On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 10:47:04PM +0200, Marco Von Ballmoos wrote: > On Sep 16, 2008, at 21:38, Nicholas Clark wrote: > > >Can't clobber writable file /home/nick/p4perl/maint-5.8/perl/utils/ > >Makefile > > > >VERSION YOUR FUCKING METADATA, DIPSHIT > > That is pretty much every Perforce user's favorite error message. > Amazing the resistance to change in that software base, really. You'd > think adding an "always clobber" flag for files wouldn't be so hard.
I think it could do even better than that, for the case in question, where we changed the file from r to rw at some known revision. Before syncing back, compare the file contents on disk with the repository, and if they are the same, proceed. Else fail, with the error "Can't clobber modified writable file" Key part being "modified". I think that the bug, and it is a bug, in Perforce, is that when I sync back to a change earlier than the changeset that went from r to rw, that it doesn't realise that the reason that the file is +w on disk is because IT MADE IT SO. Instead, it assumes that I did it, and bleats. If I did it, bleating is understandable, and consistent with its world view. But here, it's crapping out with errors caused by THINGS that IT DID. And more specifically THINGS that IT HAS ON RECORD that IT DID. Nicholas Clark
