DSEE Line Of Descent (Lod) Argument: An element's line of descent refers to an element's generations. The main line of descent is the element's unbranching generations. Branches are called alternate lines of descent. Repeated reserve and replace operations on an element create a line of descent. The create branch command creates an alternate line of descent for an element. A "lod", or line of descent, is denoted by element_name[/branch_path]. If the branch_path is omitted, the lod refers to the element's main line of descent. You use lod arguments when referring to an entire line of descent (as opposed to an element or version). You do this when the command affects the line of descent; e.g., reserve, replace, merge, obsolete, and so on. Example: DSEE> merge -replace tree/br1 -with tree Merges tree/br1 with tree. tree/br1 and tree are lines of descent for element tree. (tree/br1 refers to branch br1, and tree refers to the main line of descent.)