Re: [boost] torvalds on branching/merging (was Boost Development Environment proposal)

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-06-07 10:21:10

on Wed Jun 06 2007, troy d straszheim <troy-AT-resophonic.com> wrote:

> in the previous thread,
> On Wed, Jun 06, 2007 at 08:49:14AM -0400, David Abrahams wrote:
>> 
> [snip]
>> 
>> It depends where you're committing things.  One of the best reasons
>> for branching in a traditional version control setup is to give
>> authors a place to check in their partially-finished (i.e. "broken")
>> work.  That _improves_ results in numerous ways.  Obviously, there has
>> to be some kind of check in the system for bad commits, but only those
>> that a library author declares to be "good," and thus, ready for
>> release.
>
> Since we're talking about devel vs. stable and what the meaning of
> 'trunk' really is, I found Linus Torvald's google tech talk on git
> (which is source control for the linux kernel) to be *very*
> interesting (fairly entertaining as well).
>
>   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8

I actually took the time to watch this talk.  It is, as you imply,
extremely enlightening.

> He places a very high value on the ability to 
>
>   * branch at any time
>   * merge easily

Yeah; I get the impression that GIT even deals correctly with
fragments of code moving across files.

He notes that some people use GIT to solve SVN's merging deficiencies,
which I find interesting.

>   * commit/branch/merge locally (not in the 'central' repository)
>
> Interesting the emphasis on git's being distributed... there is no
> 'central repository'.

This part I have some trouble buying.  In Linus' world, *his*
repository is central... well, at least, it's the master from which
releases are spun.  In a project where we don't have a single arbiter
for what goes into a release, I'm not sure we can have a master.

Also, although he claims never to do backups, it's clear from Linus'
talk that he has a complicated system with layers of firewalls, etc.,
protecting his data... which means that in a project like ours,
individuals can't "play master" with the same level of reliability
that Linus does.

...but I might be missing something :)

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com