Organizing common files in a separate area in depot

Question

Typically, we have a depot root for every different product that we work on. For e.g.:

//products/productX
          /productY

As the common files in the 2 products increase, I would like to put them into a top level folder of it's own

//products/productX
          /productY
          /common

Now to ensure that this works for all the users who have existing workspace, we would need to update all their workspaces. Is there an alternative? Can we put some markers in the depot to create a link it to a different folder? Any other option?

Answer 1

What you're describing is essentially the reason that streams were created -- the idea of a stream is that you definition the structure of a codeline in one place (e.g. "product X lives in //products/productX"), multiple people base their workspaces on that, and when you change it (e.g. "product X lives in //products/productX + //products/common), every workspace based on that definition updates automatically.

So if you're using streams, all you need to do is update the stream definitions that need to include the new //products/common directory. Easy!

If you're using "classic" workspaces, users who are using the default //products/... mapping will get the common directory automatically regardless. For users with custom views, my suggestion would be to alert them of the refactor and then let them make their own adjustments as appropriate; if they're familiar enough with Perforce to have built a custom client view, they may not appreciate having it changed underneath them.