Java-based example demonstrating the behaviour of versionable child nodes after an update operation. The expected behaviour is that cloning a node will clone its child, even if the child is versionable, while updating a node will only update the node itself, and not the versionable child.

gistfile1.java

import javax.jcr.Credentials;
import javax.jcr.Node;
import javax.jcr.Repository;
import javax.jcr.RepositoryException;
import javax.jcr.Session;
import javax.jcr.Workspace;
import javax.jcr.SimpleCredentials;
import javax.jcr.version.*;
import ch.liip.jcr.davex.DavexClient;

public class Client
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		try {
			// Config
			String url = "http://localhost:8080/jackrabbit/server/";
			String sourceWorkspaceName = "test-preview";
			String destWorkspaceName = "test-published";
			
			// Setup
			DavexClient Client = new DavexClient(url);
			Repository repo = Client.getRepository();
			Credentials sc = new SimpleCredentials("admin", "admin".toCharArray());
			Session sourceSession = repo.login(sc, sourceWorkspaceName);
			Session destSession = repo.login(sc, destWorkspaceName);
			Workspace destWorkspace = destSession.getWorkspace();

			// Clean-up from any previous run
			if (sourceSession.nodeExists("/fooBar")) {
				Node existingSourceNode = sourceSession.getNode("/fooBar");
				sourceSession.removeItem("/fooBar");
				sourceSession.save();
			}
			if (destSession.nodeExists("/fooBar")) {
				Node existingDestNode = destSession.getNode("/fooBar");
				destSession.removeItem("/fooBar");
				destSession.save();
			}
			
			// Create a node and child node in the source workspace
			Node newNode = sourceSession.getRootNode().addNode("fooBar");
			newNode.addMixin("mix:versionable"); // referenceable or versionable give same result here
			newNode.setProperty("test", "initial value");
			Node newChildNode = newNode.addNode("fooBarChild");
			newChildNode.addMixin("mix:versionable");
			newChildNode.setProperty("test", "initial child value");
			sourceSession.save();
			
			// Clone the node for the first time; the child is also cloned as expected
			destWorkspace.clone(sourceWorkspaceName, "/fooBar", "/fooBar", true);
			
			// Update the properties of both nodes in the source workspace
			newNode.setProperty("test", "updated value");
			newChildNode.setProperty("test", "updated child value");
			sourceSession.save();
			
			// Update the node again; this should update the corresponding node,
			// but not the corresponding child node.
			Node destNode = destSession.getNode("/fooBar");
			destNode.update(sourceWorkspaceName);

			// Now output the destination node properties...

			// Gives "updated value" as expected:
			System.out.println(destNode.getProperty("test").getString());

			// Gives "updated child value", but expected "initial child value":
			Node destChildNode = destSession.getNode("/fooBar/fooBarChild");
			System.out.println(destChildNode.getProperty("test").getString());
			
		} catch (RepositoryException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}