Re: Distributed SCM in Gnome (Was: Git vs SVN (was: Can we improve things?))

[John Carr <john carr unrouted co uk>]

On Sat, 2007-09-15 at 18:26 -0400, Behdad Esfahbod wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-09-14 at 21:31 +0200, Ali Sabil wrote:
> > I am wondering why discussion is continuing in the "Git vs SVN (was:
> > Can we improve things?)" thread, why the discussion is not happening
> > here instead ?!
> > 
> > I don't want to offend anyone (so take it lightly), but I am afraid
> > that many of us are subject to a "Confirmation bias" ... Can't we just
> > continue the discussion in this thread comparing svn to DRCS in
> > general before deciding on which DRCS would be the most appropriate to
> > use within the GNOME project ?
> 
> Because you can't talk about some abstract concept.  I can't imagine
> anyone having any remotely legitimate reason to discuss that DSCM
> systems are not good for GNOME.  This is simply a corollary of the fact
> that DSCMs provide all functionality that the SCSMs do.  So,
> theoretically, you don't lose anything, and gain some.

How do you set up a master repository with GIT/BZR? Generally it seems
to involve pushing over ssh/sftp? Does that integrate with GNOME
accounts? Does letting people push mean they could push other crap and
hurt the repo? Or have they both gained daemons? Do they have logins
that integrate with gnome accounts? Can one daemon handle multiple
repos?

Perhaps a legitimate reason is that moving to a DSCM won't be a benefit
to everyone, yet everyone will have to learn another set of tools. Even
just last month someone didnt know how to link to a file in SVN. And in
order to make happy The GIT Crowd (and piss off all the people that just
want to get on with their project) a sugar load of infrastructure needs
to be tossed away.

Does CIA.vc have bzr/git support? I guess a few GNOME projects must use
it as GNOME is the third most active project today.

How does buildbot work with bzr/git? The project looks a bit stalled,
but the GNOME buildbot was a great idea that I was hoping to see gain
ground.

> In practice however, git is too hard and confusing to learn.  *That* is
> a reason against this specific DSCM system.

This is the reason i've been using bzr-svn. Its "svn with benefits"
style suits me very well. The fact is, i'm happy with svn until i'm
stranded without an internet connection, thats with bzr steps in. And
its brilliant.

> > I am also afraid that we might be just becoming nothing more but "geek
> > fashion" addicts trying to follow the latest RCS tendency without
> > really building solid and constructive arguments !
> 
> I was going to be offended, but you warned :).  Now that most probably
> means that you don't hack on the more crowded projects that much...
> Many Gtk+ developers for example could not have been as productive as
> they are right now if it wasn't for git-svn.  And that's only a
> half-arsed solution.

Again, its ok to say something is crap, but please tell us why! "SVN
SUCKS!!" and "GIT FTW!!" aren't very compelling reasons.

John