Re: The essential problems of moving from CVS

[Curt Sampson <cjs%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On 2010-01-15 05:49 +0000 (Fri), David Holland wrote:

>  > I reckon the possibilities are:
>  > 
>  >     1. We end up with the usual NetBSD argumentative mess, nothing can
>  >     move forward, and we stick with CVS because we can't make a decision.
>  > 
>  >     2. We manage to do a reasonable analysis of the situation, and come
>  >     to a decision to:
>  >    a) stick with CVS,
>  >    b) move to Subversion, or
>  >    c) move to a DVCS.
> 
> You've forgotten at least two possibilities:
> 
>    1 1/2. We hash through all the problems with the available systems
>    and conclude that we have to stick with CVS because nothing else is
>    viable for us.
> 
>    2.d) write something new and move to that.

I wasn't clear about this, but those are both possible consequences of
decisions b) and c). I guess I should have phrased those "move to"s as
"decide to attempt to move to"s instead.

> Option 1 1/2 there has been the consistent result in the past, and I
> don't think anything has changed that much since the last go.

Well, I believe that part of that is because we'd actually, in our heart
of hearts, made decision a), because we would not accept anything that
didn't work exactly like CVS for all existing features.

> (Also, when you say "a DVCS" do you mean git, mercurial, monotone,
> bazaar, or what? They're not all the same except in very broad
> outlines.)

I mean them all, because all I was looking for were the broad outlines
of whether even the idea of a DVCS would be acceptable. I strongly
believe that a possible reaction from (at least some of) the developers
would be: "no DVCS at all; it's to different."

> Deciding to adopt git without answering these questions (and there may
> have been others; I have notes but they aren't perfect) would be
> irresponsible.

Right. Again, I'm not saying we make a decision to adopt Git: I'm saying
we make a decision that it would be possible to adopt git if it doesn't
fail on the most important criteria. Sorry about not being clear about
this before.

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson         <cjs%cynic.net@localhost>         +81 90 7737 2974
             http://www.starling-software.com
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism
by those who have not got it.    --George Bernard Shaw