Re: ESR: "bzr is dying; Emacs needs to move"

[David Young <dyoung%pobox.com@localhost>]

On Thu, Jan 02, 2014 at 02:03:07PM +0100, Thomas Klausner wrote:
> Read the following after applying
> 
> sed -e "s/emacs/NetBSD/g" -e "s/bzr/CVS/g"
> 
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2014-01/msg00005.html

I don't think I have ever seen a statement of the version control
problem.  I suspect that at this point, either a lot of development in
the area of version control just coasts without a problem statement, or
else that the statement is not any good, because everyone's solution
seems to be a variation on the same old theme.

Version control has some persistent rough spots that don't seem to get
anyone's attention.  To send a solitary change from the program that I
am editing to the repository, or to see how others have changed the same
program that I am editing, or to incorporate others' changes from the
repository into my program always has been, and remains, a multi-step,
rote process.  In order to collaborate easily with others, I have to
match the number, type, and placement of whitespaces.  Patches are
computed and applied line-wise even though linebreaks are not ordinarily
meaningful in a computer program.

Given these persistent problems, it saddens me that I cannot get far
into an explanation of git before it's going on about data models and
SHA1 revision IDs.  I want for development and collaboration to be
easier; meanwhile, the developers of version control systems seem to
busily saw existing solutions into puzzle pieces.  This does not look
like progress to me.

Dave

-- 
David Young
dyoung%pobox.com@localhost    Urbana, IL    (217) 721-9981