Andrew Miller wrote: > Alan Garny wrote: > >> git is also a distributed version control system - the two tools have > a > >> fairly similar conceptual model in terms of how they work, with a lot > of > >> flow of ideas between the too tools. I have found git slightly faster > >> and a bit more extensible (and with a larger set of commands out-of- > the > >> box), although one downside is that git front-ends are largely > written > >> in shell-script, which means you Cygwin to use it on Windows. > >> > > That's a big downside in my opinion. We cannot seriously expect some > Windows > > users interested in CellML to install Cygwin only to be able to change > the > > specifications. > > > > Is there really no 'simple' web interface that could be used and that > is > > still 'acceptable'? If you want to get the community involved, you > want > > something as 'simple' as plug-n-play, not something that involves > tweaking > > things around. > > > There are viewable web interfaces for git - see the gitweb at e.g. > http://repo.or.cz/w/cellml-draft- > miller.git?a=tree;h=normative;hb=normative
How does it work? Using Opera, if I click on blob for abstract.xml, I get: --------------------------------------- This document is an unofficial working draft. The below describes the intended status of the specification, and not the current status right now. This document specifies CellML 1.2, an XML-based language for describing and exchanging mathematical models. This is the normative specification of CellML. It is intended to provide the minimum amount of information needed to accurately describe CellML. An alternative version is available which is annotated with much more explanatory material. --------------------------------------- While with Firefox, I get told that "[the] XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it" and get show the document tree. Using Internet Explorer, I get told that the XML file "cannot have multiple DOCTYPE declarations". My point is that I would most likely need to learn about git before being able to use it. I might do that if that's what you guys end up using, but do you really expect others to do that? Can you really not opt for a 'simpler' solution? > Of course, whatever format we use we will also want a rendered version. > > In terms of changes, users who don't do enough work on the specification > to justify setting up a git environment can always propose changes to > the mailing list. If they use git, it just makes it easier for us to > share and merge their changes. Am I to understand that git has become the solution of choice? > I don't know how many major contributors > to specification development we would have who wouldn't want to install > Cygwin anyway - perhaps if there is anyone who this applies to on the > list now is the time to speak up :). I would certainly be interested to know indeed. I would be happy to contribute to the specifications, but I am not willing to install Cygwin for something that I am not going to use on a daily basis. Again, there must be an easier solution?! > There is an MingW / MSYS based git port as well - > http://msysgit.googlecode.com/files/GitMe-0.4.2.exe - I haven't tried it > myself. > > We could use Mercurial - the only issue there is that the only free > hosting I could find ( http://www.assembla.com ) looks like it is part > of some company's business model and so I wouldn't want to rely on it > remaining free - we don't really want to require people who want to set > up their own repositories to rely on that. I would be interested to hear from people interested in contributing to CellML, and the kind of solution they would like to see implemented. Right now, I feel like git is not a suitable solution. What about DocBook and the other solutions that have been suggested so far? Something that should be kept in mind: to go for a solution that suits the CellML team is one thing, but to have a solution that suits the community is probably even more important (that is if you want the community to be involved!). Alan. _______________________________________________ cellml-discussion mailing list [email protected] http://www.cellml.org/mailman/listinfo/cellml-discussion
