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Rollback command (Team Foundation Version Control)

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Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019

Visual Studio 2019 | Visual Studio 2022

You can use the Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) tf rollback command to roll back the effects of one or more changesets on one or more version-controlled items. This command doesn't remove the changesets from an item's version history. Instead, this command creates a set of pending changes in your workspace that negate the effects of the changesets that you specify.

Prerequisites

To use this command, you must have the Read, Check Out, and Check In permissions set to Allow. For more information, see Default TFVC permissions.

Syntax

tf rollback /toversion:VersionSpec ItemSpec [/recursive] [/lock:none|checkin|checkout] [/version:versionspec] [/keepmergehistory] [/login:username,[password]] [/noprompt]

tf rollback /changeset:ChangesetFrom~ChangesetTo [ItemSpec] [/recursive] [/lock:none|checkin|checkout] [/version:VersionSpec]
[/keepmergehistory] [/noprompt] [/login:username,[password]]

Parameters

Arguments

Argument

Description

<ChangesetFrom>~<ChangesetTo>

Use this argument with the /changeset option to specify the changesets that you want to roll back. You can specify the changesets in the following ways:

  • A single changeset, for example /changeset:C11
  • A range of changesets, for example /changeset:C7~C20
  • A date, for example /changeset:D09/30/09
  • A range of dates, for example /changeset:D09/23/09~D10/07/09
  • The most recent changeset, /changeset:Tip or /changeset:T

<ItemSpec>

Use this argument to specify one or more items that you want to roll back. If you use the /toversion option, you must specify this argument.

For more information about how TFVC parses item specifications, see Use Team Foundation version control commands.

Note

You can specify more than one itemspec argument.

<VersionSpec>

The user-provided value for both the /version option and the /toversion option.

Use this argument with the /toversion option to revert a file to its state in a specific changeset. You can specify the version in the following ways:

  • A single changeset, for example /toversion:C32
  • A date at midnight, for example /toversion:D06/19/09
  • A date and a time, for example /toversion:D06/19/09T14:32
  • A label, for example /toversion:LTestLabel
  • The version in the workspace that is mapped to the current directory, /toversion:W
  • The version in a specific workspace, for example /toversion:WResolveRIConflicts;AKerry

For more information about how TFVC parses the versionspec, see Use Team Foundation version control commands.

Options

Option

Description

/changeset

Use this option to specify one or more specific changesets that you want to negate.

/keepmergehistory

This option has an effect only if one or more of the changesets that you're rolling back include a branch or merge change. Specify this option if you want future merges between the same source and the same target to exclude the changes that you're rolling back.

/lock

Specify this option to prevent other users from checking in or checking out items until you finish rolling back all associated changes. For more information, see Understand lock types.

Lock options:

  • None. Default. No lock is applied. If the file that you are rolling back has been locked, this option removes the lock.
  • Checkin. Locks an item until you release the lock by performing a check-in. Other users can check out the specified item, but the users can't check in revisions until the lock is removed. You can't lock a file that is already locked.
  • Checkout. Prevents users from checking in or checking out a locked item until you remove the lock by doing a check-in.

/login

For information about this option, see Use options to modify how a command functions.

/noprompt

Use this option to suppress any dialog boxes that would otherwise appear during this operation.

/recursive

Specify this option if you want the operation to include items in subfolders.

/toversion

Specify this option to revert a file to its state in a specific changeset. When you use this option, you negate the effect of all changesets that have been applied since the version that you specify.

/version

Specifies the current version of the files and folders that you want to roll back.

Remarks

The tf rollback command negates the effect of each changeset that you specify for each item that you specify. The following table lists how the operation negates each kind of change.

Type of change rolled back Type of rollback change
add, branch, or undelete delete
edit edit
encoding encoding
rename/move rename/move
delete undelete
merge Change that negates whatever changes merged into the current branch.

The following list provides some examples of changes that result from the rollback command:

  • You roll back a changeset in which an add change occurred. The rollback operation causes a rollback change and a delete change.

  • You roll back changeset 521 in which an edit change occurred. The rollback operation causes a rollback change and an edit change that negates the edit change in changeset 521.

  • In changeset 132, you merged from $/BranchA/File1.txt to $/BranchB/File1.txt. The changes in that merge included edit changes in changesets 92 and 104. In changeset 162, you roll back changeset 132, which results in a rollback change and an edit change to $/BranchB/File1.txt that negates the edit changes in changesets 92 and 104.

Exit codes

An exit code from the following table appears after you run the tf rollback command.

Exit code Description
0 The operation rolled back all items successfully.
1 The operation rolled back at least one item successfully but couldn't roll back one or more items.
100 The operation couldn't roll back any items.

Examples

The following example negates the effect of changeset 23 on all items that were changed in that changeset:

c:\workspace> tf rollback /changeset:C23

The following example negates the effect of changeset 23 on the file a.txt:

c:\workspace> tf rollback /changeset:C23 a.txt

The following example changes the content of a.txt to match the version that was checked in with changeset 23:

c:\workspace> tf rollback /toversion:C23 a.txt

The following example changes the content of OurTeamProject to match the last changeset that was applied on or before midnight on August 31, 2009:

c:\workspace> tf rollback /toversion:D08/31/2009 /recursive $/OurTeamProject/

Example /keepmergehistory option

When you roll back a changeset that included a branch or a merge change, you usually want future merges between the same source and the same target to include those changes. However, you can use the /keepmergehistory option if you want future merges between the same source and the same target to exclude changesets that were encompassed in a past merge operation. For example:

  1. On June 30, 2009, you do a full merge of all items from $/BranchA/ to $/BranchB/.

    c:\workspace> tf merge $/BranchA $/BranchB

    You check in this merge as part of changeset 292.

  2. In July, you make several changes $/BranchA/Util.cs. These changes are encompassed in changesets 297, 301, and 305.

  3. On August 1, 2009, you merge $/BranchA/Util.cs to $/BranchB/Util.cs.

    c:\workspace> tf merge $/BranchA/Util.cs $/BranchB/Util.cs

    You check in the change as part of changeset 314. The result of this operation is that the edits that you made in changesets 297, 301, and 305 to $/BranchA/Util.cs are now also applied to $/BranchB/Util.cs.

  4. A week later, you realize that the edits that you made to $/BranchA/Util.cs in July aren't appropriate for $/BranchB/Util.cs. You can use the rollback command to negate these changes. When you use the rollback command to roll back a merge change or a branch change, you have a decision to make.

    • If you want the changes that you made to $/BranchA/Util.cs in July to be re-applied to $/BranchB/Util.cs in future merges, enter the following command:

      c:\workspace> tf rollback /changeset:314

    • If you want the changes that you made to $/BranchA/Util.cs in July never to be reapplied to $/BranchB/Util.cs in future merges, enter the following command:

      c:\workspace> tf rollback /changeset:314 /keepmergehistory

  5. A few weeks later, you merge $/BranchA/ into $/BranchB/.

    c:\workspace> tf merge $/BranchA $/BranchB

    • If you omitted the /keepmergehistory option when you rolled back, the merge change applies to $/BranchB/Util.cs all changesets that were applied to $/BranchA/Util.cs since changeset 292, including changesets 297, 301, and 305. In other words, the merge undoes the rollback change.

    • If you included the /keepmergehistory option when you rolled back, the merge operation applies to $/BranchB/Util.cs all changesets that were applied to $/BranchA/Util.cs since changeset 292, excluding changesets 297, 301, and 305. In other words, the merge doesn't undo the rollback change. Therefore, the content on BranchA might not match the content on BranchB.