When will CVS be replaced by modern version control system?

[Nils Philippsen]

On Sun, 2007-11-11 at 09:25 -0600, Les Mikesell wrote:

> This is a different operation than having every developer have his own 
> copy - or at least one in every location where development happens. The 
> ability to work disconnected was being touted as a feature,  But what 
> happens if a release needed to be done at the central build system and 
> the work some remote developer thinks is committed has not actually made 
> it there because it is still disconnected?

If you're disconnected, "make build" or a not yet existent "make commit"
fails. Of course you need a connection to get the build system to build
a package. But you can develop things locally (make srpm, make
i386, ..., test things) and e.g. easily revert changes that didn't work
out because you have a VCS available, even in a plane. The hurdle to
experiment with new things is much lower if you can easily get back to a
working state.

Being able to work disconnected (to a feasible extent) is just one
feature of a distributed VCS:

- Take a sponsor and a new contributor. With a DVCS, the new contributor
wouldn't need immediate write access to the build repository. He could
do his thing in his local repository (for which he wouldn't need
anybody's permission). His sponsor would check what he did (AFAIK
they're expected to keep an eye on what their sponsored people do) and
could pull changesets from that person's repo, or apply bundled
changesets that got sent around via mail, then build. If the sponsor has
enough trust in that person, write access can be granted and the
contributor can push/build by himself.

- I won't elaborate on embargoed security fixes again, neither will I do
that on the possibility of a two-way flow of changes between Fedora and
downstream (forked) distributions.
+
Nils
-- 
     Nils Philippsen    /    Red Hat    /    nphilipp at redhat.com
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little
Temporary
 Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."  --  B. Franklin, 1759
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