Re: Git? (Was: Team maint update)

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>]

Joachim Breitner wrote:
> OTOH, only tracking debian/ makes stuff lightweight. Using the
> debian/watch-file that every Haskell package has, a tool like
> debcheckout, darcs-buildpackage or a custom script for the group can be
> easily created that checkout debian/ and fetches the .orig.tar.gz from
> Hackage. Not being able to modify stuff outside of debian/ is considered
> a feature by some :-)

Let me try to put my argument against it in more cogent terms.

It's not simple.

I have to learn all sorts of new commands to make that work.  Or write
all sorts of shell scripts.

With Git, if I already know how to build Debian packages the traditional
way, and I know git, all I have to know is:

type git-buildpackage --git-tag whenever I'd type debuild
type git-import-orig instead of uupdate
don't forget to git-push

Dead simple.  If I know git, and know about branches, it's a piece of cak.

Now, say I already know darcs, and already know how to work with
branches in Darcs, and how to build Debian packages -- I've got a
steeper learning curve if debian/ is separated.  If I have to patch
upstream, it's even worse, because now I have to learn some POS
quilt-like system.  (I've always hated those, especially given how easy
it is to track patches in a good VCS like Git)

In short, you're putting a barrier to entry in front of me, because now
I have to learn an entirely new toolset to do something I already knew
how to do before.

And all that to save a few hundred KB by omitting upstream from the repo.

-- John