Hi Alex,


I will give the general idea, since I don't remember the implementation.


The idea is to cherry pick changes. Suppose you are the main maintainer 
of a package, and X is a contributor. Suppose makes two sets of 
independent changes A and B, each in a separate version, where B has A 
as an ancestor. Suppose that you only like A, then you simply merge A, 
and ignore B. What happens if you only like the changes in B? if you 
merge in B, you also get the changes in A. If you undo those manually, 
you have imprecise history management that will take its revenge later.


In general, Backport creates a version that has only B, without A, and 
allows you to merge it in. IIRC, it handles somewhat more general 
situations, too.


Daniel


Bergel, Alexandre wrote:

> Dear List,
>
> What is the exact meaning of the Backport button in Monticello?
> The method MCWorkshopCopy>>backportChangesTo: suggest that a package 
> is "adapted" to one of its ancestor. Is there a difference with 
> loading a new version of its package?
>
> Cheers,
> Alexandre