[boost] Re: Moving from CVS to Subversion?

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-02-04 19:22:28

David Abrahams wrote:
> Walter Landry <wlandry_at_[hidden]> writes:
>
>> So it really sounds like you should see how well the new host works
>> with CVS before committing to svn.
>
> That's an interesting thought.

I wanted to comment, in backing the move from CVS to SVN, that I have found
using SVN, particular with TortoiseSVN on Windows, immensely easier than
using CVS, even with WinCVS. The fact that I can visually get the latest
updates from any part of an SVN repository to any directory, that I can
checkout from any part of an SVN directory to any directory, that I can
commit at any level, that my copies, moves, and deletes are automatically
picked up by SVN, makes SVN a no-brainer of a choice over CVS. I realize I
do not know CVS nearly as well as I know SVN, but I do know that from the
end user's perspective, SVN is sublimely easy to use and fairly easy to
understand. I could never say that personally about CVS. That, even if all
other things were equal between SVN and CVS, which I doubt given SVN's more
integrated functionality, would be a good enough reason for me to switch
from any CVS based system to an SVN based repository system, and I am very
happy that the last company for whom I consulted, and the current company
for whom I am employed, both use SVN. I have also found the SVN NGs, both
the main one, gmane.comp.version-control.subversion.user, and the
TortoiseSVN one,
gmane.comp.version-control.subversion.tortoisesvn.devel, very helpful and
responsive, and the documentation for Subversion and TortoiseSVN fairly
decent.

Finally another word about SVN. If using the Apache Server for the
repository, as opposed to the SVN server, control of any path in a
repository  can be implemented. Without it, and using the SVN server, the
only type of control occurs on the repository as a whole, which may be good
enough if one wants to allow write access to a repository to a group of
people, such as Boost developers, and read access to Boost users. Of course
with SVN, one can set up as many repositories as one wants.