Re: [boost] Losing history (Was: [git] Boost.Build location_

Subject: Re: [boost] Losing history (Was: [git] Boost.Build location_
From: Vladimir Prus (ghost_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-12-28 15:31:28

On 28.12.2012 01:54, Dave Abrahams wrote:
>
> on Thu Dec 27 2012, Beman Dawes <bdawes-AT-acm.org> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 12:45 PM, Robert Ramey <ramey_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hmmm..  Let's suppose for a moment that the modularization effort
>>> resulted in a repository which didn't include the current history.
>>> There's no reason that the old SVN has to go way.  I guess it
>>> could be made read only.
>>
>> Of course! That's been the plan all along, just as we didn't blow away
>> the old CVS repo when we switched to SVN.
>>
>> The point at which SVN becomes read-only has been shown on the
>> schedule and on the action plan right from the start.
>>
>> See https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/MoveToModularizedGit and
>> https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/ModCvtSchedule
>>
>>> It would also be convienient that
>>> the web browsing feature be re-enabled.
>>
>> Good point. The load on the IU server should be a lot less after we
>> switch to GitHub.
>
> There will also always be the GitHub browser usable on the converted
> history repository.

These all sounds like poor substitutes for actual history. If I run "git log" in program_options
checkout, I really would like to see all changes ever made to what is boost/program_options and libs/program_options
in the current layout. I certainly don't expect that repository to contain entire history of Boost, and
so it should not be 200+ MB. But I think conveniently looking at history is one of the primary use cases of
a version control system. And one of the advantages of git was supposed to be effective storage of entire
history. If we're going to require that I poke at some other git repo, or svn, or commit mailing
lists, or anything else for such a basic task, then I suppose we can switch to RCS just as well.

Thanks,
Volodya