Introduction

Integration of the Perforce software version management system into GNU Emacs. p4.el provides Emacs interfaces that map directly to Perforce commands.

Notes (May-2023):

• p4.el compiles without warnings and is tested with Emacs 26, 27, and 28.

Installation

1. Download p4.el and compile it:

   emacs -Q -batch -f batch-byte-compile /path/to/dir/containing/p4
       

2. In your .emacs add:

   (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/dir/containing/p4.el")
   (require 'p4)
       

By default, the P4 global key bindings start with C-c p. If you prefer a different key prefix, then you should customize the setting p4-global-key-prefix.

Use

Use the P4 menu or keybindings:

------
  C-c p a   p4 add      Open a new file to add to the depot
  C-c p e   p4 edit     Open an existing file for edit
  C-c p r   p4 revert   Discard changes from an opened file
  C-c p x   p4 delete   Open an existing file for deletion from the depot
  C-c p m   p4 move     Move (rename) opened file from one location to another
  C-c p E   p4 reopen   Reopen (move between changelists or change file type)
------
  C-c p A   p4 fstat    Display file attributes - have revision, etc.
  C-c p f   p4 filelog  List file revision history
Diff
  C-c p -               Ediff file with its original client version
  C-c p _               Ediff two versions of a depot file
  C-c p `               Ediff file with head version
  C-c p =   p4 diff     Diff of client file with depot file
  C-c p d   p4 diff2    Diff a set of depot files to another
  C-c p C-= p4 diff     Diff all p4 opened files
                        }: next file, {: prev file, RET: visit region in file
                        n: next diff, p: prev diff
  C-c p M-= p4 diff     Diff all p4 opened files side-by-side
                        }: next file, {: prev file
Changes
  C-c p o   p4 opened   List open files, sorting moves, and adding head status
  C-c p C-p p4 changes  Show pending changelists
  C-c p C-s p4 changes  Show shelved changelists
  C-c p M-s p4 changes  Show submitted changelists
  C-c p D   p4 describe Display a changelist description
  C-c p C-d p4 describe Display a changelist description with diff's
  C-c p M-d p4 describe Display all affected and shelved files in a change
  C-c p C   p4 change   Change (create, update, submit, or delete a changelist)
  C-c p M-s p4 shelve   Store files from a pending changelist into the depot
  C-c p M-u p4 unshelve Restore shelved files from pending change to workspace
  C-c p S   p4 submit   Submit opened files to depot
  C-c p j   p4 job      Create or edit a job (defect) specification
  C-c p J   p4 jobs     Display list of jobs
  C-c p X   p4 fix      Mark jobs as being fixed by the specified changelist
Workspace
  C-c p g   p4 update   Sync client with its view of the depot (w/safety check)
  -         p4 sync     Synchronize the client with its view of the depot
  -         p4 sync @=  Run 'p4 sync @=CN' to sync ONLY the contents of CN
  C-c p R   p4 sync -f  Refresh contents of an unopened file
  C-c p s   p4 status   Identify differences between the workspace and depot
  C-c p z   p4 reconcile Reconcile changes to workspace w/Perforce
  C-c p F   p4 files    List files in the depot
  C-c p G               Display the name of the current Perforce client
  -         p4 unload   Unload a client, label, or task stream to unload depot
  -         p4 reload   Reload an unloaded client, label, or task stream
  C-c p H   p4 have     List the revisions most recently synced to workspace
  C-c p w   p4 where    Show how file names are mapped by the client view
  -         p4 clients  List clients
------
  C-c p I   p4 integ    Integrate one set of files into another
  C-c p C-r p4 resolve  Resolve integrations and updates to workspace files
------
  C-c p p   p4 print    Visit version of file in a buffer
  C-c p V   p4 annotate Print file lines and change info following integrations
  C-c p C-f             Visit client file corresponding to depot spec
Config
  C-c p b   p4 branch   Create, modify, or delete a branch view specification
  C-c p B   p4 branches Display list of branch specifications
  C-c p l   p4 label    Create or edit a label specification
  C-c p L   p4 labels   Display list of defined labels
  C-c p C-l p4 labelsync Apply the label to the contents of client workspace
  C-c p c   p4 client   Create or edit a client workspace spec and its view
  C-c p u   p4 user     Create or edit a user specification
  C-c p U   p4 users    List Perforce users
  -                     Set P4CONFIG
  -                     Set P4CLIENT
  -                     Set P4PORT
  -         p4 set      Display Perforce Variables
  C-c p i   p4 info     Display client/server information
  C-c p v               Display the Perforce-Emacs integration, P4.el, version
------
  C-c p q               Quit WINDOW and bury its buffer
  C-c p h   p4 help     Display 'p4 help CMD'

History

This version started with the 2015 Version 12.0 from Gareth Rees <[email protected]> https://github.com/gareth-rees/p4.el. This version has significant changes, features, fixes, and performance improvements. One example difference is the elimination of the Perforce status in the mode line. Perforce interactions can be slow and this slowed Emacs. Now all interactions with Perforce are explicit and invoked from a P4 menu selection or keybinding. This means that Emacs will be performant even if the Perforce server is slow or not responding. By default, most commands prompt you to run the action requests, which lets you to provide additional p4 switches.