You are here: Using Shelves

Using Shelves

Shelves are temporary containers on the Surround SCM Server where you can store new and modified files before adding or checking them in to Surround SCM. You can use shelves to back up your work or to share files with other users before they are checked in. Shelved files are not versioned and historical information is not tracked.

For example, you may want to create a shelf if your work on files is interrupted by other tasks, but you are not ready to check in the recent changes. You may also want to shelve files and share the shelf with other users who need to informally review your changes before you check them in for a code review.

The method you use to shelve files depends on file status and if a shelf is already available.

If you want to shelve files already under source control in a new or existing shelf, shelve the files from the Source Tree window. See Shelving files.
If you want to add files that are not under source control, or modified files that are already under source control, to an existing shelf, shelve files from the Shelves window. Files must be in a working directory to be shelved. See Adding files to existing shelves.

Note: You can also shelve modified or missing files from the Working Directory Differences dialog box. See Viewing differences between repositories and working directories.

When you are ready to continue work on shelved files, unshelve the files to a working directory and then check them in to Surround SCM when the changes are complete. See Unshelving files.