p4 stream

Create or edit an instance of a stream (also known as a stream definition).

Syntax conventions

p4 [g-opts] stream [-f] [-d] [-P parent] [-t type] [--parentview inherit|noinherit] [name]

p4 [g-opts] stream [-o [-v]] [-P parent] [-t type] [--parentview inherit|noinherit] [name[@change]]

p4 [g-opts] stream [-f] [-d] name

p4 [g-opts] stream -i [-f]

p4 [g-opts] stream edit

p4 [g-opts] stream parentview [-c changelist# -n -o --source-comments] [--inherit|--noinherit]

p4 [g-opts] stream resolve [-a<flag>] [-n] [-o]

p4 [g-opts] stream revert

Description

The p4 stream command enables you to maintain Helix Server streams, which are hierarchical branches with policies that control the structure and the flow of change. A stream hierarchyClosed The set of parent-to-child relationships between streams in a stream depot. is based on the stability of the streams, specified by the type you assign to the stream:

mainline
  • somewhat stable
  • the parent of all streams in the stream depot
development
  • least stable (most subject to change)
  • flow is controlled
release
  • highly stable
  • flow is controlled
task
  • lightweight short-lived stream that only promotes edited files to the repository
  • branched and integrated files are stored in shadow tables that are removed when the task stream is deleted or unloaded
virtual
  • used to copy and merge between parent and child streams without storing local data
  • not a stream but an alternate view of its parent stream

Stream contents are defined by the paths that you map. By default, a stream has the same structure as its parent (the stream from which it was branched). However, you can override the structure. For example, your override might ensure that specified files cannot be submitted or integrated to other streams.

By default, p4 stream edits the stream associated with your current workspace. It throws an error if you’re not using a stream workspace. For more information, see the "Streams" chapter of the Helix Core Command-Line (P4) Guide.

For details on the recommended workflow to edit, resolve, and revert a stream, see "Update Streams" in Helix Core Command-Line (P4) Guide.

Note

If you integrate from a classic branch or other stream depot to a task stream, the files are not copied up to the parent unless they are edited and submitted first.

Private editing of streams

If a user edits a stream spec publicly and saves the spec, the changes take effect immediately. In some cases, this can affect other users in unwanted ways. For example, changing any dependency, such as product component, might break a product build unless corresponding file changes are made as well.

Private editing of streams is a 2019.1 feature that allows you to:

  • modify a stream spec and stream depot files in isolation from other users of that stream
  • test the modifications before submitting them, and you can shelve the modifications for another user to test
  • improve the visibility and tracking of how the stream spec evolves because a single "atomic" changelist can contain both your edits to the stream spec and any associated code changes

The workflow for private editing of streams corresponds to your normal workflow with the p4 edit, p4 submit, p4 revert, and p4 resolve commands. These commands have been enhanced with the -So, -Si, or -Sx options to include or exclude stream specs edits.

See also:

streams and inheritance

The p4 stream specification (2020.2 and later) has the ParentView: field, which can be set with the --parentview parameter to either of the following values:

  • inherit, which is the original behavior of streams. The inheritance is implicit, so the inherited Paths, Remapped, and Ignored values are not displayed with the child stream specification.
    • Task streams and virtual streams must always be inherit.
  • noinherit, which means that the Paths, Remapped, and Ignored fields are not affected by the stream's ancestors. For example, the build system for a noinherit release stream continues to build even if the import path of its parent mainline stream has switched to newer libraries that the release stream does not have.
    • Release, development and mainline streams can be inherit or noinherit.
  • Because a mainline stream has no parent, the inherit or noinherit settings have no meaning for a mainline stream unless the mainline stream is converted to a different stream type.
  • The dm.stream.parentview configurable determines whether a newly-created stream is inherit or noinherit

parentview option

The p4 stream command also has the parentview option, which can be used to convert an existing mainline, development, or release stream from noinherit to inherit, or from inherit to noinherit.

  • If you convert a child stream to be noinherit, paths that are implicit in an inherit stream become explicit.
    • The --source-comments option causes comments to appear in the child stream spec. Such comments begin with ##. For example:
      exclude myExclude/... ## copy from //stream/main@5
      indicate that version 5 of the parent stream spec is the source of this path.
    • You can also add manually add comments to a stream spec.

Tip
Note

Prior to the 2019.1 release

Prior to the 2019.1 release, a user could edit a stream spec privately by using the p4 stream edit command. For example,
p4 -c aStreamClient stream edit
Stream //Ace/Main@15973 - edit stream spec default change

However, in such a case, the changelist did not track edits to the stream spec. The p4 stream edit command put the current stream spec of the client into the opened state, isolating any edits made to fields that affect view generation. While the spec was open, those fields were marked with the comment #open to indicate that they were open and isolated to your client. Changes made to these fields affected your client view, but other clients were not affected. The p4 edit -So command had the same effect as p4 stream edit.

Stream and graph depot - .git suffix and repo path

A stream can import a repo from a depot of type graph. Within the stream, the content of the import is read-only. The examples below show that:

  • the .git suffix is required
  • the repo path must include a specific SHA-1 or ref
@sha

Syntax:

import path/... //repo/name.git/restricted/view/path/...@sha

Example:

import d3/... //repo/d3.git/...@c2e37352ac84eb8f90bc2866f715

The imported data is locked at the time of the @sha.
@ref

Syntax:

import path/... //repo/name.git/restricted/view/path/...@ref

Example:

import d3/... //repo/d3.git/...@refs/heads/master

or

import d3/... //repo/d3.git/...@master

A sync updates the data to the current time of the @ref.

See Working with depots of type graph.

Form Fields

Field Name Type Description

Stream:

Writable, mandatory

Specifies the stream’s name (permanent identifier) and its path in the stream depot, in the form //depotname/streamname.

Note

All streams in a single stream depot must have the same number of forward slashes in their name. The Helix Core administrator specifies this number in the StreamDepth field of the stream depot spec. If a user tries to create a stream with a different number of forward slashes, the following message appears:

Error in stream specification. Stream streamname does not reflect depot
depth-field streamdepth.

Be aware of the Limitations on characters in filenames and entities.

Update:

Read-only

The date the stream specification was last modified.

Access:

Read-only

The date and time that the stream specification was last accessed by any Helix Server command.

Owner:

Writable, mandatory

The Helix Server user or group who owns the stream. The default is the user who created the stream.

Name:

Writable

Display name of the stream. Unlike the Stream: field, this field can be modified. Defaults to the streamname portion of the stream path.

Parent:

Writable

The parent of this stream. Must be none if the stream’s Type: is mainline, otherwise must be set to an existing stream identifier of the form //depotname/streamname.

Type:

Writable, mandatory

The stream’s type determines the expected flow of change. Valid stream types are mainline, development, release, virtual, andtask.

  • mainline

    The mainline stream is the parent of all streams in the stream depot. Every stream depot must have at least one mainline stream.

  • virtual

    Virtual streams allow merging and copying between parent and child streams without storing local data. Data is passed through to the destination (a non-virtual stream) after applying restrictions on the scope of files defined in the virtual stream’s view.

    Because virtual streams do not have files in their depot namespace, it is impossible to import a virtual stream.

  • release

    More stable than the mainline. Release streams copy from the parent and merge to the parent.

  • development

    Less stable than the mainline. Development streams expect to merge from parent streams and copy to the parent.

    Note

    The default is stream type is development.

  • task

    Task streams are lightweight, short-lived branches that are useful for bug fixing or new features that only modify a small subset of the branch data.

    To keep repository metadata to a minimum, shadow tables track only branched (copied) files. The shadow tables are removed when the task stream is deleted or unloaded.

    Note

    Workspaces associated with task streams see all branched files, but only modified and promoted files are visible to users with access to the stream’s namespace.

    For example, if you run p4 describe for a task stream changelist from a workspace that is not associated with the task stream, you might see only a subset of the submitted files

    Tip

    You cannot submit files to an import+ path in a task stream. See the explanation of the path type, import+ view_path [depot_path].

Description:

Writable, optional

Description of the stream.

Options:

Writable

Settings that configure stream behavior as follows:

  • [un]locked

    Enable/disable other users' ability to edit or delete the stream. If locked, the stream specification cannot be deleted, and only its owner can modify it. The default is unlocked.

  • [all|owner]submit

    Specifies whether all users or only the owner of the stream can submit changes to the stream. The default is allsubmit. If the Owner: of a stream marked ownersubmit is a group, all users who are members of that group can submit changes to the stream.

  • [no]toparent

    Specifies whether integrations from the stream to its parent are expected. The default is toparent.

  • [no]fromparent

    Specifies whether integrations to the stream from its parent are expected. The default is fromparent for mainline and development streams, and nofromparent for release streams.

  • mergeany | mergedown

    Specifies whether the merge flow is restricted or whether merge is permitted from any other stream. For example, the mergeany option would allow a merge from a child to a parent with no warnings.

A virtual stream must have its flow options set to notoparent and nofromparent.

Flow options are ignored for mainline streams.
ParentView:  

Defines whether the stream inherits a view from its parent.

inherit noinherit

If a ParentView is inherit, the Paths, Remapped, and Ignored fields will be affected. The view created from each field is composed of the stream's fields and the set of fields inherited from each of the stream's ancestors. The inheritance is implicit, so the inherited Paths, Remapped, and Ignored values will not be displayed with the current stream specification.

If a ParentView is noinherit, the Paths, Remapped, and Ignored fields are not affected by the stream's ancestors. The child views are exactly what is specified in the Paths, Remapped, and Ignored fields.

Task streams and virtual streams can only have inherit ParentViews.

 

All other stream types can have inherit or noinherit ParentViews.

When a development, release, or mainline stream is first created, the ParentView field can be set with the --parentview parameter. The parameter can be set with values inherit or noinherit.

When creating a development, release, or mainline stream without the --parentview parameter, the configurable dm.stream.parentview determines the default value for the ParentView field.

After a stream has been created, the ParentView field cannot be changed by editing the stream specification. Instead, use the command p4 stream parentview to change stream's parentview. For more details, see the output of the p4 help streamcmds command.

Paths:

Writable

Paths define how files are incorporated into the stream structure. Specify paths using the following format:

path_type view_path [depot_path]

where path_type is a single keyword, view_path is a file path with no leading slashes, and the optional depot_path is a file path beginning with //.

The default path is share ...

Valid path types are:

  • share view_path

    Specified files can be synced, submitted, and integrated to and from the parent stream.

  • isolate view_path

    Specified files can be synced and submitted, but cannot be integrated to and from the parent stream.

  • import view_path [depot_path]

    Specified files can be synced, but cannot be submitted or integrated to and from the parent stream. The view_path is mapped as in the parent stream’s view, or to an (optional) depot_path.

    The depot_path can include a changelist specifier. Client workspaces associated with the stream only see revisions at that change or lower within that depot path. For example, if you specify //depot/import/...@1000 as the depot path, revisions from changelists greater than 1000 are hidden from most commands.

    Note

    Instead of a changelist number, you can use an automatic label specification.

    The changelist limits for a given stream workspace are displayed in a read-only client workspace specification field called ChangeView.

  • import+ view_path [depot_path]

    Functions like a standard import path, enable you to map a path from outside the stream depot to your stream, but unlike a standard import path, you can submit changes to the files in an import+ path.

  • exclude view_path

    Specified files cannot be synced, submitted or integrated to and from the parent stream.

By default, streams inherit their structure from the parent stream (except mainlines, which have no parent).

Paths are inherited by child stream views. A child stream’s path can downgrade the inherited view, but not upgrade it. (For example, a child stream can downgrade a shared path to an isolated path, but if the parent stream defines a path as isolated, its child cannot restore full access by specifying the path as shared.)

Note that the depot_path is relevant only when the path_type is import or import+.

Tip

In a virtual stream, when you import paths, be specific and provide import view-path with a depot-path argument. For example, suppose that you create this set of streams:

Stream //project1/mainQ mainline none 'mainQ'
Stream //project1/devQ1 development //project1/mainQ 'devQ1'
Stream //project1/devQ1-virt virtual //project1/devQ1 'devQ1-virt'

and you use Paths: share ... for all except the virtual stream, which has:

Paths:

import foo/...
share foo/src/libs/lib1/...

Although you might expect that the foo path in the virtual stream comes from its parent, //project1/devQ1, the client view shows:

//project1/mainQ/foo/... foo/...

Therefore, we recommend that you use this more explicit syntax:

import foo/... //project1/devQ1/foo/...

Note

To manage files of similar file-type in your stream specs, consider using wildcards (... and *) explicitly following the final slash in the path definition:

share ...

isolate BIN/....CLASS

isolate BIN/....exe

import imports/lib/*.a //depot/3rd_party/lib/*.a

import imports/lib/*.dll //depot/3rd_party/lib/*.dll

import imports/src/*.h //depot/3rd_party/src/*.h

exclude doc/....fm

Remapped:

Writable, optional

Reassigns the location of workspace files. To specify the source path and its location in the workspace, use the following syntax:

view_path_1 view_path_2

where view_path_1 and view_path_2 are Helix Server view paths (omit leading slashes and leading or embedded wildcards, but terminal wildcards are fine). For example, to ensure that files are synced to the local ProjectX folder, remap as follows:

... projectX/...

Line ordering in the Remapped: field is significant: if more than one line remaps the same files, the later line takes precedence. Remappings are inherited by child streams and the workspaces associated with them.

Ignored:

Writable, optional

A list of file or directory names to be ignored in both:

  • client views for client of that stream
  • the generated branch spec used in merge and copy operations between the stream and its parent.

For example:

/tmp # ignores files named "tmp"
/tmp/... # ignores directories named "tmp"
.tmp # ignores file names ending in .tmp

Lines in the Ignored: field can appear in any order. Ignored files and directories are inherited by child stream client views.

Options

-d streamname

Delete the stream specification. A stream specification cannot be deleted if it is referenced by child streams or stream client workspaces. Deleting a stream does not remove its files. However, changes can no longer be submitted to the stream.

-f

Administrators can use the -f option to delete or modify locked streams owned by other users.

-i

Read the stream specification from standard input.

-o

Write the stream specification to standard output. By default, it outputs the stream associated with the current workspace. If you pass the stream@change argument, Helix Server uses the version of the stream as of the specified changelist.

Warning

Limitation: Although this option requires the user have at least the list access to the stream path, it ignores any other entry in the protections table, including any minus sign (-) that would otherwise block the operation.

-o -v

Verbose option, which includes the automatically-generated client view for this stream.
-c changelist# If an @changelist specifier is included with the stream name, the (submitted) stream as of that change is displayed rather than the latest (or open) version.

-P parent

When creating a new stream specification, specify the stream’s parent. (This option has no effect on an existing stream specification.)

-t type

When creating a new stream specification, you must specify the stream’s type: either mainline, development, release, task, or virtual.
parentview

p4 stream parentview can be used with mainline, development, and release streams to set the value of the parentview field to inherit or noinherit.

Note

p4 stream parentview does not support setting the value of this field while the stream spec of the workspace client is opened.

The command opens the stream spec so you can change value of the ParentView field. You can also change the value of the Paths, Remapped, or Ignored fields.

Changes made to the stream spec will not be made public until the change is submitted. Once submitted, the ParentView change is part of the stream spec's integration history.

-c Associate the stream spec with given changelist# when opening the stream spec for edit.
-n Previews the changes made.
-o Display the changed stream spec.

--inherit

Change the ParentView field to inherit. Changes to the Paths, Remapped, and Ignored fields which occurred when converting the stream spec to a noinherit ParentView will remain.

Client and branch views for streams with an inherit ParentView property are affected by changes in an ancestor's Paths, Remapped, or Ignored fields.
--noinherit

Change the ParentView field to noinherit. Also converts the Paths, Remapped, and Ignored fields by copy or merging paths from the corresponding fields in the ancestor stream specifications.

Client and branch views for streams with a noherit ParentView property are not affected by changes in an ancestor's Paths, Remapped, or Ignored fields.
--source-comments Add inline source comments to Paths, Remapped, or Ignored lines that were copied or merged from an ancestor stream spec when changing the ParentView field from inherit to noinherit. The comment specifies the source ancestor spec, the change number for head version of the ancestor spec, and whether a given line was copied or merged into the target stream spec.
resolve

p4 stream resolve resolves changes that have been submitted to the stream spec since you opened it. You cannot submit changes to the stream spec until newer changes have been resolved.

p4 resolve -So has the same effect as p4 stream resolve (see p4 help edit).

-as

For p4 stream resolve, performs a "safe" resolve; it skips fields that need merging.
-am

For p4 stream resolve, resolves by merging; skips fields with conflicts.
-af

For p4 stream resolve, forces a concatenation of text fields with conflicts.
-at

For p4 stream resolve, forces acceptance of theirs, overwrites yours.

-ay

For p4 stream resolve, forces acceptance of yours, overwrites theirs.

-o -v

For p4 stream resolve, previews which fields require resolve.

-n

For p4 stream resolve, outputs the base used for the merge.
revert

p4 stream revert reverts any pending changes made to the open spec. The returns your client to the latest submitted version of the stream.

p4 revert -So has the same effect as the p4 stream revert command.

g-opts

See Global options.

Usage Notes

Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier? Can File Arguments Use Revision Range? Minimal Access Level Required

N/A

N/A

open, or list to use the -o option

=openstreamspec to open a stream spec. See Stream spec permissions.

As the name implies, task streams are intended to be short-lived. When you have finished using a task stream by promoting your changes to its parent, delete the task stream.

Examples

p4 stream -t mainline //streams/product1

Create a mainline stream in the depot named streams

p4 stream -t development -P main //projectX/bruno-dev

Create a development stream for project X by branching the mainline.

p4 stream parentview -n --noinherit

Preview the changes that would be made when setting the ParentView field value to noinherit.

p4 stream parentview -c 1234 --source-comments --noinherit

Associate the stream spec with changelist 1234, convert the stream to noinherit and get automatic comments about the source of the path, such as

## merge from //str/dev2@25

Related Commands

List streams

p4 streams

Edit template for streams p4 streamspec

Create stream depot

p4 depot