view docs/evolve-good-practice.rst @ 3787:dc81a788f278

evolve: use cmdrewrite.amend() instead of creating a new commit

This patch backs out changeset 88601e1cd5d8.

We replaced cmdrewrite.amend() with creating new commit because using amend(), a
high level function was not good and creating a new commit gave us more control
over things.

**HOWEVER** to get more control, you need to get arrange all the pieces together
perfectly. Creating a new commit, the existing logic has some bugs around
dirstate handling, the `repo.dirstate.setparents()` call especially. Sometimes
this fixes the dirstate correctly sometimes not.

As Pierre-Yves David said, "Having a "clumsy" implementation with the right
behavior is usually a good first step. So having an amend based implementation
seems like a good first step.", let's take a step back and get back using amend
so that we can have a correct basic implementation which is bug free.

.. Copyright 2011 Pierre-Yves David <[e-mail]>
..                Logilab SA        <[e-mail]>

-----------------------------------------
Good practice for (early) users of evolve
-----------------------------------------

Avoid unstability
-----------------

The less unstability you have the less you need to resolve.

Evolve is not yet able to detect and solve every situation. And your mind is
not ready neither.

Branch as much as possible
--------------------------

This is not MQ; you are not constrained to linear history.

Making a branch per independent branch will help you avoid unstability
and conflict.

Rewrite your changes only
-------------------------

There is no descent conflict detection and handling right now.
Rewriting other people's changesets guarantees that you will get
conflicts. Communicate with your fellow developers before trying to
touch other people's work (which is a good practice in any case).

Using multiple branches will help you to achieve this goal.

Prefer pushing unstability to touching other people changesets
--------------------------------------------------------------


If you have children changesets from other people that you don't really care
about, prefer not altering them to risking a conflict by stabilizing them.


Do not get too confident
------------------------

This is an experimental extension and a complex concept. This is beautiful,
powerful and robust on paper, but the tool and your mind may not be prepared for
all situations yet.