Gang, This RandomThought is about leveraging Subversion for an interesting way to handle versioning.
* * * Background * * * Versioning has been around as long as computers has been able to store programs, and over time some 'practices' has evolved, which many of us take for granted today. The Dewey notation format is trying to express the compatibility between one version and another of the same program, and we all know how it is supposed to work. alpha, beta, RC, milestones and other markers has been introduced to express that developmern status (albeit not "obsolete", "no longer supported", "not actively developed", "deprecated" and such ) of a particular version. This is mixing concerns. Build Number has also been introduced by developers, either as part of the official version (often as timestamp) or hidden inside the compiled package. This is adding more mixing of concerns. >From time to time we develop new features, or do complete refactorings, in separate branches, in which case we tend to add branch on top of the Dewey notation as well. Yet another mixing of concerns. So instead of super-imposing concerns on top of the Dewey notation, let's start all over and think outside of the box. * * * Requirements * * * What do we actually need, i.e. which are the concerns; * Compatibility between versions. * Development Status of a version. * Codebase used in a version (build number & branch). * Milestone target of a version. * Other ? [1] * * * Solution * * * If we look at the above list, there is an interesting observation to be made. "Version" is part of each requirement. That means that for any piece of versionable content, we can have a single version identifier. Then we can "layer" other concerns on top; - Version123 isCompatibleWith Version119 [2] - Version123 isInStatus 'alpha' - Version123 isSteppingStoneTowardsMilestone NewCompositionModel3.4 - Version149 isPartOfProduct Merlin3.3.1 [3] - Version147 isExperimentalInBranch avalon/branches/availability So, we are talking about a simple version number uniquely identifying the codebase, and adding Meta-information to such version. What I am getting at is probably not new at all, and I suspect that the Subversion developers have realized this already, SINCE they use a single unique identifier for the entire codebase in a svn repository. After all, svn is version control system, and shouldn't be concerned about other concerns. That means that it won't even be necessary to 'tag' the repository when a Release is being made. For instance, all the content parts that has the meta-info "nnn isPartOfProduct Merlin3.3.1" are needed to put together Merlin3.3.1, and nnn denotes the subversion revision number to check out. Clear? I hope so... * * * Issues to be solved * * * - This requires some type of meta information assignments to 'versionable content parts'. Whether this is part of the regular code base, or as 'subversion properties' is not clear to me at the moment. - Subversion commits increments the revision number, but how do I get hold of it. Do I need to get hold of it? - Tool support. Is it at all feasible without automating the whole handling, and create some tools that are easy to interact with? - Revision to Meta data cross-referencing needs to be automated and production of human-readable form (html?), making it more accessible to humans. WDYAT?? Cheers Niclas Notes; [1] I am sure there are many other concerns that are orthogonally intersected with the versioning, and will be realized in due time. We have been so pre-occupied with not making the Dewey too unwieldly, that it may not be clear at the moment. [2] Version123 --> "Version" is indicating a versionable content part, and "123" a particular revision number of the entire codebase. [3] Product versioning has nothing to do with code versioning. -- +------//-------------------+ / http://www.bali.ac / / http://niclas.hedhman.org / +------//-------------------+ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
