Re: Notes from the version control BOF at the summit

[Tom Lord <lord at emf dot net>]

    > From: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>

    > The world doesn't really move so fast.  Subversion will have put out a
    > 1.1 release with some additional features (definitely the FSFS back
    > end and a better CVS conversion tool, probably exclusive locking,
    > maybe a better ACL system, but probably not merge-tracking).
    > Presumably tla will have made modest improvements, but the patch queue
    > manager, web interface, and CVS conversion facilities will remain
    > immature.  Both will expand their user communities somewhat.  darcs
    > may have developed a substantial user community and achieved non-toy
    > status; monotone will probably still be a toy.  Aegis will still live
    > quietly off in its corner with the all features, usability, and
    > learning curve of a Boeing 747.  CVS will continue to dominate the
    > day-to-day experience of most open source developers.  And as today,
    > no one will come close to meeting all of your listed requirements.

The world can move pretty fast.

Basically, I would suggest playing around and then reporting.

A few learn svn, a few learn arch, darcs, monotone, .... whichever
there's interest in.  Experiment a bit.  Study how other projects get
along with these systems.  Try to imagine how it fits into GCC-world.
If you can imagine it making GCC-world much better, then start
evaluating what's involved with switching and advocating for a switch.

I think arch merits consideration in such a process.   Heck, the
design was heavily influenced by thinking about how the GCC project
works overall and how it uses CVS in particular.

The standing invitation still stands:  if you come to the
gnu-arch-users@gnu mailing list I think the probability is high that
you'll find helpful voices interested in setting up an arch
infrastructure for GCC.  If not or if you get stuck for any other
reason, poke around on the list or on #arch on irc and I'm sure you
can get in touch with me personally.

I used to _have_ to use CVS for my job and, while it served some
purpose, I really hated it.   Whatever benefits it had, there were a
lot of costs in terms of minute-to-minute productivity.   And those
things it was supposed to be for, like branching and merging, it
handled quite awkwardly.

I suppose that in some sense I _have_ to use arch but, really, I'd
gladly do so anyway.   It makes programming easier.  A lot easier.
That's something I could never say about CVS.   Just try it and know
going in that it takes a few days of orientation before it makes any
sense --- you'll like it, once you grok it.


-t

(p.s.: avoid just making a big wishlist without digging into what's
actually available.   You're apt to wind up wishing for colorless
green flies or some such.)