Repository Model Best Practice

[wise1372]

We have a product line that has mobile products, PC Products, Web Services and web products. All of these products use a common library, because of this dependency we made a single repository. Using the Plastic it seems that preferred model is to have separate repositories for each product. Is that true?

One of the pitfalls we currently have is on occasion we might open two different projects. With our model those projects are in the same repository but different branches to track each release. This makes working on multiple projects basically impossible.

Does separating each project into it's own repository allow us to have files from multiple repositories correctly checked out in a single project?

For example we have our desktop product "TimeSummit" version 3.1.14 which use our "Exaktime Common Library" version 3.1.14 We also have a Silverlight project "ClockPoint" version 1.0.1 also using the "Exaktime Common Library". Our single repository has all the necessary projects and files in it. Inside that repository we have a 3.2.x branch for all the "TimeSummit" and all PC projects. There is a second branch for the "ClockPoint" 1.0.2 project.

Using branches in this manner basically forces us to only work on a single project at a time. Ideally the solution should allow us to work on multiple projects yet still use the necessary dependencies.

I'm really looking for the best solution even if it means changing our current model.

[dave]

Hi Wise,

The best approach here would be to have separate repositories for each product and common library.

You can then mount the repositories you need on the workspace (product repo + dependency repos).

When you create branches, you do it independently for each of the repositories, so you only create them on the needed repository.

These links talk about mounting several repositories on the workspace and some other interseting topics around it:

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2008/03/plastic-selectors-welcome-to-dark-side.html

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2008/03/selectors-welcome-to-dark-side-part-ii.html

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2008/04/advanced-selectors-part-iii.html

Cheers!

David