Re: [boost] [git] Mercurial?

Subject: Re: [boost] [git] Mercurial?
From: Martin Geisler (mg_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-03-22 07:54:18

Thomas Heller <thom.heller_at_[hidden]> writes:

> On 03/22/2012 11:32 AM, Martin Geisler wrote:
>
>> If you publish a repository on GitHub and tell me about then I might
>> look at the commits there and give you feedback. If I'm not basing
>> any work on the changes, then it's no problem if you later destroy
>> the commits and even delete the repository.
>
> Right, the *second* i hit the "fork" button on github, everyone sees
> my new repository.

That's true, but they see the new repository which is identical to the
one you forked it from. After forking you will have to

1. Clone the fork back to your own machine

2. Make some work -- this work is local and unpublished. So you can play
   around all you want.

3. Push changes back to your fork -- this is point where you commit
   yourself to your changes and allow others to be affected by them.

There are more nuances: you might mark the fork as private so that only
you can pull from it. You can also put a big fat message in the
description of the repository saying "I'm playing around -- don't base
work work on this!". Using a branch named 'my-volative-changes' would
communicate the same message.

It all boils down to human communication at this point. DVCS allows you
to fork left and right, but it's not so chaotic in real life.

-- 
Martin Geisler
aragost Trifork
Professional Mercurial support
http://www.aragost.com/mercurial/