Changeset

A changeset (sometimes abbreviated "cset") is an atomic collection of changes to files in a ["Repository"]. The act of creating a changeset is usually called a ["Commit"] or Checkin. The information in a changeset includes

Each changeset has zero, one or two ["Parent"] changesets. It has two parent changesets, if the commit was a ["Merge"]. It has no parent, if the changeset is a root in the repository. There may be multiple roots in a repository (normally, there is only one), each representing the start of a branch.

If a changeset is not the ["Head"] of a branch, it has one or more child changesets (it is then the parent of its child changesets).

Technically, the parent changesets of a changeset are retrieved from the revision history of the changelog file in the repository (files 00changelog.i and 00changelog.d in .hg/store). Each changeset references a revision of the ["Manifest"] (see ["Design"] for the technical details).

The ["WorkingDirectory"] can be ["Update"]d to any commited changeset of the repository, which then becomes the parent of the working directory.

Committing changes in the working directory creates a new revision in the manifest and a new changeset (a new revision in the changelog). The parent(s) of the working directory become the parents of the changeset.

"Updating" back to a changeset which already has a child, changeing files and then commiting creates a new child, thus starting a new branch. Branches can be named (see ["NamedBranches"]).

A changeset is identified uniquely by a ["ChangeSetID"]. In a single repository, you can identify it using a RevisionNumber.

See also: ["ChangeSetComments"]


CategoryGlossary