As described in Parallel Development, we use branches in SVN to snapshot the code base that reflects the released version of the project. This allows new development to carry on in the TRUNK; while still allowing maintenance to the released version to occur in the branch.
As we find new bugs, we will decide if they need to be fixed in the branch. Those items that are deemed critical will be fixed in a special milestone. For example, current release is BETA-2, for hot fixes, we would create "Beta-2-1" as a new milestone/branch.
Branch Development Process
In short, you make your eclipse workspace be identical to BETA2.1 Branch. Do your fixes, check them into the branch. Then you decide if you want to promote the fix to the TRUNK or not (using the version control MERGE feature – include 'dry run' if needed). In general, most of the fixes also belong in the trunk.

Benefits of SVN Merge Yes, you could copy the good file off to the side (or in your paste buffer), and then paste it into the branch file and commit. However, using the SVN merge feature is better because that sets the svn:mergeinfo metadata so that you can track the true history of a file. Copy/pasting does not do this.

Moving forward, developers may be required to change code in different branches other than the main /TRUNK/. If you need to do this, follow the process below to switch your project to the appropriate branch.

Project, Folder, File? If you need to do extensive development in a branch that relies on deep compiles of code, do the whole project. Just a few stand-alone changes in a well-isolated area? Do the Folder. A simple tweak of a single file that is isolated? Just do the file...

Setting Up Your Workspace

Step 1 - Switch to Branch
Right click your project:

and go to Team > Switch:




Step 2 - Select Branch
Click Browse to search the BRANCHES in the repository:

Here we have selected BETA2.1 Branch:
Click OK



Step 3 - Verify Switch
You should see the branch name in your project:

Making Changes

Complete Your Work
Commit to Branch
Compare to Trunk
See Diff
Your Changed File	Revision 9875
Log	Add revision number/file in Jira comment -- especially important when we look to bring fixes into a branch.

Merging From Branch To Trunk

commit branch	commit your local changes to branch, including unversioned files
determine branch creation	go to your branch within SVN repository browser, right click, show log and select "stop on copy". scroll to the end (page if needed) to see the revision when the branch was copied
switch to TRUNK	Switch your working copy from the branch back to TRUNK
verify you are in TRUNK	verify your working copy says you are in trunk
merge BRANCH into working copy	merge a range of revisions in the branch into the working copy. the merge dialog FROM should be the BRANCH url and the revision when the branch was created, so you don't go back to the start of time. the merge dialog TO is the same BRANCH url and would be the head revision, but you can specify an earlier revision in the branch.
commit working to TRUNK	manually fix any merge conflicts, test locally, then commit your working to TRUNK

Merging From Trunk to Branch

This is most generally used for a file or two, though you could do it for an entire folder. Basically move to the Branch, then go to the file(s) you changed, and merge in the TRUNK changes.

NOTE: you don't have to merge just from the TRUNK, these instructions work if you want to merge from one branch to another. It is simply that we often need to know how to grab a change in the TRUNK and put it into the branch that we want to make a build from.

If you only need to merge one or two files, you can actually specify individual file locations in the from/to fields (rather than the top-level directory which would merge the entire tree). Merging single files can be safer because there could be other changes in the trunk that should not be merged.

Switch to Branch	Right click your project: and go to Team > Switch:
Select Branch	Click Browse to search the BRANCHES in the repository: Here we have selected BETA2.1 Branch: Click OK
Select Merge	From the perspective of the file that needs to be updated (either via the navigator or the editor window), right-click to choose Merge: Click Browse to search the TRUNK in the repository for the file that you are replacing: Use the "Show Log" button to find the From and To revisions: Notice that I have selected revisions in both cases. Click OK
Commit the changes	Now that you have just merged from the TRUNK to the BRANCH, you need to commit these changes to the BRANCH itself.