How can I preserve Subversion commit messages across merges?

Question

Hi All,

Is there any Subversion that can create a commit message containing a list of all the commit messages used in a merge?

Our problem is that we tend to lose all the good history information for changes performed on branches once they are merged. Usually instead of a detailed list of fixes performed on the branch we're left with a message saying "merged branch-1.1.2 899-921", the developers then have to determine which branch and change to look at for more detailed info, a tedious task.

Is there a way to avoid this? What are your strategies for preserving commit info and history between merges.

Thanks,

T.

Answer 1

The way we typically handle this is with svn log of the branch. If you go to the branch, then type

svn log --stop-on-copy

you'll get a list of every commit message for that branch, back to when the branch was formed. The stop-on-copy flag tells svn not to continue to before the branch was formed.

We also use post-commit hook to email all commits to a particular group of interested parties. If you include there a public mail folder, then the history can exist for eternity, or until you delete the mail archive.

More on post-commit hooks in the svn book.

Answer 2

You know the -g option on command line?

svn log -g ^/trunk 

which will print all log messages which have been made on the branch as well. More convinient you can take a look on the trunk via TortoiseSVN ...look better.