Selective Notifications According to Merge Distance for Software Version Branches within a Software Configuration Management System

A computer-implemented method of controlling version branching within a software configuration management system (SCMS), the method comprising:

• representing the SCMS as a graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of hops, wherein each hop represents an allowable data transfer between two nodes, wherein each hop is defined according to source-target relationships between nodes within the SCMS;
• responsive to a user initiating a check-out operation of a file within the SCMS, determining the file to be checked-out and a workspace of the user to which the file will be checked-out;
• searching each node of the SCMS that is within a predetermined number of hops from a node representing the workspace of the user, according to the graph, for a successor version of the file;
• when a successor version of the file is identified, outputting a notification that the successor version of the file is within the predetermined distance of the workspace of the user;
• and
• when a successor version of the file is not identified, checking-out the file to the workspace of the user.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer-usable medium comprising computer-usable program code that, when executed by a computer, controls version branching within a software configuration management system (SCMS), the computer-usable medium comprising:
• computer-usable program code that, responsive to a user initiating a check-out operation of a file within the SCMS, identifies the file and a workspace of the user;
• computer-usable program code that searches nodes of the repositories of the SCMS for a successor version of the file;
• computer-usable program code that, when a successor version of the file is located within a node that is within a predetermined distance of the workspace of the user, outputs a notification that the successor version of the file is within the predetermined distance of the workspace of the user;
• and
• computer-usable program code that, when a successor version of the file is not located within a node within a predetermined distance of the workspace of the user, checks-out the file to the workspace of the user.