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

From: Michael Marcin (mmarcin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-06-07 23:02:05

David Abrahams wrote:
> on Thu Jun 07 2007, Phil Richards <news-AT-derived-software.ltd.uk>
> wrote:
>
>>> 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.
>>
>> The rest of the world is Linus' backup.
>
> So he claims.  And yet, he says he keeps his email so well-hidden that
> he can't touch it when he travels.  So clearly he's not replicating
> all his data everywhere.  It's fine not to back up if you're sure that
> 50 other people you trust -- or even 5 -- are constantly replicating
> your data in real time.  Most of us won't have that assurance.

I can understand how GIT works fine if you're Linus and everyone pulls from 
you all the time so you have backups.
But what about the guy off playing with some feature that is in its infancy? 
Surely noone cares about that yet and so noone is pulling it.  Does GIT 
automatically push other people's repositorys onto your machine even if you 
don't care about them or does your work just not get backed up until someone 
notices it?

Also to be able to have access to the history of a project when you a 
disconnected that means all the history needs to be on your machine, right? 
That seems like it would have to be unnecessarily large.

I'm just not convinced yet.

Thanks,

Michael Marcin