Because it is not possible to atomically commit a change to multiple Git repositories at once, coordinating changes that affect multiple petals - for example, an API or ABI change in the Fuchsia tree that affects callers in Topaz or Experiences - requires either a soft or hard transition.
D. For example, D might be Fuchsia, and P might be Topaz or Experiences.The preferred way to make changes that span multiple projects is to use a soft transition. In a soft transition, you make a change to D in such a way that the interface supports both old and new clients. For example, if you are replacing a function, you might add the new version and turn the old function into a wrapper for the new function.
Use the following steps to land a soft transition:
D that introduces the new interface without breaking the old interface used by P.D to roll into the integration repository.P to use the new interface.P to roll into the integration repository.D to remove the old interface.For some changes, creating a soft transition can be difficult or impossible. For those changes, you can make a hard transition. In a hard transition, you make a breaking change to D and update P manually.
Note that to prevent accidental clobbering of the manifest contents, Gerrit is configured to not automatically rebase changes that edit a manifest file. You must manually rebase before merging so that your submit is a pure fast-forward.
Making a hard transition is more stressful than making a soft transition because your change will be preventing other changes in ‘D’ from becoming available in dependent projects between steps 1 and 2.
Only Google developers can make hard transitions. See internal documentation for instructions.