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Re: Debian-science: synthesis about VCS & repository structure



On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 12:20:48PM +0200, Andreas Tille wrote:
> On Mon, 19 May 2008, Steve M. Robbins wrote:
>
>> Wait a minute.  What's wrong with using svn for those who want to?
>> I have some packages that I'd like to put into debian-science at some
>> point, but I'm not about to learn the favourite vcs of the week to
>> do so.
>
> "favourite vcs of the week" -> ROFL ;-)
>
> I definitely share your point about the pet VCSes that are growing all
> over Free Software world one performing better as the other.  On the other
> hand according to my observation git gains some position inside Debian
> to become something like _the_ VCS and thus I think we should try to
> settle on a reasonable default.  

I have no issue at all with git being the default.  While I don't know
anything about git, a lot of smart people are using & praising it so
I'm sure it does offer myriad advantages over other systems.  At least
for them.

I was merely reacting to Sylvestre's proposal that git be the ONLY vcs
allowed.  My question stands: is there any real disadvantage to
allowing the user's choice of vcs?

The main disadvantage I can think of is that it is a nuisance for
those who want to do project-wide work; for example, David Paleino
once set up a watch file for insighttoolkit.  My response to that
objection is that (at least in my experience with debian-med) the
fraction of project-wide work is trivial and if I choose the minority
vcs, I'll live with not having the attention.

The main ADvantage of allowing several vcs is inclusivity.  You well
know that some refuse to use debian-med because it allows only SVN.  I
hope debian-science won't repeat that mistake.


> This could be supported by a well
> written policy that contains step by step examples which might be a
> good help for newcommers.  If this is done I see using git more as a
> chance to learn something new and valuable for my day to day work than
> a nuisance to follow the habits of some geeks.

Yes, I do appreciate beginner docs; I relied on them for learning svn
and quilt.  I'm not adverse to learning git; but I will do it on my
terms, not in order to join debian-science.

Regards,
-Steve

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