Forced to upload the entire tree

There are 2 things we plan to address this:
1. Add a .upload-bzrignore so you can ignore files to be uploaded
2. Allow you to upload specific files/dirs instead of the full tree

I'm not sure which of those 2 would solve this for you, so I'm leaving the bug un-triaged until we do :)

I would prefer the second solution: only uploading named files (or a whole subdirectory) instead of having to choose what to ignore. I especially like the second solution because it allows me to place a sub-directory from the working tree into a different path on the server.

For example:
project-name/.bzr
project-name/themes/theme-name/files
project-name/design/files

I only want to upload theme-name/files. I into theme-name on the server. It just so happens that I am careful about matching the directory "themes" on the server and in the working tree, but I would prefer if I did not have to be so careful.

perhaps the initial upload would be something like:

cd /path/to/project-name
bzr --local upload themes/theme-name sftp://username@host/path/to/directory

I hope that helps to clarify my vision? :)

It helps a little, and confuses a little, but I know where you're going.
I'll try and squeeze in time to do this, thanks for filing the bug :)

I don't want to add a mapping between local names and remote names.

I think what you want here may be better addressed by having a nested tree that you will then upload as a whole where you want.

We need nested tree to be supported by bzr for that.

If you still want to upload your tree partially but keeping the same relative paths
locally and remotely, then, as Martin said, a mix of .bzr-upload.ignore and an
explicit list of files to upload can address that (both features are still missing though :-/)