hgcmd{add}
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59 al fichero \filename{b}, y hacer de nuevo la consignación.
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60 \interaction{rollback.add}
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61
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62 \subsection{Erroneamente jalado}
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63
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64 Mantener ramas de desarrollo separadas de un proyecto en distintos
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65 repositorios es una práctica común con Mercurial. Su equipo de
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66 desarrollo puede tener un repositorio compartido para la versión ``0.9''
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67 y otra con cambios distintos para la versión ``1.0''.
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68
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69 Con este escenario, puede imaginar las consecuencias si tuviera un
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70 repositorio local ``0.9'', y jalara accidentalmente los cambios del
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71 repositorio compartido de la versión ``1.0'' en este. En el peor de
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72 los casos, por falta de atención, es posible que publique tales
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73 cambios en el árbol compartido ``0.9'', confundiendo a todo su equipo
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74 de trabajo(pero no se preocupe, volveremos a este terrorífico
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75 escenario posteriormente). En todo caso, es muy probable que usted se
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76 de cuenta inmediatamente, dado que Mercurial mostrará el URL de donde
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77 está jalando, o que vea jalando una sospechosa gran cantidad de
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78 cambios en el repositorio.
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79
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80 La orden \hgcmd{rollback} excluirá eficientemente los conjuntos de
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81 cambios que haya acabado de jalar. Mercurial agrupa todos los cambios
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82 de un \hgcmd{pull} a una única transacción y bastará con un
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83 \hgcmd{rollback} para deshacer esta equivocación.
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84
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85 \subsection{Después de publicar, un roll back es futil}
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86 \label{sec:undo:rollback-after-push}
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87
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88 El valor de \hgcmd{rollback} se anula cuando ha publicado sus cambios
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89 a otro repositorio. Un cambio desaparece totalmente al hacer roll back,
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90 pero \emph{solamente} en el repositorio en el cual aplica
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91 \hgcmd{rollback}. Debido a que un roll back elimina la historia,
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92 no hay forma de que la desaparición de un cambio se propague entre
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93 repositorios.
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94
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95 Si ha publicado un cambio en otro repositorio---particularmente si es
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96 un repositorio público---esencialmente está ``en terreno agreste,''
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97 y tendrá que reparar la equivocación de un modo distinto. Lo que
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98 pasará si publica un conjunto de cambios en algún sitio, hacer
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99 rollback y después volver a jalar del repositorio del cual había
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100 publicado, es que el conjunto de cambios reaparecerá en su repositorio.
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101
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102 (Si está absolutamente segruro de que el conjunto de cambios al que
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103 desea hacer rollback es el cambio más reciente del repositorio en el
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104 cual publicó, \emph{y} sabe que nadie más pudo haber jalado de tal
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105 repositorio, puede hacer rollback del conjunto de cambios allí, pero
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106 es mejor no confiar en una solución de este estilo. Si lo hace, tarde
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107 o temprano un conjunto de cambios logrará colarse en un repositorio
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108 que usted no controle directamente(o del cual se ha olvidado), y
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109 volverá a hostigarle.)
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110
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111 \subsection{Solamente hay un roll back}
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112
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113 Mercurial almacena exactamente una transacción en su bitácora de
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114 transacciones; tal transacción es la más reciente de las que haya
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115 ocurrido en el repositorio. Esto significa que solamente puede hacer
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116 roll back a una transacción. Si espera poder hacer roll back a una
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117 transacción después al antecesor, observará que no es el
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118 comportamiento que obtendrá.
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119 \interaction{rollback.twice}
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120 Una vez que haya aplicado un rollback en una transacción a un
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121 repositorio, no podrá volver a hacer rollback hasta que haga una
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122 consignación o haya jalado.
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123
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124 \section{Reverting the mistaken change}
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125
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126 If you make a modification to a file, and decide that you really
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127 didn't want to change the file at all, and you haven't yet committed
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128 your changes, the \hgcmd{revert} command is the one you'll need. It
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129 looks at the changeset that's the parent of the working directory, and
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130 restores the contents of the file to their state as of that changeset.
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131 (That's a long-winded way of saying that, in the normal case, it
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132 undoes your modifications.)
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133
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134 Let's illustrate how the \hgcmd{revert} command works with yet another
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135 small example. We'll begin by modifying a file that Mercurial is
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136 already tracking.
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137 \interaction{daily.revert.modify}
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138 If we don't want that change, we can simply \hgcmd{revert} the file.
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139 \interaction{daily.revert.unmodify}
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140 The \hgcmd{revert} command provides us with an extra degree of safety
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141 by saving our modified file with a \filename{.orig} extension.
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142 \interaction{daily.revert.status}
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143
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144 Here is a summary of the cases that the \hgcmd{revert} command can
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145 deal with. We will describe each of these in more detail in the
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146 section that follows.
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147 \begin{itemize}
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148 \item If you modify a file, it will restore the file to its unmodified
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149 state.
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150 \item If you \hgcmd{add} a file, it will undo the ``added'' state of
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151 the file, but leave the file itself untouched.
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152 \item If you delete a file without telling Mercurial, it will restore
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153 the file to its unmodified contents.
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154 \item If you use the \hgcmd{remove} command to remove a file, it will
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155 undo the ``removed'' state of the file, and restore the file to its
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156 unmodified contents.
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157 \end{itemize}
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158
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159 \subsection{File management errors}
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160 \label{sec:undo:mgmt}
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161
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162 The \hgcmd{revert} command is useful for more than just modified
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163 files. It lets you reverse the results of all of Mercurial's file
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164 management commands---\hgcmd{add}, \hgcmd{remove}, and so on.
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165
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166 If you \hgcmd{add} a file, then decide that in fact you don't want
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167 Mercurial to track it, use \hgcmd{revert} to undo the add. Don't
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168 worry; Mercurial will not modify the file in any way. It will just
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169 ``unmark'' the file.
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170 \interaction{daily.revert.add}
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171
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172 Similarly, if you ask Mercurial to \hgcmd{remove} a file, you can use
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173 \hgcmd{revert} to restore it to the contents it had as of the parent
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174 of the working directory.
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175 \interaction{daily.revert.remove}
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176 This works just as well for a file that you deleted by hand, without
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177 telling Mercurial (recall that in Mercurial terminology, this kind of
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178 file is called ``missing'').
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179 \interaction{daily.revert.missing}
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180
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181 If you revert a \hgcmd{copy}, the copied-to file remains in your
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182 working directory afterwards, untracked. Since a copy doesn't affect
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183 the copied-from file in any way, Mercurial doesn't do anything with
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184 the copied-from file.
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185 \interaction{daily.revert.copy}
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186
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187 \subsubsection{A slightly special case: reverting a rename}
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188
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189 If you \hgcmd{rename} a file, there is one small detail that
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190 you should remember. When you \hgcmd{revert} a rename, it's not
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191 enough to provide the name of the renamed-to file, as you can see
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192 here.
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193 \interaction{daily.revert.rename}
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194 As you can see from the output of \hgcmd{status}, the renamed-to file
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195 is no longer identified as added, but the renamed-\emph{from} file is
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196 still removed! This is counter-intuitive (at least to me), but at
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197 least it's easy to deal with.
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198 \interaction{daily.revert.rename-orig}
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199 So remember, to revert a \hgcmd{rename}, you must provide \emph{both}
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200 the source and destination names.
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201
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202 % TODO: the output doesn't look like it will be removed!
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203
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204 (By the way, if you rename a file, then modify the renamed-to file,
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205 then revert both components of the rename, when Mercurial restores the
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206 file that was removed as part of the rename, it will be unmodified.
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207 If you need the modifications in the renamed-to file to show up in the
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208 renamed-from file, don't forget to copy them over.)
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209
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210 These fiddly aspects of reverting a rename arguably constitute a small
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211 bug in Mercurial.
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212
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213 \section{Dealing with committed changes}
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214
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215 Consider a case where you have committed a change $a$, and another
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216 change $b$ on top of it; you then realise that change $a$ was
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217 incorrect. Mercurial lets you ``back out'' an entire changeset
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218 automatically, and building blocks that let you reverse part of a
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219 changeset by hand.
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220
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221 Before you read this section, here's something to keep in mind: the
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222 \hgcmd{backout} command undoes changes by \emph{adding} history, not
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223 by modifying or erasing it. It's the right tool to use if you're
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224 fixing bugs, but not if you're trying to undo some change that has
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225 catastrophic consequences. To deal with those, see
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226 section~\ref{sec:undo:aaaiiieee}.
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227
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228 \subsection{Backing out a changeset}
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229
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230 The \hgcmd{backout} command lets you ``undo'' the effects of an entire
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231 changeset in an automated fashion. Because Mercurial's history is
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232 immutable, this command \emph{does not} get rid of the changeset you
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233 want to undo. Instead, it creates a new changeset that
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234 \emph{reverses} the effect of the to-be-undone changeset.
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235
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236 The operation of the \hgcmd{backout} command is a little intricate, so
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237 let's illustrate it with some examples. First, we'll create a
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238 repository with some simple changes.
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239 \interaction{backout.init}
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240
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241 The \hgcmd{backout} command takes a single changeset ID as its
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242 argument; this is the changeset to back out. Normally,
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243 \hgcmd{backout} will drop you into a text editor to write a commit
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244 message, so you can record why you're backing the change out. In this
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245 example, we provide a commit message on the command line using the
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246 \hgopt{backout}{-m} option.
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247
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248 \subsection{Backing out the tip changeset}
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249
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250 We're going to start by backing out the last changeset we committed.
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251 \interaction{backout.simple}
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252 You can see that the second line from \filename{myfile} is no longer
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253 present. Taking a look at the output of \hgcmd{log} gives us an idea
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254 of what the \hgcmd{backout} command has done.
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255 \interaction{backout.simple.log}
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256 Notice that the new changeset that \hgcmd{backout} has created is a
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257 child of the changeset we backed out. It's easier to see this in
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258 figure~\ref{fig:undo:backout}, which presents a graphical view of the
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259 change history. As you can see, the history is nice and linear.
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260
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261 \begin{figure}[htb]
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262 \centering
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263 \grafix{undo-simple}
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264 \caption{Backing out a change using the \hgcmd{backout} command}
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265 \label{fig:undo:backout}
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266 \end{figure}
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267
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268 \subsection{Backing out a non-tip change}
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269
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270 If you want to back out a change other than the last one you
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271 committed, pass the \hgopt{backout}{--merge} option to the
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272 \hgcmd{backout} command.
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273 \interaction{backout.non-tip.clone}
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274 This makes backing out any changeset a ``one-shot'' operation that's
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275 usually simple and fast.
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276 \interaction{backout.non-tip.backout}
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277
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278 If you take a look at the contents of \filename{myfile} after the
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279 backout finishes, you'll see that the first and third changes are
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280 present, but not the second.
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281 \interaction{backout.non-tip.cat}
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282
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283 As the graphical history in figure~\ref{fig:undo:backout-non-tip}
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284 illustrates, Mercurial actually commits \emph{two} changes in this
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285 kind of situation (the box-shaped nodes are the ones that Mercurial
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286 commits automatically). Before Mercurial begins the backout process,
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287 it first remembers what the current parent of the working directory
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288 is. It then backs out the target changeset, and commits that as a
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289 changeset. Finally, it merges back to the previous parent of the
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290 working directory, and commits the result of the merge.
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291
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292 % TODO: to me it looks like mercurial doesn't commit the second merge automatically!
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293
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294 \begin{figure}[htb]
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295 \centering
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296 \grafix{undo-non-tip}
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297 \caption{Automated backout of a non-tip change using the \hgcmd{backout} command}
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298 \label{fig:undo:backout-non-tip}
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299 \end{figure}
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300
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301 The result is that you end up ``back where you were'', only with some
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302 extra history that undoes the effect of the changeset you wanted to
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303 back out.
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304
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305 \subsubsection{Always use the \hgopt{backout}{--merge} option}
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306
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307 In fact, since the \hgopt{backout}{--merge} option will do the ``right
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308 thing'' whether or not the changeset you're backing out is the tip
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309 (i.e.~it won't try to merge if it's backing out the tip, since there's
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310 no need), you should \emph{always} use this option when you run the
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311 \hgcmd{backout} command.
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312
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313 \subsection{Gaining more control of the backout process}
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314
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315 While I've recommended that you always use the
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316 \hgopt{backout}{--merge} option when backing out a change, the
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317 \hgcmd{backout} command lets you decide how to merge a backout
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318 changeset. Taking control of the backout process by hand is something
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319 you will rarely need to do, but it can be useful to understand what
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320 the \hgcmd{backout} command is doing for you automatically. To
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321 illustrate this, let's clone our first repository, but omit the
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322 backout change that it contains.
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323
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324 \interaction{backout.manual.clone}
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325 As with our earlier example, We'll commit a third changeset, then back
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326 out its parent, and see what happens.
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327 \interaction{backout.manual.backout}
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328 Our new changeset is again a descendant of the changeset we backout
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329 out; it's thus a new head, \emph{not} a descendant of the changeset
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330 that was the tip. The \hgcmd{backout} command was quite explicit in
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331 telling us this.
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332 \interaction{backout.manual.log}
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333
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334 Again, it's easier to see what has happened by looking at a graph of
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335 the revision history, in figure~\ref{fig:undo:backout-manual}. This
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336 makes it clear that when we use \hgcmd{backout} to back out a change
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337 other than the tip, Mercurial adds a new head to the repository (the
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338 change it committed is box-shaped).
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339
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340 \begin{figure}[htb]
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341 \centering
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342 \grafix{undo-manual}
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343 \caption{Backing out a change using the \hgcmd{backout} command}
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344 \label{fig:undo:backout-manual}
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345 \end{figure}
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346
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347 After the \hgcmd{backout} command has completed, it leaves the new
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348 ``backout'' changeset as the parent of the working directory.
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349 \interaction{backout.manual.parents}
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350 Now we have two isolated sets of changes.
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351 \interaction{backout.manual.heads}
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352
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353 Let's think about what we expect to see as the contents of
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354 \filename{myfile} now. The first change should be present, because
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355 we've never backed it out. The second change should be missing, as
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356 that's the change we backed out. Since the history graph shows the
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357 third change as a separate head, we \emph{don't} expect to see the
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358 third change present in \filename{myfile}.
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359 \interaction{backout.manual.cat}
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360 To get the third change back into the file, we just do a normal merge
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361 of our two heads.
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362 \interaction{backout.manual.merge}
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363 Afterwards, the graphical history of our repository looks like
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364 figure~\ref{fig:undo:backout-manual-merge}.
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365
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366 \begin{figure}[htb]
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367 \centering
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368 \grafix{undo-manual-merge}
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369 \caption{Manually merging a backout change}
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370 \label{fig:undo:backout-manual-merge}
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371 \end{figure}
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372
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373 \subsection{Why \hgcmd{backout} works as it does}
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374
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375 Here's a brief description of how the \hgcmd{backout} command works.
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376 \begin{enumerate}
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377 \item It ensures that the working directory is ``clean'', i.e.~that
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378 the output of \hgcmd{status} would be empty.
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379 \item It remembers the current parent of the working directory. Let's
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380 call this changeset \texttt{orig}
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381 \item It does the equivalent of a \hgcmd{update} to sync the working
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382 directory to the changeset you want to back out. Let's call this
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383 changeset \texttt{backout}
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384 \item It finds the parent of that changeset. Let's call that
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385 changeset \texttt{parent}.
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386 \item For each file that the \texttt{backout} changeset affected, it
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387 does the equivalent of a \hgcmdargs{revert}{-r parent} on that file,
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388 to restore it to the contents it had before that changeset was
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389 committed.
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390 \item It commits the result as a new changeset. This changeset has
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391 \texttt{backout} as its parent.
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392 \item If you specify \hgopt{backout}{--merge} on the command line, it
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393 merges with \texttt{orig}, and commits the result of the merge.
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394 \end{enumerate}
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395
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396 An alternative way to implement the \hgcmd{backout} command would be
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397 to \hgcmd{export} the to-be-backed-out changeset as a diff, then use
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398 the \cmdopt{patch}{--reverse} option to the \command{patch} command to
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399 reverse the effect of the change without fiddling with the working
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400 directory. This sounds much simpler, but it would not work nearly as
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401 well.
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402
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403 The reason that \hgcmd{backout} does an update, a commit, a merge, and
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404 another commit is to give the merge machinery the best chance to do a
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405 good job when dealing with all the changes \emph{between} the change
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406 you're backing out and the current tip.
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407
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408 If you're backing out a changeset that's~100 revisions back in your
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409 project's history, the chances that the \command{patch} command will
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410 be able to apply a reverse diff cleanly are not good, because
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411 intervening changes are likely to have ``broken the context'' that
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412 \command{patch} uses to determine whether it can apply a patch (if
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413 this sounds like gibberish, see \ref{sec:mq:patch} for a
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414 discussion of the \command{patch} command). Also, Mercurial's merge
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415 machinery will handle files and directories being renamed, permission
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416 changes, and modifications to binary files, none of which
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417 \command{patch} can deal with.
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418
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419 \section{Changes that should never have been}
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420 \label{sec:undo:aaaiiieee}
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421
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422 Most of the time, the \hgcmd{backout} command is exactly what you need
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423 if you want to undo the effects of a change. It leaves a permanent
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424 record of exactly what you did, both when committing the original
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425 changeset and when you cleaned up after it.
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426
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427 On rare occasions, though, you may find that you've committed a change
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428 that really should not be present in the repository at all. For
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429 example, it would be very unusual, and usually considered a mistake,
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430 to commit a software project's object files as well as its source
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431 files. Object files have almost no intrinsic value, and they're
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432 \emph{big}, so they increase the size of the repository and the amount
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433 of time it takes to clone or pull changes.
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434
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435 Before I discuss the options that you have if you commit a ``brown
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436 paper bag'' change (the kind that's so bad that you want to pull a
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437 brown paper bag over your head), let me first discuss some approaches
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438 that probably won't work.
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439
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440 Since Mercurial treats history as accumulative---every change builds
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441 on top of all changes that preceded it---you generally can't just make
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442 disastrous changes disappear. The one exception is when you've just
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443 committed a change, and it hasn't been pushed or pulled into another
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444 repository. That's when you can safely use the \hgcmd{rollback}
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445 command, as I detailed in section~\ref{sec:undo:rollback}.
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446
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447 After you've pushed a bad change to another repository, you
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448 \emph{could} still use \hgcmd{rollback} to make your local copy of the
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449 change disappear, but it won't have the consequences you want. The
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450 change will still be present in the remote repository, so it will
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451 reappear in your local repository the next time you pull.
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452
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453 If a situation like this arises, and you know which repositories your
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454 bad change has propagated into, you can \emph{try} to get rid of the
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455 changeefrom \emph{every} one of those repositories. This is, of
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456 course, not a satisfactory solution: if you miss even a single
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457 repository while you're expunging, the change is still ``in the
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458 wild'', and could propagate further.
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459
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460 If you've committed one or more changes \emph{after} the change that
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461 you'd like to see disappear, your options are further reduced.
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462 Mercurial doesn't provide a way to ``punch a hole'' in history,
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463 leaving changesets intact.
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464
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465 XXX This needs filling out. The \texttt{hg-replay} script in the
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466 \texttt{examples} directory works, but doesn't handle merge
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467 changesets. Kind of an important omission.
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468
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469 \subsection{Protect yourself from ``escaped'' changes}
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470
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471 If you've committed some changes to your local repository and they've
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472 been pushed or pulled somewhere else, this isn't necessarily a
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473 disaster. You can protect yourself ahead of time against some classes
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474 of bad changeset. This is particularly easy if your team usually
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475 pulls changes from a central repository.
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476
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477 By configuring some hooks on that repository to validate incoming
|
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478 changesets (see chapter~\ref{chap:hook}), you can automatically
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479 prevent some kinds of bad changeset from being pushed to the central
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480 repository at all. With such a configuration in place, some kinds of
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481 bad changeset will naturally tend to ``die out'' because they can't
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482 propagate into the central repository. Better yet, this happens
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483 without any need for explicit intervention.
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484
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485 For instance, an incoming change hook that verifies that a changeset
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486 will actually compile can prevent people from inadvertantly ``breaking
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487 the build''.
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488
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489 \section{Finding the source of a bug}
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490 \label{sec:undo:bisect}
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491
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492 While it's all very well to be able to back out a changeset that
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493 introduced a bug, this requires that you know which changeset to back
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494 out. Mercurial provides an invaluable command, called
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495 \hgcmd{bisect}, that helps you to automate this process and accomplish
|
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496 it very efficiently.
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497
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498 The idea behind the \hgcmd{bisect} command is that a changeset has
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499 introduced some change of behaviour that you can identify with a
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500 simple binary test. You don't know which piece of code introduced the
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501 change, but you know how to test for the presence of the bug. The
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502 \hgcmd{bisect} command uses your test to direct its search for the
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503 changeset that introduced the code that caused the bug.
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504
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505 Here are a few scenarios to help you understand how you might apply
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506 this command.
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507 \begin{itemize}
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508 \item The most recent version of your software has a bug that you
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509 remember wasn't present a few weeks ago, but you don't know when it
|
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510 was introduced. Here, your binary test checks for the presence of
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511 that bug.
|
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512 \item You fixed a bug in a rush, and now it's time to close the entry
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513 in your team's bug database. The bug database requires a changeset
|
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514 ID when you close an entry, but you don't remember which changeset
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515 you fixed the bug in. Once again, your binary test checks for the
|
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516 presence of the bug.
|
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517 \item Your software works correctly, but runs~15\% slower than the
|
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518 last time you measured it. You want to know which changeset
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519 introduced the performance regression. In this case, your binary
|
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520 test measures the performance of your software, to see whether it's
|
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521 ``fast'' or ``slow''.
|
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522 \item The sizes of the components of your project that you ship
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523 exploded recently, and you suspect that something changed in the way
|
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524 you build your project.
|
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525 \end{itemize}
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526
|
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527 From these examples, it should be clear that the \hgcmd{bisect}
|
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528 command is not useful only for finding the sources of bugs. You can
|
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529 use it to find any ``emergent property'' of a repository (anything
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530 that you can't find from a simple text search of the files in the
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531 tree) for which you can write a binary test.
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|
532
|
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533 We'll introduce a little bit of terminology here, just to make it
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534 clear which parts of the search process are your responsibility, and
|
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535 which are Mercurial's. A \emph{test} is something that \emph{you} run
|
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536 when \hgcmd{bisect} chooses a changeset. A \emph{probe} is what
|
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537 \hgcmd{bisect} runs to tell whether a revision is good. Finally,
|
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538 we'll use the word ``bisect'', as both a noun and a verb, to stand in
|
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539 for the phrase ``search using the \hgcmd{bisect} command.
|
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540
|
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541 One simple way to automate the searching process would be simply to
|
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542 probe every changeset. However, this scales poorly. If it took ten
|
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543 minutes to test a single changeset, and you had 10,000 changesets in
|
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544 your repository, the exhaustive approach would take on average~35
|
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545 \emph{days} to find the changeset that introduced a bug. Even if you
|
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546 knew that the bug was introduced by one of the last 500 changesets,
|
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547 and limited your search to those, you'd still be looking at over 40
|
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548 hours to find the changeset that introduced your bug.
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549
|
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550 What the \hgcmd{bisect} command does is use its knowledge of the
|
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551 ``shape'' of your project's revision history to perform a search in
|
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552 time proportional to the \emph{logarithm} of the number of changesets
|
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553 to check (the kind of search it performs is called a dichotomic
|
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554 search). With this approach, searching through 10,000 changesets will
|
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555 take less than three hours, even at ten minutes per test (the search
|
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556 will require about 14 tests). Limit your search to the last hundred
|
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|
557 changesets, and it will take only about an hour (roughly seven tests).
|
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|
558
|
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559 The \hgcmd{bisect} command is aware of the ``branchy'' nature of a
|
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560 Mercurial project's revision history, so it has no problems dealing
|
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561 with branches, merges, or multiple heads in a repoository. It can
|
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562 prune entire branches of history with a single probe, which is how it
|
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563 operates so efficiently.
|
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564
|
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565 \subsection{Using the \hgcmd{bisect} command}
|
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566
|
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567 Here's an example of \hgcmd{bisect} in action.
|
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568
|
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569 \begin{note}
|
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570 In versions 0.9.5 and earlier of Mercurial, \hgcmd{bisect} was not a
|
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571 core command: it was distributed with Mercurial as an extension.
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572 This section describes the built-in command, not the old extension.
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573 \end{note}
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574
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575 Now let's create a repository, so that we can try out the
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576 \hgcmd{bisect} command in isolation.
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577 \interaction{bisect.init}
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578 We'll simulate a project that has a bug in it in a simple-minded way:
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579 create trivial changes in a loop, and nominate one specific change
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580 that will have the ``bug''. This loop creates 35 changesets, each
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581 adding a single file to the repository. We'll represent our ``bug''
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582 with a file that contains the text ``i have a gub''.
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583 \interaction{bisect.commits}
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584
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585 The next thing that we'd like to do is figure out how to use the
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586 \hgcmd{bisect} command. We can use Mercurial's normal built-in help
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587 mechanism for this.
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588 \interaction{bisect.help}
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589
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590 The \hgcmd{bisect} command works in steps. Each step proceeds as follows.
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591 \begin{enumerate}
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592 \item You run your binary test.
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593 \begin{itemize}
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594 \item If the test succeeded, you tell \hgcmd{bisect} by running the
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595 \hgcmdargs{bisect}{good} command.
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596 \item If it failed, run the \hgcmdargs{bisect}{--bad} command.
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597 \end{itemize}
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598 \item The command uses your information to decide which changeset to
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599 test next.
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600 \item It updates the working directory to that changeset, and the
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601 process begins again.
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602 \end{enumerate}
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603 The process ends when \hgcmd{bisect} identifies a unique changeset
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604 that marks the point where your test transitioned from ``succeeding''
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605 to ``failing''.
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606
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607 To start the search, we must run the \hgcmdargs{bisect}{--reset} command.
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608 \interaction{bisect.search.init}
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609
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610 In our case, the binary test we use is simple: we check to see if any
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611 file in the repository contains the string ``i have a gub''. If it
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612 does, this changeset contains the change that ``caused the bug''. By
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613 convention, a changeset that has the property we're searching for is
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614 ``bad'', while one that doesn't is ``good''.
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615
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616 Most of the time, the revision to which the working directory is
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617 synced (usually the tip) already exhibits the problem introduced by
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618 the buggy change, so we'll mark it as ``bad''.
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619 \interaction{bisect.search.bad-init}
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620
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621 Our next task is to nominate a changeset that we know \emph{doesn't}
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622 have the bug; the \hgcmd{bisect} command will ``bracket'' its search
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623 between the first pair of good and bad changesets. In our case, we
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624 know that revision~10 didn't have the bug. (I'll have more words
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625 about choosing the first ``good'' changeset later.)
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626 \interaction{bisect.search.good-init}
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627
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628 Notice that this command printed some output.
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629 \begin{itemize}
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630 \item It told us how many changesets it must consider before it can
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631 identify the one that introduced the bug, and how many tests that
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632 will require.
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633 \item It updated the working directory to the next changeset to test,
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634 and told us which changeset it's testing.
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635 \end{itemize}
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636
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637 We now run our test in the working directory. We use the
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638 \command{grep} command to see if our ``bad'' file is present in the
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639 working directory. If it is, this revision is bad; if not, this
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640 revision is good.
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641 \interaction{bisect.search.step1}
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642
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643 This test looks like a perfect candidate for automation, so let's turn
|
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644 it into a shell function.
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645 \interaction{bisect.search.mytest}
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646 We can now run an entire test step with a single command,
|
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647 \texttt{mytest}.
|
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648 \interaction{bisect.search.step2}
|
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649 A few more invocations of our canned test step command, and we're
|
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650 done.
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651 \interaction{bisect.search.rest}
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652
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653 Even though we had~40 changesets to search through, the \hgcmd{bisect}
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654 command let us find the changeset that introduced our ``bug'' with
|
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655 only five tests. Because the number of tests that the \hgcmd{bisect}
|
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656 command performs grows logarithmically with the number of changesets to
|
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|
657 search, the advantage that it has over the ``brute force'' search
|
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658 approach increases with every changeset you add.
|
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659
|
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660 \subsection{Cleaning up after your search}
|
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661
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662 When you're finished using the \hgcmd{bisect} command in a
|
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663 repository, you can use the \hgcmdargs{bisect}{reset} command to drop
|
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664 the information it was using to drive your search. The command
|
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665 doesn't use much space, so it doesn't matter if you forget to run this
|
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666 command. However, \hgcmd{bisect} won't let you start a new search in
|
jerojasro@343
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667 that repository until you do a \hgcmdargs{bisect}{reset}.
|
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668 \interaction{bisect.search.reset}
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|
669
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670 \section{Tips for finding bugs effectively}
|
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671
|
jerojasro@343
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672 \subsection{Give consistent input}
|
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673
|
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674 The \hgcmd{bisect} command requires that you correctly report the
|
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|
675 result of every test you perform. If you tell it that a test failed
|
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676 when it really succeeded, it \emph{might} be able to detect the
|
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677 inconsistency. If it can identify an inconsistency in your reports,
|
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678 it will tell you that a particular changeset is both good and bad.
|
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679 However, it can't do this perfectly; it's about as likely to report
|
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|
680 the wrong changeset as the source of the bug.
|
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681
|
jerojasro@343
|
682 \subsection{Automate as much as possible}
|
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|
683
|
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|
684 When I started using the \hgcmd{bisect} command, I tried a few times
|
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|
685 to run my tests by hand, on the command line. This is an approach
|
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686 that I, at least, am not suited to. After a few tries, I found that I
|
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|
687 was making enough mistakes that I was having to restart my searches
|
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|
688 several times before finally getting correct results.
|
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|
689
|
jerojasro@343
|
690 My initial problems with driving the \hgcmd{bisect} command by hand
|
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|
691 occurred even with simple searches on small repositories; if the
|
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692 problem you're looking for is more subtle, or the number of tests that
|
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|
693 \hgcmd{bisect} must perform increases, the likelihood of operator
|
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|
694 error ruining the search is much higher. Once I started automating my
|
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|
695 tests, I had much better results.
|
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|
696
|
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|
697 The key to automated testing is twofold:
|
jerojasro@343
|
698 \begin{itemize}
|
jerojasro@343
|
699 \item always test for the same symptom, and
|
jerojasro@343
|
700 \item always feed consistent input to the \hgcmd{bisect} command.
|
jerojasro@343
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701 \end{itemize}
|
jerojasro@343
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702 In my tutorial example above, the \command{grep} command tests for the
|
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703 symptom, and the \texttt{if} statement takes the result of this check
|
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|
704 and ensures that we always feed the same input to the \hgcmd{bisect}
|
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705 command. The \texttt{mytest} function marries these together in a
|
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706 reproducible way, so that every test is uniform and consistent.
|
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|
707
|
jerojasro@343
|
708 \subsection{Check your results}
|
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|
709
|
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710 Because the output of a \hgcmd{bisect} search is only as good as the
|
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711 input you give it, don't take the changeset it reports as the
|
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712 absolute truth. A simple way to cross-check its report is to manually
|
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|
713 run your test at each of the following changesets:
|
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|
714 \begin{itemize}
|
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|
715 \item The changeset that it reports as the first bad revision. Your
|
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|
716 test should still report this as bad.
|
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|
717 \item The parent of that changeset (either parent, if it's a merge).
|
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|
718 Your test should report this changeset as good.
|
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|
719 \item A child of that changeset. Your test should report this
|
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|
720 changeset as bad.
|
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|
721 \end{itemize}
|
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|
722
|
jerojasro@343
|
723 \subsection{Beware interference between bugs}
|
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|
724
|
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|
725 It's possible that your search for one bug could be disrupted by the
|
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|
726 presence of another. For example, let's say your software crashes at
|
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|
727 revision 100, and worked correctly at revision 50. Unknown to you,
|
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|
728 someone else introduced a different crashing bug at revision 60, and
|
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|
729 fixed it at revision 80. This could distort your results in one of
|
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|
730 several ways.
|
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|
731
|
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|
732 It is possible that this other bug completely ``masks'' yours, which
|
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|
733 is to say that it occurs before your bug has a chance to manifest
|
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|
734 itself. If you can't avoid that other bug (for example, it prevents
|
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|
735 your project from building), and so can't tell whether your bug is
|
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|
736 present in a particular changeset, the \hgcmd{bisect} command cannot
|
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|
737 help you directly. Instead, you can mark a changeset as untested by
|
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|
738 running \hgcmdargs{bisect}{--skip}.
|
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|
739
|
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|
740 A different problem could arise if your test for a bug's presence is
|
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|
741 not specific enough. If you check for ``my program crashes'', then
|
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|
742 both your crashing bug and an unrelated crashing bug that masks it
|
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|
743 will look like the same thing, and mislead \hgcmd{bisect}.
|
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|
744
|
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|
745 Another useful situation in which to use \hgcmdargs{bisect}{--skip} is
|
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|
746 if you can't test a revision because your project was in a broken and
|
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|
747 hence untestable state at that revision, perhaps because someone
|
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|
748 checked in a change that prevented the project from building.
|
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|
749
|
jerojasro@343
|
750 \subsection{Bracket your search lazily}
|
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|
751
|
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|
752 Choosing the first ``good'' and ``bad'' changesets that will mark the
|
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|
753 end points of your search is often easy, but it bears a little
|
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|
754 discussion nevertheless. From the perspective of \hgcmd{bisect}, the
|
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|
755 ``newest'' changeset is conventionally ``bad'', and the older
|
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|
756 changeset is ``good''.
|
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|
757
|
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|
758 If you're having trouble remembering when a suitable ``good'' change
|
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|
759 was, so that you can tell \hgcmd{bisect}, you could do worse than
|
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|
760 testing changesets at random. Just remember to eliminate contenders
|
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|
761 that can't possibly exhibit the bug (perhaps because the feature with
|
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|
762 the bug isn't present yet) and those where another problem masks the
|
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|
763 bug (as I discussed above).
|
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|
764
|
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|
765 Even if you end up ``early'' by thousands of changesets or months of
|
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|
766 history, you will only add a handful of tests to the total number that
|
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|
767 \hgcmd{bisect} must perform, thanks to its logarithmic behaviour.
|
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|
768
|
jerojasro@343
|
769 %%% Local Variables:
|
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|
770 %%% mode: latex
|
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|
771 %%% TeX-master: "00book"
|
jerojasro@343
|
772 %%% End:
|