on Mon, Oct 30, 2000 at 09:00:00AM +1100, Brian May (bam@debian.org) wrote:
> >>>>> "kmself" == kmself <kmself@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
> kmself> Where n > 0 people need modification access to the same
> kmself> data, a version control system should be implemented. RCS
> kmself> and CVS are available on Debian and their use is fairly
> kmself> transparent. For more complex organizations, BitKeeper is
> kmself> a strongly recommended choice.
>
> What is BitKeeper? Is it DFSG? What are the benefits of it over CVS
> for "more complex organisations"?
http://www.bitkeeper.com/
BitKeeper is "a scalable configuration management system, supporting
globally distributed development, disconnected operation, compressed
repositories, change sets, and named lines of development (branches)".
It's written by Larry McVoy, written in part to address the problem of
"Linus doesn't scale", and is aimed at being the version control system
for Linux kernel development. Larry's been involved with GNU/Linux for
ages, and is the author of "The Sourceware Operating System Proposal",
an early formative document regarding options for a free software OS:
http://www.bitmover.com/lm/papers/srcos.html
It's not DFSG. It *is* source-available software, but it's not free for
commercial use, without some compromises a company might prefer to do
without. It *is* free for use on free software, and the source is
available. Licensing has been an issue, this is how Larry thinks he can
make money with his company. We're using BitKeeper at work. It's used
by several other companies, including VA Linux.
There are several advantages of BitKeeper over traditional version
control software. I'd encourage you to look at the BitKeeper site for
details. In particular, BitKeeper supports the idea of multiple
repositories, meaning that different departments within an organization,
or different groups, each with specific needs, can work without having
to worry about conflicts with the central repository. I'm probably
phrasing this badly, would suggest you look to the website for further
data.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://www.netcom.com/~kmself
Evangelist, Opensales, Inc. http://www.opensales.org
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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