p4 shelve
Synopsis
Store files from a pending changelist in the depot, without submitting them.
Syntax
p4 [g-opts] shelve [-p]
[file ...]
p4 [g-opts] shelve [-a
option] [-p] -i [-f | -r]
p4 [g-opts] shelve [-a
option] [-p] -r -c
change
p4 [g-opts] shelve [-a
option] [-p] -c
change [-f] [file
...]
p4 [g-opts] shelve -d -c
change [-f] [file
...]
Description
Shelving is the process of temporarily storing work in progress in the Perforce versioning service without submitting a changelist. Shelving is useful when you need to perform multiple development tasks (such as interruptions from higher-priority work, testing across multiple platforms) on the same set of files, or when you need to share files for code review before committing your work to the depot.
The p4 shelve command creates, modifies, or discards shelved
files in a pending changelist. Shelved files persist in the depot until
they are discarded (by means of p4 shelve -d) or replaced by
subsequent p4 shelve commands. p4 shelve displays the
working revision for the files being shelved.
In addition to the files being shelved, p4 shelve also shelves
any open stream specification. For more information on open stream
specifications, see p4 stream.
After shelving files, you can revert or modify them in your client
workspace. You can also restore the shelved versions of those files to
your workspace with the p4 unshelve command.
While files are shelved, other users can unshelve the shelved files into their own workspaces, or into other client workspaces.
Files that have been shelved can also be accessed with the
p4 diff, p4 diff2, p4
files, and p4 print commands, using the revision
specifier @=,
where changechange is the pending changelist number.
If you are working in a distributed environment, use the -p option to
promote a shelved change from an edge server to a commit server where it
can be accessed by other edge servers in the distributed configuration.
When an existing shelved change is promoted, it is promoted without
modification unless the -f or -r options are also used to change the
shelved file content. For more information about the use of shelves in
distributed environments, see Usage Notes and also Helix Versioning Engine Administrator Guide: Multi-site Deployment.
If no arguments are specified, p4 shelve creates a new
changelist, adds files from the user’s default changelist, and (after
the user completes a form similar to that used by p4
submit), shelves the specified files into the depot. If a file
pattern is given, p4 shelve shelves only the files that match
the pattern.
In order to add a file to a pre-existing shelve, the file must first be
opened in the shelve’s changelist; use p4 reopen to
move an opened file from one changelist to another.
Note
p4 obliterate myfile does not obliterate a shelve of the file
(archive or metadata). When you attempt to unshelve a file that has been
obliterated, you will get an error. To recover the content of that file,
print the file. To get rid of the shelve, delete the shelf.
Options
|
|
The |
|
|
Specify the pending changelist in which shelved files are to be created, discarded, or modified. Only the user and client workspace that owns the pending changelist can
add or modify its shelved files. (Administrators can use Any files specified by a file pattern must already be open in the
specified changelist; use |
|
|
Discard the shelved files in the specified changelist so that they are
no longer available for Only the user and workspace that owns the pending changelist can discard
its shelved files. (Administrators can use |
|
|
Force the overwriting of any existing shelved files in a pending changelist with the contents of their client workspace copies. Perforce administrators can use this option with |
|
|
Read a changelist description from standard input. Input must be in
the same format used by the |
|
|
Promote a shelved change from an Edge server to a Commit server where it can be accessed by other edge servers participating in the distributed configuration. Once a shelved change has been promoted, all subsequent local modifications to the shelf are also pushed to the commit server and remain until the shelf is deleted. See Usage Notes for more information. |
|
|
Replace all shelved files in the changelist with the files that are opened in your workspace. The |
|
|
See “Global Options”. |
Usage Notes
| Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier? | Can File Arguments Use Revision Range? | Minimal Access Level Required |
|---|---|---|
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
A promoted shelf is a shelf that exists on the Commit server of a
distributed configuration. It is there either because it was directly
created on the Commit server or because it was promoted with the -p
option of the p4 shelve command. Commands that access shelves
know how to handle promoted shelves.
To unpromote a shelf, delete the shelf and create a new one.
A shelf can be promoted when it’s first created. A normal shelf can be promoted after it is created by running one of the following commands:
$ p4 shelve -p -f -c myChange
$ p4 shelve -p -r -c myChangePromoting a shelf gives you a way to move a shelf from one server to another. To do this, you must complete the following steps:
- Promote the shelf you want to copy on the server from where you want to copy it, say server X.
- Unshelve the shelf in the server to which you want to copy it, say server Y.
- Shelve the change on server Y; this opens the files in a change that is owned by server Y. The new shelf is created as a non-promoted shelf; but you can promote it if you like.
To determine whether a shelved change is promoted, you can try to access
the shelf on a server other than the server that owns the change, or you
can look at the output of the p4 -ztag changes
command.
Observe the following limitations when working with promoted shelves:
- You can’t unload an Edge server workspace if you have promoted shelves.
- Use promoted shelves sparingly; shelf promotion and shelf access are time-consuming operations.