Can I use Team Explorer to merge changes between two branches after an initial baseless merge?

Question

My understanding of a baseless merge in TFS was that it was a one-time deal, and merges afterwards could be made without having to be baseless:

from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bd6dxhfy(VS.80).aspx

/baseless - Performs a merge without a basis version. That is, allows the user to merge files and folders that do not have a merge relationship. After a baseless merge, a merge relationship exists and future merges do not have to be baseless.

However, I tried it this evening with the following setup:

/Trunk
  |
  - Dev
  |
  - QA
     |
     - Stage

tf merge C:\src\Project\Branch\Dev\ C:\src\Project\Branch\QA /baseless /recursive

The command ran fine, and the files were merged. However, if I go back into Source Control Explorer and right-click and choose merge on the Dev branch, QA is not an option - only trunk is.

So did I misunderstand the docs and what they were really saying was that you always had to do it command-line, but just didn't have to include the /baseless switch?

Answer 1

You're correct, while the original baseless merge set up the relationship between two previously unrelated branches, all future merges need to be performed using the command line but don't need the /baseless option:

http://blogs.vertigosoftware.com/teamsystem/archive/2006/07/13/3069.aspx