[Python-Dev] Using feature branches for local development

[Dirkjan Ochtman]

On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 12:25, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm experimenting with creating some local branches for things I'd
> like to work on during the sprints this week, and have a couple of
> questions about the associated workflow.

By local branches, do you mean named branches (using the hg branch
command to set a branch name), or unnamed extra heads/extra clones?

> 1. While the feature branches are active, is it correct that I can't
> use a bare "hg push" any more, since I don't want to push the feature
> branches to hg.python.org? Instead, I need to name all the branches I
> want to push explicitly.

The easy solution is to use a local clone and not push from it to
hg.p.o at all. hg push does indeed push all branches (named and
unnamed) by default.

> 2. Once I'm done with the feature branch, I need to nuke it somehow
> (e.g. by enabling the mq extension to gain access to "hg strip"
> command)

You're implying you want to smash the feature branch down to a single
patch? In that case, yeah.

> If those are both accurate, I may actually create a new subclone,
> leaving the main local repository with only the changes I actually
> want to push upstream.

That's the easy solution. The slightly harder, but more powerful,
solution is to learn MQ.

Cheers,

Dirkjan