Precedence of P4V settings

P4V settings take precedence based on how they were set and, if set on multiple levels, the sequence number.

Settings added using the p4 property command have the highest precedence. They override:

If a system-wide value is set and other values exist for the same property, such as for individual users and one or more groups, the precedence depends on the sequence number for the property.

For example, the following output shows that the P4V.Features.Integration property is set system-wide, but also on a user and group level. User bill is a member of the p4users and dev groups. Which settings apply?

$ p4 property -l -A -n P4V.Features.Integration
P4V.Features.Integration = Off
P4V.Features.Integration = On (user bill)
P4V.Features.Integration = Off (group p4users)
P4V.Features.Integration = On (group dev)

If all versions of P4V.Features.Integration were created using the same sequence number, the answer would be:

  1. System-wide, which takes precedence over
  2. User, which takes precedence over
  3. Group

However, if the sequence number is set to anything above 1, the highest sequence number wins. This means that if P4V.Features.Integration for user bill was created with a sequence number of 500 and the other versions have the default sequence number (1), the setting for bill takes precedence.

To view the sequence number for a property, an administrator can use the -ztag flag. For example:

$ p4 -ztag property -l -A -n P4V.Features.Integration
... name P4V.Features.Integration
... sequence 500
... value On
... time 1363106274
... modified 2013/03/12 16:37:54
... modifiedBy swood
... appliesToType user
... appliesTo bill
... name P4V.Features.Integration
... sequence 1
... value Off
... time 1363105851
... modified 2013/03/12 16:30:51
... modifiedBy swood
... name P4V.Features.Integration
... sequence 1
... value On
... time 1363102022
... modified 2013/03/12 15:27:02
... modifiedBy swood
... appliesToType group
... appliesTo dev
... name P4V.Features.Integration
... sequence 1
... value Off
... time 1363102040
... modified 2013/03/12 15:27:20
... modifiedBy swood
... appliesToType group
... appliesTo p4users