Re: CVS should die

On Nov 13, 2004, at 6:20 PM, Thomas Hallgren wrote:

> "Question about rename" on users(at)subversion(dot)tigris(dot)org
> news://news.gmane.org:119/cmsqci$s9q$1(at)sea(dot)gmane(dot)org

Thomas (Hallgren): Unfortunately, my efforts to get Thunderbird to do
something useful with that URL have been unsuccessful and I can't find
the thread on the (usable) mailing list archive ( don't use the
tigris.org archive; use http://svn.haxx.se/ ).

> "Misinforming the user on rename with local changes"
> dev(at)subversion(dot)tigris(dot)org
> news://news.gmane.org:119/419379F3(dot)5070302(at)ftml(dot)net

Might be easier to read with a browser here:
http://svn.haxx.se/dev/archive-2004-11/index.shtml

Yes, looks like it could be a potential problem/inconvenience if a file
is both moved and altered simultaneously.

I see the risk of problems as similar to those that if two people edit
the same section of the same file at the same time, complicated
conflicts could emerge. You could avoid this problem using
Lock-Modify-Unlock rather than Copy-Modify-Merge. Some people do.
Others (many CVS users) choose the productivity gains by using
Copy-Modify-Merge and then deal with the eventual problem when/if it
shows up.

It is too bad the Subversion design didn't anticipate this such that
it's not a problem at all, but in many environments, it may not be much
of an issue.

> This thread started due to CVS problems with moving files and
> Subversion will perhaps get there eventually but IMHO they are
> certainly not there yet.

It is worth noting that there is already huge improvement in this area.
There's a baby in that bathwater. :-) It's made my life much easier,
particularly for Java development where refactoring requires renames
and moves of files and directories more often than with some other
languages like C/C++.

I'm not really advocating a switch if you don't think it's worth it.
Just hoping to contribute constructively to the discussion where the
worth of the costs/benefits are measured by others.

Back to playing with the 8 beta for me, :-)
--Travis