source mgt....[_HAS_ gcc relevance]

Tom Lord lord@emf.net
Mon Dec 16 05:33:00 GMT 2002



	but wouldn't it be nice if that were automated: so a developer
	could hit the "try to test and merge" button before going home
	for the night, coming back in the morning to either a commit
	email or a list of test failures

    I'm not sure I like that kind of automation because of the
    potentially unknown delay in the testing process (what if the
    queue that runs the tests got stuck).  I'd want to be able to know
    and control exactly *when* the change went in.


I think your worry is premature, but understandable.  We're bumping up
against the limits of email.

It's hard to explain abstractions through specific instantiations, but
harder to explain (and be heard explaining) abstractions through
abstract language.  So in forums like this, I think I tend to state
instances, and hope readers form the underlying abstractions for
themselves.  I'm aiming for the SYNC! or "Aha!" experience.

So, I say "going home for the night, coming back in the morning" --
but there's a less specific abstraction behind that I'm pointing at.

Computers keep getting cheaper and faster.  I think in a few short
years, we developers will each have tons of them for day-to-day work.
What Savannah does for the maddening crowd asynchronously and slowly,
you and I will have synchronously and quickly.  (Which is a related
observation, if you think about it.)


-t



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