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Thanks to some previous help on here with SVN I have started to make some headway with implementing SVN into our company. I am using Tortoise SVN and am just a little unsure about the correct working procedures for creating updates. This is the procedure Im currently following, but have 3 questions (shown in bold).

  1. When I first developed the website I created a local working directory D:\Sites{mywebsite}
  2. I released the website, committed everything to the trunk and created a tag called Version 1.0
  3. I now need to create some updates, so I've created a branch from the trunk called {my-branch} Question - whenever I want to create a branch do I have to checkout the trunk to a local working directory and then use the brancg/tag option in Tortoise? There doesnt seem to be a way of doing this with tortoise without having a local working copy.
  4. I have used the switch command to change my local working directory from trunk to {my-branch}
  5. Once I'm done making all the changes to the branch and im satisfied evrything is working I need to merge branch and trunk. Question - I'm unsure what I should be doing here - am I merging trunk into my working copy (which is now a specific branch) or am I merging my branch back into the trunk?
  6. Question - once I have released the changes should I be creating another tag Version 1.1/2.0 etc?

Based on Akton's very good feedback, I am just updating the question to clarify one final point:

1) On 1st January I create a branch called "implementation of new uploader". I check out the code to my working copy and make changes up until the 20th Jan (checking-in to the branch as I go).

2) During this time two team members have created their own branches, released the changes and merged back into the trunk.

3) On 1st Feb I am ready to release. On Akton's feedback, I merge the current trunk into my working copy (which is my branch). I resolve any issues and then do I commit everything back into my branch? This will now contain the two code updates that my two colleagues also merged into the branch. I wasn't sure whether my branch should now also contain other updates from other team members?

4) Finally I merge my branch back into the trunk - but surely this should be extremely simple because my branch is now almost a mirror image of the trunk but also now contains just my updates?

If my understand listed above is correct, I think I have it!

Thanks for all your help.

Regards, Al

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Question - whenever I want to create a branch do I have to checkout the trunk to a local working directory and then use the brancg/tag option in Tortoise? There doesnt seem to be a way of doing this with tortoise without having a local working copy.

No, you do not need a local copy to create a branch. You can do it in the Tortoise SVN "repo browser" from the right click menu. See http://tortoisesvn.net/docs/release/TortoiseSVN_en/tsvn-dug-repobrowser.html for more information.

Question - I'm unsure what I should be doing here - am I merging trunk into my working copy (which is now a specific branch) or am I merging my branch back into the trunk?

You would merge any remaining changes in your working copy back into the branch then merge the branch into the trunk. The goal is to get the changes in the branch back into the trunk.

[Edit: Changed the following paragraph] However, in practise, after working copy is committed to the branch, it is better to merge the trunk -> working copy first and resolve any conflicts, particularly if many changes have been made to the trunk since the branch was made. Once that is done, the working copy -> branch -> trunk merge should be simple and cause the least disruption to others.

Question - once I have released the changes should I be creating another tag Version 1.1/2.0 etc?

The depends on your tagging strategy. Remember each commit has a unique revision number that you can always reference. Tags allow you to find or reference revisions quickly using a more human understandable name. See also Best practice for SVN tags?.

[Edit: Added]

3) On 1st Feb I am ready to release. On Akton's feedback, I merge the current trunk into my working copy (which is my branch). I resolve any issues and then do I commit everything back into my branch? This will now contain the two code updates that my two colleagues also merged into the branch. I wasn't sure whether my branch should now also contain other updates from other team members?

Yes. Commit the changes back into the branch (so they are backed up to source control) and merge the changes back into main. The aim is to ensure the merge back into trunk disrupts the team as little as possible. You can test your application off the branch beforehand to ensure all the changes are working as intended and there are no bugs created inadvertently.

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Hi Akton - thanks for your response. Can I kjust clarify a couple of points: 1) Ok - I see I can do this from the repo-browser via Copy to...this doesnt seem to give as many options as it does if it is done from Tortoise interface i.e. choosing from Working Copy, Specific Revision or Head copy....the copy option presumably just takes the latest revision? 2) First option yo suggest would be a case of literally having my working copy as the branch, and then merging into the trunk - but how is this physically achieved via Tortoise? Could you expand on your second option - how to achieve it?
One other question - the Tortoise manual is saying to merge my branch I should have a working copy of the trunk, then merge in my branch changes. What happens at this point if the merge creates bugs that need fixing - are they fixed in the trunk?
@higgsy Regarding branching in the repo browser, the Copy option uses HEAD unless specified otherwise. Regarding working copy and branches, I clarified the merging paragraph in the answer. Your working copy is files on the disk with the .svn directory and not a repository. You commit your working copy to the branch, not merge. Regarding bug fixing, merging trunk into your working copy first minimizes the bugs when merging back into trunk.
Hi akton - thanks for your continued feedback. One last question - I have added to my question just to ensure I have understood your last piece of feedback. I'd really appreciate your input - I hope it's the last time...;-)
@higgsy I have added answer to the new question above.
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