About making a baseline

As developers deliver work to the integration stream or feature-specific development stream, it is important that you make new baselines frequently to record the changes. Developers can then rebase to the new baselines and stay current with each other’s changes. Before you make the baseline, make sure that the stream is still locked so that developers cannot deliver work to the stream.

By default, all activities modified since the last baseline was made are included in the new baseline. There might be times when you want to create a baseline that includes only certain activities. You can also make a baseline for one specific component rather than all components in the stream.

You need to choose the type of baseline to create.

• An incremental baseline is a baseline that is created by recording the last full baseline and those versions that have changed since the last full baseline was created.
• A full baseline is a baseline that is created by recording all versions below the component root directory.

Generally, incremental baselines are faster to create than full baselines; however, the contents of a full baseline can be searched faster than the contents of an incremental baseline can.

While you are making the baseline, you should lock the stream. After you create a baseline, unlock the integration or feature-specific development stream so that developers can resume delivering work to the stream.