The mkstream command creates a new stream that is based on an existing stream called the backing stream. A stream and its backing stream are sometimes referred to as "child" and "parent" streams, respectively.You can use the mkstream command to create dynamic, pass-through, and gated streams. Use the mksnap command to create snapshot streams. See Entity Names for information on naming streams.A dynamic stream is a stream whose content changes over time, with new versions promoted from child workspaces and/or from other dynamic streams. It also inherits versions from its parent stream. AccuRev creates streams as dynamic streams by default.A pass-through stream is a special kind of dynamic stream, so called because a version that is promoted to such a stream automatically passes through to its parent stream. The file does not become active in the pass-through stream (that is, the pass-through stream has no default group); it does become active in the parent of the pass-through stream.A gated stream is a stream that you use to control whether changes promoted into it are automatically promoted out of it, often based on meeting externally established criteria (such as passing a test suite or completing a successful nightly build, for example). Gated streams combine attributes of both dynamic and pass-through streams, and they have features that are unique to them. For example, like dynamic streams, the content of a gated stream changes over time; and like pass-through streams, versions promoted to a gated stream pass through it to the gated stream’s parent. Unique to gated streams is a special type of stream called a staging stream.See Chapter 8, "Using Streams to Support Continuous Integration" in the AccuRev Administrator’s Guide for more information on gated streams.A newly created stream contains the same set of element versions as its backing stream. (If you use the -t option when creating a dynamic stream, this is the set of versions that the backing stream contained at a particular point in time.) Thereafter, the dynamic stream’s contents can change, either “actively” or “passively”.The promote command places a new version of one or more elements in a stream. This is termed an “active change”, because it is the result of an explicit command (promote), and is recorded in the database as a transaction.Promoting versions of elements into a stream makes those elements “active” in the stream. (A stream’s default group is its set of “active” elements.) Those elements remain active in the stream until the versions are promoted out of the stream, or are purged from the stream.
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