On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:56:15 -0700, Mark Wedel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Alex Schultz wrote: > > Indeed, that is an issue that prevents it from being usable on sf.net, > > though I have heard that project space of some other free hosts does > > allow this sort of usage, though I am unsure of if the web space > > provided is sufficient on those. > > Before we put the cart before the horse, we really need to figure out what > system we will use.
...and carefully weight the pros and cons of each system. Currently, I think that CVS is still the safer solution despite its drawbacks (lack of support for file/directory renames, relatively slow diff...). [...] > An official tree is definitely needed - you have to have some way to know > where to go to get the latest code. > > You just need that, for that matter, for people to do the initial pull from > - > there has to be an initial repository. > > > 2) Many developers don't have the means to host a branch for others to > > pull from > > Anyone have any ideas for hosting such things? > > Well, re-hosting becomes easier - all anyone really needs is a static IP > (or > for that matter, dydns setup). Those who are still using dialup or who have metered broadband access will not be able to host a branch on their own. Especially if the charging model of their ISP is based on time rather than volume, because this basically prevents the "always on" connections. They would have to find a way to host their branch on some external server anyway, so for them there is no advantage in using a system that supports local branches. In fact, although I am not against using a system that supports local branches and distributed repositories, I would be against a system that requires or even encourages such distributed usage, for the following reasons: 1) Some developers may not be able to host local branches on their own or would have problems doing it. This problem does not exist on centralized systems (such as CVS, SVN, etc.). 2) Local branches will not stay around forever. It happens frequently that some development made on a local branch cannot be merged immedately into the "official" tree. It may take several months before someone tries to merge into the main tree all or parts of the changes done in a local branch. In the meantime, that branch could be gone: the owner of that branch may be gone, have lost her internet access, suffered a disk crash, or decided that the branch was not interesting anymore. Those who want to access that branch some months later would be stuck. The advantage and disadvantage of a centralized system is that everything is in one place: either everything is available, or nothing is. There is also only one place that has to be mirrored or backed up to prevent most disasters. With a centralized system, it is easier to ensure that all branches will be accessible forever (well, as long as the project exists). 3) Some developers or users may have problems accessing branches that are hosted outside the well-known servers such as sourceforge, freedesktop.org, gnome.org, kde.org and some others. Currently, my main internet access is at work (I also have a much slower and more expensive access at home, but I barely use it). It is behind a corporate firewall that blocks almost everything and only allows some (filtered) web and e-mail access. In addition, some exceptions may be requested for CVS or SSH access to specific hosts such as sourceforge.net (there are good business reasons for allowing access to some projects on sf.net and the access to the other projects also hosted on sf.net is tolerated). If we move to a distributed system, it is likely that it would be rather difficult for me to access the branches that are not hosted on a well-known server. So regardless of the system that is selected for the future, I hope that the development of crossfire will still happen mostly on a centralized server, hosting the main branch, the maintainance branches and the more experimental branches. It is of course possible to use a system that supports local branches, but I hope that the usage of local branches will not be encouraged. -Raphaël _______________________________________________ crossfire mailing list crossfire@metalforge.org http://mailman.metalforge.org/mailman/listinfo/crossfire