Perforce equivalent to svn switch

Question

In svn/cvs I often created a local checkout of main/trunk to start working in the code, and then, when real commit branch is ready, switch to it and start commiting the code there.

I am aware Perforce have quite a different workflow, but I wonder if there is any way to perform a switch and have the local code start pointing to a different branch in the remote repository than before.

Answer 1

Yes. Essentially:

• Shelve your local changes
• Update workspace view to point to the other branch
• Run p4 sync to update your working copy
• Unshelve your work in progress

Several parts of that are better in the 2011.1 release:

• There's a new p4 update command that does a fast workspace update for in-place branching
• If you use streams, you there's a one-step way to move your workspace to a new stream

Perforce has a new P4Sandbox tool out in a limited beta right now. That tool is for private local work, and it does have a p4 switch command that will feel very familiar to you.